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Spain’s No 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz has been bundled out of the US Open in a surprise defeat to world No 74 Botic van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands. Photograph: Luke Hales/Getty Images As Carlos Alcaraz sat down in his chair after 90 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium, he looked completely perplexed. Alcaraz was not merely having a bad day at the office, he had been utterly horrendous. For nearly two sets, unforced errors had flowed freely from his racket and he did not know how to stop them. A few minutes later, Botic van de Zandschulp held serve to establish a two sets to love lead. Even as the match rapidly fell away from the No 3 seed, Alcaraz was still the favourite to win, still expected to somehow find a way through as the greatest players always do. But for once in the 21-year-old’s prodigious career, the well had run dry. His inconsistency sharply contrasted with an extremely solid Van de Zandschulp and at the end of an electric night the Dutchman pulled off one of the biggest grand slam upsets in recent years by toppling Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the US Open. Having established himself as such a reliable performer in the biggest tournaments in no time at all, this defeat marks the first time that Alcaraz has lost to a player ranked outside of the top 15 at a grand slam since the French Open in 2021, when he was 18 years old and ranked 97th. It is also his earliest loss at a grand slam since that same year. It was immediately clear that Alcaraz was completely off as Van de Zandschulp rolled through the opening set without issue. Even though he is usually brilliant, Alcaraz can also sometimes be painfully erratic. He was at his very worst here, so often choosing the most unnecessary, complicated shot when simplicity would do and he struggled to land three consecutive groundstrokes all night. Instead of problem solving and finding a solution, Alcaraz admitted afterwards that he did not know what to do: “He didn’t make a lot of mistakes that I thought he was going to do,” said Alcaraz. “So I was confused a little bit. I didn’t know how to manage that, how to deal with it. I couldn’t increase my level. I think my level stayed at the same point all the match, and it wasn’t enough to win the match or to give myself the chance to getting into the match or trying to give myself chances.” Alcaraz had arrived at the US Open, the site of his first grand slam title in 2022, as the player of the summer. His first Roland Garros crown had been quickly followed by a second Wimbledon title and an Olympic silver medal, where only a supreme Novak Djokovic could stop him. Alcaraz admitted that he was tired and feeling the effects of such a busy summer but he also needs to make significant improvements mentally. “Today I was playing against the opponent, and I was playing against myself in my mind,” said Alcaraz. “A lot of emotions that I couldn’t control. It was kind of… I was up in some points, then I lose some points; I get down. It was a roller coaster, let’s say, in my mind. So I can’t be like that if I want to think about [winning] big things, so I have to improve.” Botic van de Zandschlup stuns Carlos Alcaraz with a shock victory on day four of the US Open. Photograph: Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports He was also outplayed by a brilliant opponent who finally demonstrated his talents on one of the biggest stages. The Dutchman was everywhere; his athleticism and defence playing a significant role in Alcaraz’s discomfort, he commanded the baseline with his forehand and he was brilliant in the forecourt, frequently beating Alcaraz to the net. In the final set, as Alcaraz tried to pull himself back into contention, Van de Zandschulp held his nerve and closed out the win. Three months ago, there was a chance that Van de Zandschulp might not even be at the US Open in any form. A formidable player who reached No 22 in 2022, his head has so often been his biggest obstacle and he is usually a picture of misery on the court. After a listless first round loss at the French Open, the Dutchman admitted he was considering retirement. “At the time I said it, I was thinking about it, of course,” he said. “It was just more the way things were going. I got injured last year. Still had some troubles with the injury from last year. That was for me like if I have to keep playing with the pain I had, yeah, then there was a chance maybe I would stop playing.” It took a signficant amount of effort for Van de Zandsculp to find his way back onto the right path, including dropping back down to ATP Challenger events after his ranking tumbled and rebuilding from scratch. Now he has toppled the great Carlos Alcaraz, the player of the summer, in one of the biggest tournaments in the world. “Actually right now not so many,” said Van de Zandschulp, laughing, on his emotions after such an enormous achievement. “Yeah, maybe I’m still processing it. Maybe in a couple of hours or tomorrow I [will] feel a little bit more emotional with what happened tonight.” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/30/us-open-carlos-alcaraz-vs-botic-van-de-zandschulp-results-match-report

Previous reports show the red dwarf honeybee has slowly expanded its territory from Asia to the Middle East and north-east Africa. Photograph: Anant Kasetsinsombut/Alamy The red dwarf honeybee has established a colony in Europe for the first time, scientists have found. The bee, Apis florea, is native to Asia and its discovery has raised alarm among local beekeepers and conservationists, who fear the potentially devastating impact on native bee po[CENSORED]tions. “It is concerning that Apis florea has been found in Malta,” said Dave Goulson, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex, who was not involved in the research. “Apis florea is likely to compete for pollen and nectar with our native pollinators, a group of insects that are already in decline. It is also very likely that these bees will be carrying multiple diseases which European bees may have little resistance to.” Previous reports show the red dwarf species has slowly expanded its territory from Asia to the Middle East and north-east Africa, but until now it had never been reported in Europe. “If it is in Malta, this is the first occurrence of a honeybee in Europe that is not the western hive bee, Apis mellifera,” Francis Ratnieks, a British entomologist and emeritus professor of apiculture at the University of Sussex, who was not involved in the research, said. When the colony, consisting of more than 2,000 adult bees, was discovered encircling a tree branch, DNA testing was done to identify the species. As soon as the species was identified as Apis florea it was removed and destroyed. But the researchers, who wrote in the Journal of Apicultural Research, suspect a group of