CATEGORIES

Power of lava

After weeks of warnings that semi-molten rock was building up under the ground, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said last Saturday that an eruption at 8.23pm local time had opened a nearly 3km-long fissure in the earth between two mountains.

Evacuated residents call for wider war against Hezbollah

Inhabitants of northern towns emptied after 7 October say they cannot return unless militants are pushed back

'Usual suspects' Only a radical reset of political accountability can bring change

Scenes of unrest in Haiti, as Ariel Henry announced his resignation as prime minister last week amid a violent gang uprising, have brought a strong sense of deja vu .

Plundered Two centuries of exploitation have paved the path to anarchy

In December 1914, the USS Machias dropped anchor in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Eight US marines disembarked, sauntered to the Banque National de la République d’Haïti (BNRH) , removed $500,000 worth of gold belonging to the Haitian government – $15m in today’s money – packed it in wooden crates to carry back to the ship and thence to New York , where it was deposited in the vaults of the investment bank, Hallgarten & Co .

Fear is at every corner'

Surging gang violence has led to political collapse followed by port blockades - displacing hundred of thousands of people and cutting supplies in a country where chronic malnutrition is already rife

Oscars with a British accent-and no upsets

Somany Brits and asupremely talented Irishman took home awards, while Oppenheimer’ relevance can hardly be doubted

MPs must know protests are inevitable if they fail to represent the people Andy Beckett

Where should politics happen? For most MPs, accustomed to the Palace of Westminster's inward-looking spaces and rituals, the answer is obvious.

Who cares if the races are dull? F1 drama has never been better Marina Hyde

Episode two of the new season of Drive to Survive begins with a scene of Father Christmas visiting Red Bull team principal Christian Horner's house. It's a charming vignette for the show - just Horner, his wife, Geri Halliwell, his two young children and a TV crew.

THE DEBUTANTE-TURNED-TERRORIST

How Rose Dugdale, a privileged English girl, became an IRA bomber is a confounding tale-a new film tells her dramatic story

How Covid changed politics

Four years on from the start of the pandemic, the drama may have subsided but the lingering effects on the entire planet go on. Are we suffering from political long Covid?

New Yorkers bemoan lost views of Empire State Building

Tom Clark's Lower East Side apartment comes with a prime view of the Empire State Building. \"I can see it from my couch,\" he said. Well, he used to be able to catch a glance - before an ultra-thin luxury tower dubbed 262 Fifth Avenue came along.

‘Barbecue’ Feared gang boss leading an assault on government

Murals in the pauperised Haitian slums he rules liken him to the Argentinian guerrilla Ernesto \"Che\" Guevara.

The Frozen Zoo How scientists are putting disappearing species on ice

Ina California laboratory, four women do the painstaking work of preserving cells amid agrowing extinction crisis

The ancient astrolabe where Jewish and Islamic science mix

AImost exactly a year ago, Federica Gigante was preparing a lecture and searching the internet for a portrait of the 17th-century Italian nobleman and collector Ludovico Moscardo when an altogether different image caught her eye.

Map mines the rich history of caves below city's homes

Hidden behind a tropical garden in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden is a subterranean secret - a cave opening from the ground like the yawning mouth of a giant.

Xi silent at congress, but it’s clear who isin charge

Xi Jinping didn't speak at China's Two Sessions meetings this year, but his presence was still felt.

'No closure' Ten years on, the mystery of MH370 is still unsolved

Despite a vast international investigation, relatives of 239 passengers lost on the ill-fated flight are seeking answers

'We're stuffed' Have the Tories given up on winning the next election?

Hours after last Wednesday's budget, the Conservative party's great and good assembled at the medieval Guildhall in London to hear Rishi Sunak address the 50th anniversary dinner for the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank. His party had a clear plan, the prime minister told hundreds of Tory MPS, peers, donors and other assorted luminaries: one centred on higher growth and lower taxes.

A big no, no How a vote on updating the constitution ended in fiasco

Proposals to reword Ireland's 1937 constitution to get rid of outdated language about the role of women and the nature of the family have been comprehensively rejected in a double referendum.

Shore point AUS-built floating aid port for Gaza what could go wrong?

The US plan to build a floating port off the Gaza coast is a bold move, reminiscent of the Mulberry harbours built after D-day in Normandy, but there are serious concerns that what relief it brings will be too little too late for Palestinians facing starvation.

'We used to adorn our street, now all is bleak'

As the holy month of Ramadan begins, food shortages and the fear ofattack continue to afflict Rafah’s displaced families

Blame game Distracted Democrats risk forgetting the greater goal

When an opinion poll in the New York Times found that a majority of Joe Biden's voters believe he is too old to be an effective US president, the call to action was swift. But it was not aimed at Joe Biden.

'Like choosing between a hedgehog or a porcupine' The presidential election rematch no one wants

In past years, the first phase of the general election has involved at least one of the presidential nominees introducing themselves to the public and presenting their case for taking the US in a new direction. But that has been rendered unnecessary this year: former president Donald Trump and president Joe Biden are very familiar to the electorate and are broadly unpopular.

Deportation and coercion How Russia stamps rule on occupied Ukraine

Early voting in Russia’s presidential election had already begun last week in occupied areas of Ukraine, with officials carrying ballot boxes going house to house in some areas, accompanied by soldiers.

Putin's puppets How stagemanaged polls string along the voters

Two election cycles ago, in 2012, Sergei Mironov was loudly playing the role of opposition to Russia’s ruling party, wearing the white ribbon of the protest movement in the State Duma and claiming his run against Vladimir Putin was “serious ”.

A $1bn push for power

Leaked documents have revealed the vast scope and cost of the Kremlin's vote-rigging machinery. With Putin certain to win another six-year term this weekend, why do elections matter so much to the Russian president?

A city of two massacres War leaves deep scars in Geneina

Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state in Sudan, can feel like two cities in one. There are mass graves, abandoned armoured vehicles and homeless children, but also new restaurants, bustling markets and factory-fresh Toyotas, nicknamed Kenjcanjia - meaning stolen in the local dialect- owing to their lack of registration plates.

The schools that stay cool in 40C

Architects use local materials and merge traditional techniques with modern technology to make welcoming spaces

Supporters of Navalny defy Kremlin at final farewell

Alexei Navalny lay in an open casket in a Moscow church last Friday under a bed of roses, carnations and chrysanthemums, his face pale in candlelight, surrounded by grieving relatives and supporters.

Ceasefire talks The pathway to a pause in hostilities-and the obstacles

Last week, Joe Biden said he believed that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas could soon be reached.