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Todolí foundation produces varieties from Buddha's hands to sudachi and hopes to help citrus survive climate changeIt was on a trip with a friend to the east coast of Spain that the chef Matthew Slotover came across the “Garden of Eden”, an organic farm growing citrus varieties he had never heard of. The Todolí Citrus Foundation is a nonprofit venture and the largest private collection of citrus in the world with more than 500 varieties, and its owners think the rare fruit could hold the genetic secrets to growing citrus groves that can deal with climate change.The farm yields far more interesting fruit than oranges and lemons for Slotover's menu, including kumquat, finger lime, sudachi and bergamot. Continue reading......

No one wants to visit us any more – but they might pay $50,000 for a bag you could get here for $3There aren't many escapes from the grim onslaught of terrible news these days. You can stare at a blank wall, obsessively count the hairs on your arm, or, in a true moment of desperation, ponder the state of global fashion. I prefer the last one. I love being on the cutting edge of style, peacocking out in the decaying slopfest that is our planet. A crisp, well-made suit is a cure for all manner of emotionally trying times. I relish being hyper-aware of the goings-on of fashion, so I was one of the first sorry souls to learn of the current global obsession with flimsy canvas Trader Joe's shopping bags.For those unaware, Trader Joe's is an American grocery store chain known primarily for its affordable prices, whimsical tropical branding, and heart-attack-inducing parking lots – apparently designed to be small because the stores themselves are so tiny that they can't justify more spaces. I don't natur...

There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don't tackle the problem because they don't want toThere is one political problem from which all others follow. It is the major cause of Donald Trump, of Nigel Farage, of the shocking weakness of their opponents, of the polarisation tearing societies apart, of the devastation of the living world. It is simply stated: the extreme wealth of a small number of people.It can also be quantified. The World Inequality Report (WIR) 2026 shows that about 56,000 people – 0.001% of the global population – corral three times more wealth than the poorest half of humanity. They afflict almost every country. In the UK, for example, 50 families hold more wealth than 50% of the population combined.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading......

Pair will be absent 'for short period' from vocational trainer, whose charity is under investigation by Charity CommissionThe top two executives at City & Guilds have been put on leave shortly after a scandal over millions of pounds of bonuses triggered a Charity Commission investigation into the vocational trainer.City & Guilds has told staff that its chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and the chief financial officer, Abid Ismail, will be “absent from work for a short period”. Continue reading......

Up to 30,000 customers of South East Water had no supply or low pressure at height of incidentWater has been restored to most homes across Kent and Sussex after almost a week of disruption.South East Water (SEW) said the outage, which began on Saturday, was the result of Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts. Continue reading......

Move comes as calls for Australia-style social media ban for under-16s grow around worldTikTok will begin the rollout of new age-verification technology across the EU in the coming weeks, as calls for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s grow in countries including the UK.ByteDance-owned TikTok, and other major platforms popular with young people such as YouTube, are coming under increasing pressure to better identify and remove accounts belonging to children. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsGood morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.The stock of homes for sale in the UK has hit its highest level in more than eight years, the property portal Zoopla has found.Growing numbers of homes for sale is evidence of a strong underlying appetite to move home for many households.Across much of southern England, there is a much greater choice of homes for sale. Buyers are price-sensitive and have more choice, so achieving the best result depends on setting a competitive asking price and attracting early interest. Homes priced too high often take longer to sell and at the risk of achieving a lower price. It is important that homeowners price carefully and seek the advice of agents to plan the right strategy for their home sale.2.15pm GMT: US industrial production and manufacturing output stats Continue reading......

For A$30k you could have a remote employee see inside your home via a walking, talking machine with a chilling blank face. Count me outThere's something particularly dystopian about watching the mute headlines of daytime television play at the gym. It feels like a movie montage; pop bangers streaming, surrounded by sweaty hotties, I watch the latest horror unfold. News of war, the pandemic, death and destruction slide across the bottom of the screen below chatty hosts. It's here where I first see NEO, the “world's first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life at home”. I watch as the hosts gleefully introduce its creepy, soft, grey body and chilling blank face with puny camera eyes. As though exercising my corporeal form wasn't trial enough, now robots?Who in their right mind would want a walking, talking surveillance machine inside their home? The privacy invasion required for such robots to function goes far beyond your smart speaker listening into your conversations, your autom...

Despite restrictions announced this week, Guardian reporters find standalone app continues to allow posting of nonconsensual contentX has continued to allow users to post highly sexualised videos of women in bikinis generated by its AI tool Grok, despite the company's claim to have cracked down on misuse.The Guardian was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed, real women. It was also possible to post this adult content on to X's public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account. Continue reading......

Architects and designers have recycled ancient practice of collecting rainwater to make buildings ecologically friendlyWhen the legendary Taiwanese rock band Mayday were due to perform in Beijing one evening in May 2023, some fans were worried that the rainy weather could affect the show. Mayday were taking to the stage in Beijing's National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, built for the 2008 Olympics. Like the real-life twig piles that give the building its nickname, the stadium is built with an intricate and highly porous lattice, made of steel.“Don't worry too much,” reassured an article published by the official newsletter for China's ministry of water resources. “The Bird's Nest also has its 'secret weapon'!” Continue reading......