bees had already left the hive to start a new colony. The proximity of the colony to Birżebbuġa freeport, Malta’s major cargo hub, suggests the bees may have arrived via a commercial vessel. “This is one of the main (and faster) routes through which different subspecies of Apis mellifera, as well as other bee, wasp and other flying insect species can move from their native ranges to more remote locations,” said Juliana Rangel, a professor of apiculture at Texas A&M University, who was not involved in the research. Rangel said this new finding was yet another example of increasing temperatures due to the climate crisis driving the spread of species to previously unoccupied territories. The researchers believe the mild winters in Malta and other southern European countries favour the survival of this invasive species. The red dwarf honeybee is also found in Israel. “If it can live in Israel, I dare say it can do fine in Malta,” said Ratnieks. It could be “a matter of just a few years” for this species to spread to another location, Rangel said. “Given the large number of islands in the Mediterranean that are relatively near each other, and the fact that the continental land is also so nearby, it is very plausible that more of these incursions will occur in the future, threatening our biodiversity in ways that we may not even yet understand. “The only thing that we can do is to be vigilant, report any sightings of specimens or swarms that appear different or new, remove the specimens as soon as they are positively identified, search the vicinity for other specimens, and continue with monitoring efforts, especially in ports of entry where swarms can be travelling on ships.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/30/colony-invasive-red-dwarf-honeybee-first-time-europe

Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz stands with his children Gus and Hope during a performance of the US national anthem at the Democratic National Convention on August 22 [Mike Blake/Reuters] Los Angeles, California – The criticism came almost as soon as Tim Walz joined the Democratic presidential ticket: Did the Minnesota governor exaggerate his military record for political gain? That was the line of attack Republicans zeroed in on. Just one day after Walz became the running mate of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Republicans were on the offensive, questioning his 24 years of National Guard service. “I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?” JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential pick, asked at a campaign stop on August 7. He proceeded to falsely accuse Walz of abandoning his unit on the eve of combat. “What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valour garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not.” But while Republicans continue to denounce Walz, experts say the importance of military service may be waning — at least, as far as rallying voters goes. Wayne Lesperance, a political science professor and president of New England College, said the debate over Walz’s military record reminded him of how rare military experience has become in presidential races. Not since 2008 and the George W Bush presidency has a military veteran served as an executive in the White House, either as a president or vice president. “There was a time in American history where that sort of service — military service of any kind, really — was seen as something that was an absolute must,” Lesperance told Al Jazeera. “And that’s clearly not the case anymore.” Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance poses in front of a campaign plane with members of Georgia’s Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office on August 22 [Gary McCullough/AP Photo] A fading tradition In the current presidential race, neither of the two leading candidates has any military background whatsoever. Harris, the Democrat, has spent nearly her entire career either as a prosecutor or in politics. Her Republican adversary, former President Donald Trump, likewise avoided military service. He received several draft deferments during the Vietnam War and later established himself as a real estate tycoon and reality TV personality. That marks a shift in United States tradition. Starting in the 1940s, the country was led by a string of veteran presidents. First there was Harry Truman, a colonel. Then Dwight Eisenhower, a general. Even Richard Nixon was a Navy Reserve commander. But that streak ended in 1993, with the election of Democratic President Bill Clinton. In the three decades since, only one veteran, Bush, has reached the White House. In the US, the president doubles as the head of the military, and Lesperance explained that previous generations of voters wanted their commander-in-chief to understand firsthand the stakes of sending young Americans to war. “That was the big piece of it,” Lesperance said. “I think that sort of service was also a test of patriotism.” In 2014, as a Congress member, Tim Walz, left, joined a round table with Melissa Houghtaling and her father Curt Houghtaling to discuss mental health services for veterans like their late brother and son [File: Jim Mone/AP Photo] A numbers game? But a generational shift has taken place in the United States. Mandatory military service used to be a common facet of American life: During World War II, more than 10 million men were drafted into the military. But the proportion of men drafted declined in subsequent conflicts. Over the course of the Vietnam War, for instance, only 1.86 million men were called to duty. The draft ended in 1972, and military service has been voluntary ever since. As a result, the number of veterans in US society began to shrink further. Today, the US military struggles to meet its recruiting goals. In the 2023 fiscal year, the Department of Defense reported that the military missed its target by 41,000 recruits. Jeremy Teigen, an Air Force veteran and political science professor at Ramapo College of New Jersey, argues that the public has not lost interest in electing veterans. The problem is, fewer of them are available as candidates. “The decline in military veterans [as candidates] is, in large part, explained by the fact that we stopped generating such huge pools of veterans,” Teigen said. Lesperance echoed that observation. “What happened, it seems to me, is that there were fewer and fewer candidates that were emerging in the ’90s and beyond that had that military service,” he said. Army veteran Jerry Wood, 82, shows his support for Vice President Kamala Harris during an event called the ‘Kamalanomenon Celebration in The Villages’ at The Villages, Florida, on August 18 [Octavio Jones/Reuters] Shifting perceptions But some critics speculate that the changing nature of the wars themselves has shaped perception of the veterans involved — and whether they might be suited for public office. Writing in the publication The Hill, veterans lawyer