RSS Feeds

A spicy, umami-rich salad provides sweetness and crunch alongside these simple Chinese-style courgette pancakes

This week marks nine years since I started writing this column, and here’s something I’m excited by: that we’ve only just scratched the surface when it comes to our collective knowledge about Asian cuisine. When it comes to Chinese food, for example, we might know a fair bit about, for example, Cantonese or Sichuan food, but what about Fujian or Hunanese? There are still so many riches to discover and excellent meals to be had. Today’s offering is a small token in that vein: a simple vegetable pancake made with courgette, known as hutazi and straight from the homes of Beijing. I’ve taken the liberty of embellishing it with some hot and sweet cucumbers.

From the gold rush to civil rights, the moon landing to 9/11, the US has always understood, mythologised and sold itself through the power of the still image

The United States was founded in 1776, but did not begin to see itself until the autumn of 1839, when daguerreotypes, the first form of photograph, reached American cities. You could argue the US began again on the morning it could look at its own face.

At first photography seemed to answer the democratic promise of 1776. A portrait was no longer reserved for the rich; almost anyone could now leave a trace of their existence. The gold rush became one of the first great American dramas to find the camera: ordinary diggers squinting into the lens, looking beyond it for gold. A more emblematic American scene can scarcely be imagined: what would be called the American Dream, a lottery everyone plays and very few win. The myth was not that they all found gold – it was that the search itself made them American.

As this year’s invertebrate of the year competition launches, we join scientists studying last year’s winner

• Nominate your invertebrate of the year

Witek Morek is closely inspecting an old brick-and-flint wall on the Cambridgeshire campus of the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

“We are going to use a very advanced tool designed by bioengineers and evolved over millions of years – the human hand – and grab some moss, and put it in an envelope,” he says.

Lily, 26, a PhD student, meets Brodie, 24, a chef

What were you hoping for?
Love, passion … marriage. Failing that, some good craic and a free dinner.

The gap between America and Britain has grown economically as Trump asserts ‘the UK is dying’. Culturally, however, it’s a different story

On 1 June 1785 John Adams travelled to London to become the first US ambassador to Britain, in which capacity he was to meet George III. By his own admission, Adams trembled at the encounter. After all, it had been less than a decade since he helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence denouncing the king as an absolute “tyrant” who had “plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people”.

A trepidatious Adams trudged through the London drizzle to St James’s Palace, where he presented his credentials to King George. He bowed three times, then declared he would be “the happiest of men if I can be instrumental in recommending my country more and more to your Majesty’s royal benevolence”.

Half of county’s planning infringement notices target caravans in fields, fuelling eviction fears for vulnerable people

People living in caravans and horseboxes on farms in Cornwall because they can’t afford or find a house to rent are facing homelessness after a crackdown by the council.

Cornwall council recently announced that it was one of the top five authorities in England for enforcing infringements of planning regulations. Half of those notices, it said, were served on caravans in agricultural fields.

The gap between America and Britain has grown economically as Trump asserts ‘the UK is dying’. Culturally, however, it’s a different story

On 1 June 1785 John Adams travelled to London to become the first US ambassador to Britain, in which capacity he was to meet George III. By his own admission, Adams trembled at the encounter. After all, it had been less than a decade since he helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence denouncing the king as an absolute “tyrant” who had “plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people”.

A trepidatious Adams trudged through the London drizzle to St James’s Palace, where he presented his credentials to King George. He bowed three times, then declared he would be “the happiest of men if I can be instrumental in recommending my country more and more to your Majesty’s royal benevolence”.

Bureau of Meteorology says city’s mean temperature reached 16.1C, surpassing the previous record of 15.7C set in 1991

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Sydney has officially experienced its hottest June since records began, after a winter month of spring-like warmth.

While early weather data suggested the month was merely among the warmest, the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed on Friday that June 2026 broke the all-time mean temperature record at Observatory Hill, where tracking first began in 1859.

The New South Wales premier warns of rising threat of Pauline Hanson’s party as he addresses party conference

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has admitted the Labor party needs to “climb Everest” to stay in power amid the rising threat posed by One Nation ahead of next year’s state election.

But while Minns received a standing ovation as he circled Sydney’s town hall before addressing the NSW Labor conference on Saturday, he did not avoid the protests over conflict in Gaza which have marked party conferences in previous years.

The couple were married in a star-studded ceremony at Madison Square Garden

• Full report: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce marry at New York City’s Madison Square Garden

From Albania to Portugal, privatisation of the coastline is bringing locals out on to the streets. For them, the economic benefits are few and far between

Few scenes better capture the essence of a European summer than the terminals of our airports in the early hours of the morning. Britons necking pints like a football match is on, German couples eagerly murmuring about their cycling tour across Croatia, and passengers sleeping peacefully on corridor floors. This holiday season, millions will embark on an annual pilgrimage to the hotspots of Mallorca, Corfu and Albufeira to enjoy a much-anticipated break in the sun.

But it’s increasingly likely that they will face some kind of hostility there. In Barcelona, demonstrators might spray them with water pistols or tape off the entrance to their hotel. In Tenerife, visitors might see “tourists go home” graffiti on the side of the road as they drive their rental car down to the beach.

Adam Almeida is a writer and researcher living in London

Ghana can only have feared the worst when Luis Suárez’s number came up in the seventh minute. A day on from the 16th anniversary of one of the most infamous episodes in World Cup history, the Colombia forward who shares a name with the man whose handball broke the hearts of Black Stars supporters in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup returned to haunt them.

Not long after coming off the bench, it was the Sporting striker who provided the assist for what turned out to be the winning goal from Jhon Arias to set up a last-16 clash against Switzerland in Vancouver on Tuesday. Even if they couldn’t find another goal that their superiority clearly warranted, Colombia were deserved winners and look more than capable of at least matching their previous best result at the 2014 World Cup when they lost to Brazil in the last eight.

Investigative journalist had enemies in high places and accused, Yorgen Fenech, is establishment figure from powerful family

On the steps of the courts of justice in Valletta, there is a bronze statue of Malta’s late president. A bundle of papers in one hand, Guido de Marco stands on a plinth, looking out at passersby in the busy street below.

Every morning since Wednesday this week, his daughter has walked up the steps of the same courthouse, in dark glasses and smart clothes, a bundle of papers in her hand. A sought-after criminal lawyer, Giannella de Marco is representing the man accused of ordering the 2017 murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, in a case that continues to dominate public debate nearly nine years after the event.