Scrabble players will have to rethink their game after new words, including OK and ew, added to approved list
Three hundred new words have been added to the official Scrabble dictionary, including sriracha, beatdown, zomboid, twerk, sheeple, wayback, bibimbap, botnet, emoji, facepalm, frowny, hivemind, puggle and yowza.
Merriam-Webster released the sixth edition of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary on Monday, four years after the last version.
Continue reading...Michal Iwanowski came across some graffiti in Cardiff that said: ‘Go home, Polish.’ So he did. The 105-day slog almost broke him – but it restored his faith in a volatile, fractured Europe
On 27 April this year, Michal Iwanowski left his house in Cardiff to walk to his home village of Mokrzeszów in Poland. Carrying British and Polish passports and wearing a T-shirt bearing the word “Polska”, he began his 1,200-mile journey east, sticking as closely as possible to a straight line he had drawn on a map. Over 105 days, it would take him through Wales, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic.
Related: I walked 2,000km to trace my grandfather's escape from a Russian gulag
Continue reading...Every other minute, a woman or girl dies as a result of pregnancy complications or childbirth. Why has the global decline in maternal mortality stalled?
According to the latest UN global estimates, 303,000 women a year die in childbirth, or as a result of complications arising from pregnancy. This equates to about 830 women dying each day – roughly one every two minutes.
Continue reading...A campaign called #closetheworkhouse describes ‘unspeakably hellish conditions’, but officials defend it as a ‘kind-of rescue’
Inez Bordeaux was at times left broke, homeless, and living in a halfway house over the years of unpleasant interactions with the criminal justice system in St Louis, Missouri. But the only time she ever felt hopeless was during the month she was incarcerated in the city’s infamous “workhouse” jail in 2016.
“I might not come out on the other side of this,” Bordeaux recalled thinking to herself. Her first three days were spent in solitary confinement after staff witnessed her crying, and deemed her a suicide risk.
Continue reading...The entertainer could face years in prison after being convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault in Pennsylvania
Bill Cosby is facing prison time as he is sentenced this week for sexual assault, capping a stunning fall from grace for a man who was once one of America’s most popular entertainers.
Cosby is due in court for a two-day sentencing hearing beginning on Monday, where Judge Steven O’Neill will decide his fate at the Montgomery county courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
Continue reading...Fans will be able to share favourite moments from Lulu the elephant to Tracy Island
The BBC is marking the 60th anniversary of Blue Peter next month by digitising all its old episodes so viewers can find their favourite moments to share online.
The move is part of a celebration of the diamond jubilee of the world’s longest-running children’s programme, which will feature an hour-long live special starring many of Blue Peter’s past presenters including Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves – who will take part in a big “here’s one I made earlier” crafting extravaganza.
Continue reading...Navy ship and air force plane part of international effort to rescue badly injured solo sailor
The Australian navy has joined an international mission to rescue an Indian sailor who seriously injured his back when his yacht was damaged in a storm off Western Australia during a round-the-world race.
The solo skipper Abhilash Tomy sent a satellite text message that was received on Saturday, saying, “ACTIVATED EPIRB. CANT WALK. MIGHT NEED STRETCHER”, Golden Globe Race organisers said.
Continue reading...Comins Coch, Aberystwyth: All that is left now is a hole filled with topsoil where the box once stood. I might plant some native wildflower seeds there. Something red, obviously
The valley below the house has been choked by mist in the early mornings, the cool approach of autumn obvious as you step outdoors. Hedgerows and orchards are heavy with fruit, dropping so many windfall apples that the local blackbirds are having a hard time keeping up with the avalanche of supply. Robins are again becoming vocal, with their songs from the high branches cutting through the clear, suddenly chill, air.
With young birds fledged and nest sites abandoned, the sound of chainsaws echoes around the village as those who have held back from serious gardening, to protect the occupants of their hedges, try and restore some order before the weather turns too bad. Logs are cut to length for the stove and stacked to dry for a future winter.
Continue reading...Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, was working alone in a ‘rompong’ when heavy winds snapped its moorings
An Indonesian teenager has survived 49 days adrift at sea in a fishing hut, before he was rescued by a Panamanian-flagged vessel and returned home.
Aldi Novel Adilang, a 19-year-old from Sulawesi, worked as a lamp keeper on a floating fish trap, known locally as rompong, located 125km out at sea.
Continue reading...Washington imposes $200bn taxes on Chinese goods, while Beijing targets $60bn of US goods
The United States and China have imposed new tit-for-tat tariffs against each other’s goods, the latest escalation in a heated trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
US tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese goods and retaliatory tariffs by Beijing on $60bn worth of US products took effect at 0400 GMT.
Continue reading...China is now a pillar of UN peacekeeping, with potential implications for human rights
The noise around Donald Trump will grab the most attention at the United Nations general assembly in New York this week, but the quietly growing influence of China is of equal concern to many western diplomats.
China, for years prepared to take a back seat at the UN, is now seeking positions of power, increasing its budget contributions and starting to assert its world view, notably the preeminence of national sovereignty over human rights.
Continue reading...Stephen Elder tells newspaper he regrets helping unseat Simon Birmingham from education portfolio
The head of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria has expressed regret that Simon Birmingham lost his portfolio over schools funding reforms, appearing to take credit for ousting the education minister.
Stephen Elder made the comments to the Australian Financial Review after he headed its education power list, a victory lap capping the announcement the sector had extracted $4.6bn more over 10 years for Catholic and independent schools after Scott Morrison ousted Malcolm Turnbull and replaced Birmingham with Dan Tehan.
Continue reading...Hong Kong National Party banned in the interests of ‘national safety’
Hong Kong has banned a political party which promotes independence, a first since the city was handed back to China by Britain 21 years ago as Beijing ups pressure on any challenges to its sovereignty.
Semi-autonomous Hong Kong enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland, including freedom of expression, but the space for political dissent is shrinking in the face of an increasingly assertive China under President Xi Jinping.
Continue reading...Four tiger sharks in Queensland killed after tourists to Australia attacked
The central Queensland harbour where two people were attacked by sharks in recent days is known to Whitsunday locals as a “no-go zone” for swimming, Queensland-based conservationists say.
Jonathan Clarke, from Sea Shepherd Australia, has spent months inspecting shark drum lines in Queensland. He said the drum lines were often left for days without bait, creating “a false sense of safety” for swimmers.
Four tiger sharks were killed at the weekend by baited hooks dropped into Sawmill Bay by Fisheries Queensland following the attacks on Justine Barwick, 46, and Hannah Papps, 12.
Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale with Kavanaugh, has described a drunken party during which genitals were thrust in her face
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces a second allegation of sexual misconduct after another woman came forward accusing him of inappropriate sexual behaviour during his college years at Yale University.
The New Yorker magazine reported on Sunday evening that a 53-year-old woman, Deborah Ramirez, who attended university with Kavanaugh, has alleged that the judge appeared to have thrust his genitals in her face at a drunken party during their freshman year in 1983-4 academic calendar. She said she clearly remembers the judge, then a teenager, pulling up his pants after a penis was thrust in her face during a drinking game. She also accused Kavanaugh of laughing at her in the aftermath and has said the FBI should investigate the incident.
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