Rory Riley-Topping pointed out that every time a Vietnam War veteran has run for the presidency, they have fallen short. Vietnam veteran and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, for instance, was defeated in 2008, and Democrat John Kerry lost in 2004, amid a smear campaign about his war record. “It tells us that the Vietnam War changed our perceptions of who veterans are and what they are capable of,” Riley-Topping wrote, citing the divisive nature of the conflict and the public backlash that accompanied it. Previous veteran-presidents, she added, were seen as “strong, mission-oriented leaders”. But during the Vietnam era, “the public perception changed to one of veterans as victims, often struggling with mental health issues such as PTSD”. The tactics used against veterans like Kerry continue to have ripple effects. The term “swiftboating” — derived from the name of the group that attacked Kerry, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — has since become shorthand for distorting a candidate’s record. Several US media outlets, including NPR and CNN, have deployed the term to describe the present-day attacks on Walz. Even the Republican strategist who advised the Swift Boat campaign, Chris LaCivita, has drawn parallels between Walz and Kerry, calling them “birds of a feather”. For Teigen, the decreasing number of veterans in the voting public is also exerting an influence on who is elected to public office. With fewer veterans overall, Americans are not directly feeling the impacts of war the same way they used to. “We rely on a very small segment of our society to be in uniform, and they’re not as connected to society, and they’re much smaller in number,” Teigen said. Then-Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry rallies with veterans from the swift boat he served on during the Vietnam War in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on July 28, 2004 [File: Jim Young/Reuters] New pathways to the presidency The impact of those demographic trends is felt beyond the White House. Veteran representation in Congress has also declined since the 1970s, around the time of the Vietnam War. Back then, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, approximately 70 percent of legislators in each chamber were veterans. Now, that number hovers at less than 20 percent. Christian Grose, professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California, said the military used to be seen as a springboard for leadership. “The path used to be military service, and then go back to your state and run for something at the state level or lower, and then eventually go to the presidency,” Grose said. “But what we’re seeing instead is people who are running for office having other careers outside of the military first.” He pointed out that it remains common for lawyers to seek the presidency, a tradition that began with the “founding fathers” of the US and continues with Harris, a former attorney general from California. Grose added that the shift away from military veterans in office has coincided with greater representation in other areas. For example, women are statistically less likely to have a military background. Yet, an increasing number of female candidates are seeking the presidency, from Harris to Hillary Clinton to Nikki Haley. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 20 [Jeffrey Phelps/AP Photo] An enduring value For Teigen, however, the fact that both major-party running mates in this year’s race are veterans is evidence that military experience is still valuable in politics. Not only is Walz a National Guard veteran, but his Republican counterpart Vance is also a former US Marine. “Both vice presidential candidates have service. We certainly wouldn’t expect that, just looking at the raw numbers of veterans who might become eligible political players,” Teigen said. He explained that many Americans still perceive the military as a trusted institution. Parties and campaigns leverage that perception, he added, as an efficient way to connect with voters. For instance, a 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center found that military service ranked as the most positive trait a presidential candidate could have, above religion and experiences like being a business executive. “There are some things that, generally speaking, voters infer from military service, like public service, sacrifice, patriotism, duty to country. That’s all baked in,” Teigen said. The Pew Center’s research also indicated that a candidate’s military service is more likely to appeal to men and Republicans. But Lesperance speculated that may have changed, since Trump did not serve in the military — and he nevertheless has become a defining force in the Republican Party. Even among Democrats, Grose believes Walz’s military background may give the party a slight edge in areas where the military is held in high regard, including communities with military bases. “For Tim Walz, I think that’s one of the advantages that he has electorally,” he said. Grose acknowledged that such a boost may not be substantial. But given how tight the presidential race is this year, he warned that no candidate can afford to give up an advantage, particularly in battleground states. “It still can move some voters in an election in Wisconsin or Arizona, where the margin might be 5,000 people.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/27/does-a-presidential-candidates-military-service-still-matter-to-us-voters

Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea, August 25 [Handout/EUNAVFOR ASPIDES via Reuters] Yemen’s Houthis have released a video that appears to show their fighters boarding the oil tanker Sounion and detonating explosives on the ship that the group previously attacked in the Red Sea earlier this month. The footage released on Thursday comes amid international fear of a major oil spill from the Greek-flagged vessel that could cause an environmental catastrophe and pose a risk to navigation in the region. The ship is carrying nearly one million barrels of crude oil. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Thursday that Sounion belonged to a company that had “violated” the blockade announced by the Yemeni group against Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis, who present themselves as Yemen’s armed forces, have been targeting what they claim are Israel-linked vessels – an effort that they say aims to pressure the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,600 Palestinians. The Yemeni group also started attacking ships linked to the United States and United Kingdom after the two countries launched a military campaign in January to end the Houthis’ assaults on shipping lanes in the region. The video appears to show drone footage of the exterior of the ship and a walkthrough of its cockpit before featuring a fighter holding an automatic weapon on board. It concludes with a series of explosions on the surface of the tanker. The footage did not show damage to the core of the ship where the oil is stored. It is not clear when the video was shot or whether it will affect efforts to tow the ship to avert an oil spill. Sunion was first attacked on August 22 and its crew was evacuated the same day. Earlier on Thursday, the European Union’s military mission in the Red Sea said that “multiple fires have been detected in several locations on the main deck of the vessel.” But it added that the ship remains anchored, confirming that there has been no oil spill from the tanker. “The Red Sea is not only one of the major sea routes for global transport but also a unique marine ecosystem, now under threat from potential pollution,” the mission, dubbed Operation Aspides, said in a social media post. “The European Union, through diplomatic efforts and engagements, is playing a crucial role in facilitating the salvage of MV [merchant vessel] Sounion.” Earlier this week, the US said that its forces in the region are also monitoring the situation, stressing that the tanker appeared to be leaking oil. “We are aware of a third party that attempted to send two tugs to the vessel to help salvage, but they were warned away by the Houthis,” Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder told reporters on Tuesday. But Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said on Wednesday the group had communicated with “international parties” to allow for the vessel to be pulled away. Abdulsalam added that the targeting of Sunion demonstrates the Houthis’ “seriousness” in enforcing their Red Sea ban on ships linked to Israel “to pressure the enemy Zionist entity to end its aggression against Gaza”. Last month, Israel struck Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, killing at least six people in response to a Houthi drone attack that killed one person in Tel Aviv. The Houthis have promised to retaliate for the bombing, but they have not launched a major attack against Israel in the past weeks. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/29/houthis-release-footage-of-fighters-boarding-greek-oil-tanker-in-red-sea

Music title: Top 50 Songs: August 2024 (08/17/2024) I Best Billboard Music Chart Hits Signer: A group of artists Release date: 2024/08/15 Official YouTube link:

Nick movie: THE WAIT Time: Movie Trailers Source Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 2 mins Trailer:

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We can't really blame Chevrolet for not focusing more of its attention on its gas-powered Equinox compact SUV, which was last redesigned for 2018. Despite the bow-tie brand updating every other SUV in its lineup in the interim, plus recently introducing a separate Equinox EV model, the ol' fire-and-brimstone Equinox has remained Chevy's bestselling vehicle that isn't a pickup truck. But even money printers require fresh ink eventually, and the 2025 Equinox finally receives a meaningful makeover befitting its high-volume status. Dressing Up Looking like a Chevy Traverse that's been shrunk in the wash, the redesigned two-row Equinox is a stocky, handsome thing with a Silverado-inspired snout that lends it some visual heft at the curb. The new Equinox's wheel openings are more squared off, adding to its rugged flair, and you can now opt for a contrasting roof color. Different grille treatments distinguish the three trim levels—base LT in chrome, the RS in gloss black, and the Activ in dark chrome—with the Activ leaning into the off-road schtick with 17-inch wheels wrapped with all-terrain tires (19s and 20s are available, depending on the trim). Exterior dimensions are similar to before, save for a 2.5-inch increase in width, which adds some welcome elbow room inside. The back seat's flat floor is adult friendly, and cargo room is essentially unchanged at 30 cubic feet in the way back and 64 cubes with the rear seats folded—more than you get in the Equinox EV but not class-leading. Interior material quality, however, has improved, with even the base model cutting back on the hard, grainy plastics in direct view. Or at least accenting them with nicer bits of finish, whether it be dollops of chrome, piano black, or the textured pieces dressing up the dash, vents, and door panels. The faux leather upholstery on higher trims is pleasing enough, with the RS adding red contrasting stitching and the Activ sporting microfiber seat inserts. The overall theme of the Equinox's dashboard also mimics that of the larger Traverse as well as the EVs, which isn’t a bad thing. The centerpiece is the 11.0-inch configurable instrument display and adjacent 11.3-inch touchscreen running General Motors's Google-based infotainment system with standard wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It's a crisp, easy-to-use interface that elicits few complaints in practice, though we're still not fans of locking headlight controls behind a screen. We could also do with less gloss-black trim that will quickly attract dust and fingerprints, but at least there are physical buttons and knobs for the climate controls. The center console benefits from the relocation of the Equinox's gear selector to the steering column, which cleans up its design and frees up space for additional storage cubbies, including an available wireless charging dock. Modest Motivation Driving the new Equinox is less of a sea change, with the sole powerplant being a 175-hp turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder. Gone is the previous generation's six-speed automatic transmission, replaced by a decently responsive continuously variable automatic with seven stepped "gears." Front-wheel drive is standard on all trims; all-wheel drive is a $2000 option that both swaps in an eight-speed torque-converter automatic and ups the four-banger's torque output from 184 to 203 pound-feet. Both setups work well, with the front-driver exhibiting minimal droning from the engine and feeling easier to wield around town. The AWD version, on the other hand, is a smidge more planted on the move, but its transmission races for top gear, which means it must hunt around for a lower ratio when you summon the wee four-cylinder's grunt. Acceleration is best described as adequate, with either configuration likely moseying to 60 mph in around 8.0 seconds. With only a modest ruckus coming from the engine room, interior noise and road isolation are respectable, but we'll verify that once we get a vehicle to test. A small downer is that EPA combined fuel economy drops compared to its predecessor, but only by 1 or 2 mpg. Cross-shoppers take note that even the slowest Equinox EV will likely beat the gas model in a drag race, though the latter's 400-plus miles of EPA range dwarfs the EV, which tops out at 319 miles. Turn the Equinox's chunky steering wheel and it changes direction smoothly and predictably, albeit with more effort at low speeds than we remember. Estimated curb