From postcode pricing to falling wholesale costs, the price you pay at the pump depends less on petrol itself than on where – and when – you fill upWhy do petrol prices vary so much between filling stations? On the same road I've seen a 5p-a-litre difference on what must be an identical product, while the same chains charge differently from town to town.Weird, isn't it? Of all the things we buy, the price of petrol is probably the most transparently disclosed before we enter the retailer's premises, and yet this only serves to leave us wondering why how much we pay can come down to where we live, or even on which side of the road we are driving. Continue reading......

Setback for president, who has called windfarms 'losers', as Empire Wind project allowed to move forwardA federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for a New York offshore wind project to resume construction, a victory for the developer who said a Trump administration order to pause it would probably kill the project in a matter of days.District judge Carl J Nichols, an appointee of Donald Trump, ruled construction on the Empire Wind project could go forward while he considers the merits of the government's order to suspend the project. He faulted the government for not responding to key points in Empire Wind's court filings, including the contention that the administration violated proper procedure. Continue reading......

Ashley St Clair files lawsuit in state of New York over deepfakes that appeared on social media platform X The mother of one of Elon Musk's children is suing his company – alleging explicit images were generated of her by his Grok AI tool, including one in which she was underage.Ashley St Clair has filed a lawsuit with the supreme court of the state of New York against xAI, alleging that Grok, which is used on the social media platform X, promised to stop generating explicit images but continued to do so. Continue reading......

US to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15% as chip and tech businesses pledge $250bn spending in US operationsThe US said on Thursday that it had signed a deal with Taiwan to reduce tariffs on goods from the democratic island, while increasing Taiwanese semiconductor and tech companies' investments in America.The agreement, the US commerce department said, “will drive a massive reshoring of America's semiconductor sector”. Continue reading......

Campaigners claim firm has bought sway over the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths Campaigners have accused BP of having an insidious influence over the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) in the UK through its relationship with the Science Museum.Documents obtained under freedom of information legislation show how the company funded a research project that led to the creation of the Science Museum Group academy – its teacher and educator training programme – which BP sponsors and which has run more than 500 courses, for more than 5,000 teachers. Continue reading......

Patrick Vallance says robots would take away 'repetitive' tasks, but Sadiq Khan warns AI will usher in 'new era of mass unemployment'Advances in AI and robotics will transform human jobs, starting with roles in warehouses and factories, the UK science minister has said, as the government announced plans to reduce red tape for robot and defence tech companies.Patrick Vallance said technological progress was creating a “whole new area” for robots to work in. “What's really changing now is the combination of AI and robotics. It is opening up a whole new area, particularly in the sorts of things like humanoid robotics. And that will increase productivity, it will change the human job,” he told the Guardian. Continue reading......

Exclusive: Jesse Binnall and Joe Flynn, who campaigned to overturn 2020 election, seek to win Bosnia deal for little-known US firmLeading members of Donald Trump's campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election are seeking a huge European pipeline contract, the latest figures from the US president's circle to mix business and geopolitics.Jesse Binnall, a lawyer who worked on legal actions advancing Trump's baseless claim that the vote was stolen from him, and Joe Flynn, who also sought to undermine Joe Biden's victory, have been in Bosnia this week to discuss the project. Continue reading......

US Coast Guard and others boarded foreign-flagged crude carrier Veronica in a pre-dawn operationThe US military has seized another oil tanker at sea in support of Donald Trump's sanctions against Venezuela, military officials announced on Thursday.Veronica, a crude oil tanker that marine records suggest is sailing under a Guyanese flag, was boarded in a pre-dawn action by US marines and sailors, the US Southern Command said in a post on social media. Continue reading......

Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank report calls on chancellor to pursue policy of 'securonomics'Tens of thousands of jobs could be lost if the UK's clean energy supply chains were to suffer a shock as a result of an over-reliance on China, a left-leaning thinktank has warned.A year-long disruption to the supply of essential battery components used to manufacture electric vehicles could wipe out production of more than 580,000 electric cars and endanger 90,000 jobs, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research. Continue reading......

Proposals to relaunch Northern Powerhouse Rail are welcome and overdue. But passengers and commuters will believe it when they see itIn areas starved of the kind of investment taken for granted in the south-east, the miserable state of northern England's railways has long been a source of anger and indignation. One analysis of Treasury figures found that the equivalent of seven Elizabeth lines could have been built in the north, if levels of funding devoted to London's transport needs had been replicated there. Instead, an estimated £140bn shortfall means that the 35-mile trip from Liverpool to Manchester can take more than twice as long as the 42-mile journey from London to Reading.Plans to resuscitate the Northern Powerhouse Rail project (NPR), unveiled on Tuesday by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, are therefore welcome and overdue. The government has committed to developing a three-stage plan to upgrade rail connections from the west coast to the north-east. No doubt mindful of the political threat p...