weights and overall chassis tuning have largely held course, and so has the over-the-road driving experience: Competent, stable, and comfortable is the way. We imagine most buyers will be more pleased with the new Equinox's general refinement and solid-feeling structure than they will be saddened by its lack of sportiness. Shoppers also shouldn't get too excited about the Activ's implied off-road capability, as it's not outfitted to tackle much more than a muddy dirt road. There's no lifted suspension or underbody protection, though AWD models do feature an Off-Road drive mode that relaxes traction- and stability-control intervention. Priced to Play As before, value is one of the Equinox's greatest strengths. Prices open at $31,080 for the LT and $35,480 for the RS and Activ, and all trims come standard with a heated steering wheel and front seats, plus most of the active safety tech in GM's arsenal. Primary options include ventilated front seats, heated outboard rear seats, a digital rearview camera mirror, traffic-sign recognition, and a 360-degree camera system. Notably absent is Super Cruise (adaptive cruise control is standard), but that could be good fodder for a mid-cycle update. Fully loaded, expect to pay just north of $40K, putting the Equinox in the heart of the compact-SUV segment and well below the initial ask of a comparable EV version. While we'd like to see a more powerful engine option or a hybrid model added to the mix down the road, these latest updates should help keep the Equinox a solid fixture in Chevy's lineup for the foreseeable future. https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a61967656/2025-chevy-equinox-drive/

The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Place de la Concorde. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian The 17th Paralympic Games began under blue skies then lit up the night as Paris made a powerful start in extending to disability sport the same energy and joy that has so far characterised its historic summer. In the coming 11 days there will be new heroes made, new stories told and, just perhaps, the possibility of a legacy of positive change for people with disability. But in front of a crowd of 35,000 spectators at the Place de la Concorde, a ceremony threaded together by bold, expressive dance and featuring a parade of 128 often jubilant competing nations created a party atmosphere, and an image of a country still “en fete”. As the head of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons called for a “revolution of inclusion” in his speech and the president of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet, praised the fans, “la public complètement fou”, there was space left for the French president, Emmanuel Macron, only to perform the briefest of ceremonial functions, declaring the Games open, as the energy of night swarmed elsewhere. Unlike the Olympic opening ceremony there were no shots of sodden performers to spoil the party. Temperatures of 30C and cloudless skies meant that everything passed without disruption and the tribunes were full. By the time the French delegation arrived in the arena past 10pm to the sounds of Champs-Élysées and various other pieces of chanson that remain in the collective memory, the spirit of the summer of 2024 was once again in full effect. Involving 500 performers, including dancers, pop stars, furry revolutionary hats and the ubiquitous DJ, the title of the ceremony was Paradox, the theme a journey from Discord to Concord. As with every aspect of Paris 2024 this was an idea pinned to the geography and history of the French capital. Great Britain flagbearers Lucy Shuker and Terry Bywater with the athletes as ParalympicsGB arrive for the opening ceremony. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian The ceremony began in the “wide open” fashion, in public, with Paralympic delegations passing down a section of the sun-drenched Champs-Élysées and a collection of Unesco executives, rappers and Jackie Chan joining them as part of the torch relay. What Parisians describe as “the greatest avenue in the world” is traditionally the place where France salutes its heroes (with a parade for the stars of the Olympics to come in September). But the Élysées did not feature in the Games earlier this summer and has been reserved for the Paralympics, where it will also feature as part of the marathon on the final day of competition. From the open streets the ceremony moved to a ticketed event at the Place de la Concorde. Once the Place de la Revolution, site of the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, it was renamed in 1795, an act according to Paris 2024 creative director Thomas Jolly, “to appease and reconcile the French”, making the square itself a “place of paradox”. Jolly argues that the ceremony explores a further need for reconciliation: between the 15% of the global po[CENSORED]tion who have a disability and the societies that ignore their needs. “Living together better starts with mutual consideration”, he says, “then we can repair, reconcile, adapt and move forward together better.” Ironically, in the week when one of Britain’s greatest Paralympians – Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson – was forced to drag herself out of her wheelchair and off a train in London as she sought to make her way to the Games, Jolly said the ceremony would make the argument that “disability is not a flaw in the person, it is the architecture, practices, attitudes, lifestyles and models of society that create the ‘situation’ of disability for these people.” Broken into five acts, the ceremonies performances were directed by the Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman, brought on board by Jolly to bring energy and humour to proceedings. This was a decision immediately vindicated. The introductory segment saw French swimmer and model Théo Curin, who has neither hands nor feet, assembling a taxi of Phrages, a furry red private hire vehicle he takes to the arena to deliver his one line: “Welcome to Paris!” (He does so with aplomb). From there the spectacle exploded into life in a whirl of dancers and stirring music. The performances included Christine and the Queens delivering an updated and almost unrecognisable Je Ne Regrette Rien and a performance of Ravel’s Bolero so robust and powerful it consigned all memories of Torvill and Dean to the bin. The performers were a mixture of disabled and non-disabled, sometimes dancing in opposition (discord) but ultimately coming together (concord) in a piece called Sportography which incorporated sporting movement and artistic expression alongside wild visuals projected on to the obelisk at the heart of the square. All of this performance was carried by the incredible talent of South African amputee dancer Musa Motha. After three and a half hours of spectacle and speeches, the last act was to once again light the Olympic cauldron and send the bronzed balloon into the Paris night sky. According to Ekman: “I often find that words are worthless and that images, or the situations they illustrate, are much more valuable.” On a night like this, it was difficult to argue he was wrong. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/28/paris-paralympics-make-powerful-start-in-journey-from-discord-to-concord

The open-topped Peak Sightseer buses take in many of the area’s attractions. Photograph: PR Image Aperegrine falcon is flying high over the gothic tower of the cathedral while elegant grey wagtails hop across the curving weir among flocks of gulls and geese. Is this really the worst city in the UK? Derby recently came bottom in a Which? poll of big UK cities for a short break. I’m only passing through on my way to the Peak District, but I plan to stop over on my way back. It’s certainly a useful hub for reaching the Peaks by bus or train. Derbyshire has good public transport, a new unlimited bus ticket (£33 a week), and a growing number of local visitor attractions with incentives for car-free visitors. I’m hoping to put all these to the test during a week’s exploring. Derby bus station is a 20-minute riverside stroll from the railway station under shady lime trees. I catch the Transpeak bus through Matlock and Bakewell to Ashford in the Water. On the 90-minute journey we pass yellow fields of buttercups, grazing sheep and steep green dales, all stitched together by miles of dry-stone wall. I’m travelling by bus as much for the top-deck views as the destinations themselves. On the 90-minute journey we pass yellow fields of buttercups, grazing sheep and steep green dales, all stitched together by miles of dry-stone wall Approaching Ashford, we roll past the medieval Sheepwash Bridge, with the sunlit River Wye rippling through three low stone arches. When I return to the bridge on foot that evening, I see tufted ducks diving, and stippled brown trout swimming through the shadows. Nearby, villagers are taking down the decorative petals, seeds and leaves from this year’s well dressings. I’m staying in the revamped Ashford Arms, which reopened a few months ago after a four-year closure and £1.6m refurbishment. It has a big beer garden and striking new decor: dark beams, ochre walls, watercolour landscapes and, in my room, a claw-footed freestanding bathtub (doubles from £90, B&B). Best of all, it’s opposite the bus stop, where services include one of the Peak District’s open-air sightseeing buses (day tickets £9.50/£5.50 concessions). Trailing honeysuckle, wet elderflowers, mock orange blossom, fresh-cut hay: the passing countryside is full of summer smells next morning – one of many great things about open-topped buses. Swallows slice delicately through the air nearby. At Chatsworth, where I’m heading, car-free visitors get a free guidebook to the painted hall and richly panelled oak room, the gilded great stairs and tapestried bedchamber. The driver tells me to take the Blue route tomorrow – ‘worth it for the view from Winnats Pass alone’. Photograph: George W Johnson/Getty Images My favourite parts of the 105-acre (42-hectare) gardens are the wilder sections, where the trout stream runs through banks of orchids and pale starry camassia and a long coal tunnel leads under the hill to emerge in the rockery. As I get back on the Red route bus, the driver tells me to take the Blue route tomorrow (“worth it for the view from Winnats Pass alone”) and not to miss the chunky chips in the Ye Olde Nags Head in Castleton. So next morning the other open-topper carries me through a roll call of iconic UK hiking places: Mam Tor, Stanage Edge, Hope Valley. When I step off at the Longshaw Estate, I spy a deer standing in the woods, staring. I walk past twisted mossy trees and purple rhododendrons. Green-walled lanes lead down through foxgloves and forget-me-nots, and rocky steps climb back up by the waterfalls of Padley Gorge to reach wide views across the moors (free). I’m reading Ethel (Vertebrate, 2024), Helen Mort’s new biography of Sheffield-based countryside campaigner Ethel Haythornthwaite, who raised money to buy the Longshaw Estate in 1928 and save it from development. A 1930s pamphlet, reproduced in the book, shows Longshaw with the caption “Saved for the Nation”. The second half of the book is Haythornthwaite’s long-form poem The Pride of the Peak, her celebration of place and season, which becomes my guidebook for the afternoon. Padley Gorge can be reached by bus, stopping at the Longshaw Estate. Photograph: SuxxesPhoto/Alamy Castleton, in the poem, is a “little limestone town aside the hills / … Where white spurs jut and strange enchantment fills / The heart delighting…” The area is peppered with visitable caves and “rare blue veins in arches cavernous”. You can buy jewellery made from Blue John, a mineral unique to this area, in the town’s shops. The bus route ends near Blue John cavern (£19/£13) winding slowly up through “huge hills of green”, chalky turrets and towering silences. Next morning, I stop off at Haddon Hall (£26/£24, under-15s free) to walk through its airy Tudor gallery and gardens full of irises, peonies and cascading scented roses. Arriving by bus, which is easy, gets you 20% off entry. With flowery gardens clustering around its old grey walls, Haddon Hall is a great contrast with the epic scale of Chatsworth. There’s a smell of meadowsweet as I cross the bridge into the grounds from meadows rich in yellow rattle, ragged robin, clover and cranesbill to a restaurant in an old stable block. My Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket is valid right across the county on almost any bus except the open-toppers and I decide to spend my last day or two exploring the less-crowded towns and villages of south Derbyshire. Besides the buses, there’s a train from Matlock, which takes half an hour to Derby along the little Derwent Valley Line, crossing and recrossing the winding river (£8.10 day return, eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk). It passes Cromford Mills, where Richard Arkwright created the first water-powered cotton mills in 1771. Derwent valley is packed with attractions – cable cars, children’s farms, theme parks – several with rewards for car-free visitors But I catch bus 6.1 from Haddon Hall back through the well-connected Derwent valley. This area is packed with classic attractions – cable cars, children’s farms, theme parks, several with rewards for car-free visitors. White Peak distillery in Ambergate offers a free hot drink; there’s discounted entry to the Heights of Abraham in Matlock or Crich Tramway Village; and 10% off in the café at Cromford Mills. Stopping at hilly Wirksworth for lunch, I visit St Mary’s church and find T’owd Man, a medieval carving of a lead worker with his pick and kibble (basket). In the nearby Heritage Centre (£5, £1 for accompanying children) there are tools and stories from the local lead-mining industry, and some reading glasses that belonged to George Eliot’s aunt. From Wirksworth it’s 50 minutes further to Derby for my last night. The Museum of Making, in Derby This city, with quiet shopping streets and crumbling infrastructure, does not have a great reputation as a tourist spot. But I always find it a friendly, affordable base for visiting the Derbyshire countryside, with sundry charms of its own. Last summer, I visited the new Museum of Making (free), walked along the river to Darley Park, with its candyfloss-huge summer hydrangeas, and caught a bus to Spondon for a stroll through fields and an ice-cream at the Bluebell Dairy. This year I take a solar-powered electric boat trip up the Derwent looking for kingfishers (£8/£6) and stroll over the bridge to the Exeter Arms for a perfect garlicky slice of Homity Pie and a pint or two of the Dancing Duck brewery’s moreish pale ale. From the top floor bar of Derby’s riverside Holiday Inn (doubles from £80 room-only ), next to the bus station, there’s a sunset view. I can see distant wooded hills beyond the tall cathedral, where peregrine falcons nested again this summer. Bus 114 to Kedleston Hall (£18/£9) next morning leaves from nearby, takes 25 minutes and arriving by bus earns me a free cup of tea. The path from the bus stop brings views of the Palladian bridge and long lake. Kedleston has miles of birdsong-filled woods, and the house, designed by Robert Adam, includes a columned marble hall and Blue John vases. Back in Derby, there’s just an hour or so before my train leaves. I have a drink at Electric Daisy, a flowery new beer garden and event space. Its creator Jamie Quince-Starkey is watering wooden tubs of fruit and flowers as I arrive. He talks about creating urban spaces that strengthen our relationship with nature. “The Derwent connects Derby with the Peaks,” says Jamie, discussing bold plans to make Derby “the ecotourism focal point of the whole country. The idea doesn’t feel so far-fetched from my perch under a sunny arch of clematis among raised beds of strawberries and rhubarb, fragrant fennel and lemon balm. As I walk back towards the station, there are wagtails hopping by the river again, and a warbler is singing in the trees. Accommodation was provided by the Ashford Arms and Holiday Inn Derby Riverlights. Travel was provided by East Midlands Railways, Stagecoach and Derbyshire County Council. More information from Visit Peak District & Derbyshire and Visit Derby. This article was amended on 28 August 2024. An earlier caption on the first picture said that the Peak District and Chatsworth House were easily reached from Derby on the Peak Sightseer bus. In fact Transpeak runs hourly from Derby, which would connect to the Peak Sightseer in Bakewell. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/article/2024/aug/28/derby-uk-short-break-destination-buses

Beavers have appeared in rivers across Devon and spread through Somerset to Wiltshire and Gloucestershire despite no official releases of the animal. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA “Beaver bombing”, covertly releasing beavers into the countryside, is increasing in England because successive governments have not fulfilled promises to permit some planned wild releases, conservationists are warning. Beavers now live freely on river systems across swaths of southern England, and conservationists are calling on Labour to allow official releases of free-living beavers and produce a national strategy to maximise the biodiversity and flood alleviation benefits delivered by the industrious mammals. Eva Bishop, of the Beaver Trust, said: “Beavers are a native species with lots to offer in terms of landscape resilience, boosting biodiversity and climate change adaptation and mitigation. It would be crazy not to look at wild release as a key tool for the government.” According to Bishop, the failure of recent Conservative governments to approve or even reject wild releases, or clearly signal what is required in terms of funding, has led to unauthorised releases that could jeopardise the 69% public support for their wild release. Numerous scientific studies in Britain have shown beavers help restore water quality, wetland biodiversity and can ameliorate drought and flooding. Beaver numbers are increasing in Scotland and are legally protected in England since being formally recognised again as native mammals in 2022. Animals unofficially released on the River Otter in Devon in the early 2000s successfully bred and spread but recent administrations backtracked on Boris Johnson government’s promise to allow free-living beavers to be released in certain locations. Despite no official releases, beavers have turned up on river systems across Devon and spread through Somerset to Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. An established po[CENSORED]tion has been living freely and largely unnoticed in lowland Kent for years and now numbers 51 territories – more than 200 animals. There are also more than 30 large fenced enclosures where beavers have been reintroduced into England under official schemes. Conservationists say these po[CENSORED]tions will soon outgrow the enclosures, leading to animal welfare concerns because territorial beavers will fight to the death. Bishop said: “It’s in everyone’s interests – landowners and farmers as well as conservationists – to get a clear policy now. A potential consequence of inaction is a growing number of unlicensed releases into the wild which could alienate stakeholders and jeopardise the success of future wild releases. “It’s really important releases are done responsibly, under licence and to a strategy – then we can maximise the benefits that beavers bring through their damming and habitat modification.” Three proposals to introduce free-living beavers – in Cornwall, Dorset and on the Isle of Wight – are well advanced but the application process is so onerous that a pre-application assessment of the impacts of returning beavers to the Isle of Wight is 100,000-words long. Debbie Tann, the chief executive of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, said: “We’ve got beavers living wild quite happily and quietly [across southern England] and yet to get a licence to release a native animal back into its natural habitat we’ve got to do this 100,000-word application to assess its impact on every single aspect of everything.” The trust has been working since 2019 on an application to release free-living beavers on to the island. Tann said: “The science of how important they are, what they do to revitalise rivers, boost biodiversity and minimise flooding are very well evidenced. We’re hoping the new government will honour previous commitments and open the application process so we can just get on with it.” She added: “This isn’t about beavers per se. It’s about the restoration of ecosystem function and resilience in terms of drought and flood management, biodiversity recovery and soil health. This will tick loads of different boxes, and there are tourism benefits too and getting the public excited about this idea of nature restoration.” Conservationists said that they had been told privately that Steve Reed, the environment secretary, will consider applications for free-living beavers in certain locations. They hope that approval could be a flagship nature restoration policy for the government’s first months. Key to the scale of future wild releases is how long the government says each release project must be self-funded. Crucially, it is still unclear if there will be any central government cash to pay for future beaver management. Occasionally if beaver dams cause flooding on valuable farmland, then secret pipes known as “beaver deceivers” may have to be installed to allow water through the dams or beavers may need to be relocated. There has been widespread concern from farmers and landowners that beavers could cause unwelcome floods if they are released on lowland rivers surrounding low-lying land but the wild beaver po[CENSORED]tion in lowland Kent are not building dams because the waterways are deep enough for them to feel secure. Derek Gow, of Keep It Wild Trust and an expert in captive breeding animals for wild release, said: “The beaver is nature’s healer of the earth but its wild release has been held back by [former environment secretary] Thérèse Coffey and the National Farmers’ Union. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing this right now. I don’t know whether Labour are on this, they’ve not made any statements about what they’re going to do about nature restoration other than windy ones.” A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “This government supports species reintroductions where there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/28/conservationists-warn-unauthorised-releases-beavers-english-rivers

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will be on a campaign tour of Georgia when they speak to CNN [Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP] Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz will sit down with CNN on Thursday in their first formal interview of the United States election campaign. Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for the White House after he dropped out of the race in July. CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash will conduct the interview from the battleground state of Georgia, CNN said. It will air at 9pm (01:00 GMT on Friday). “This is the first time she’s going to take questions in a concerted effort like this, in an interview format, since Joe Biden upended this entire race six weeks ago,” CNN Political Director David Chalian said in an interview on the channel. While Harris has occasionally taken questions from journalists on foreign and economic policies on the campaign trail, she has yet to do a one-on-one media interview or hold a formal news conference, prompting attacks from rival Donald Trump and his Republican Party. On Tuesday, Trump’s campaign reacted to the interview announcement by noting that Harris would be doing the interview with Walz. “She’s not competent enough to do it on her own,” the campaign claimed. Trump has held news conferences and done media interviews in recent weeks but they have mostly focused on criticising the Biden administration’s record instead of detailing his own policy proposals. Harris laid out some broad policy agendas at the Democratic National Convention last week, promising a middle-class tax cut at home and a muscular foreign policy of standing up to Russia and North Korea while backing a ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution in the Middle East. During her more than three years as vice president, Harris has done on-camera and print interviews with The Associated Press news agency and many other outlets, often at a pace more frequent than Biden. Harris travels with members of the media on Air Force Two for all trips and nearly always comes to the back of the plane to speak to reporters for a few minutes before takeoff. Her office insists that those conversations are off the record, though, so what she says cannot be shared publicly. The CNN interview will be recorded during a campaign bus tour by the Democratic candidates. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/28/harris-and-walz-to-sit-down-with-cnn-for-first-formal-interview-of-campaign

Mourners grieve at the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike on Nur Shams near Tulkarem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 27, 2024 [Mohammed Torokman/Reuters] Hundreds of Israeli soldiers are conducting a major assault in the occupied West Bank in Jenin, Tulkarem and the Far’a refugee camp near Tubas. Israeli forces have killed at least 10 Palestinians in what is said to be Israel’s largest assault there in 20 years as they claimed they are targeting “armed terrorists who posed a threat to security forces”. The Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency condemned Israel’s assault and warned it could usher in “dire and dangerous” results. PA President Mahmoud Abbas returned early from a visit to Saudi Arabia. Israeli assaults on refugee camps and towns in the West Bank are a near-daily occurrence and have intensified since October 7. The scale of the current attack raises questions about its timing and motives. October 7 is the date when Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which killed 1,139 people in southern Israel and saw about 240 taken captive. Since then, Israel has killed at least 40,534 people and wounded another 93,778 in Gaza. It has killed 662 Palestinians and injured about 5,400 in the West Bank during that same period. Pinning the resistance on Iran In the West Bank, new Palestinian movements have arisen, affiliated with established ones but developing their own strategies against the Israeli occupation after losing patience with the status quo. On August 19, a suicide attack in Tel Aviv claimed by Hamas seemed to raise concerns in the Israeli security establishment. “This was a signal that Palestinian groups in the West Bank in clandestine cells are moving toward more offensive action,” Ramallah-based political analyst Abdaljawad Omar said. He added that the PA “is slowly losing hold over social classes, particularly in the north of the West Bank, coupled with the rise of a new generation of Palestinians that are taking the struggle up on their own terms”. This may have led Israeli forces to feel the need for “a more proactive offensive strategy”, Omar said. “Now there is an invasion and offensive action, including arrests, and to reach dense urban areas in the north of the West Bank.” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the assault is “to dismantle Iranian Islamic terror infrastructures” in the areas under attack. “[Katz] is … not to be taken seriously at all,” political analyst Ori Goldberg told Al Jazeera. “The great thing about [connecting these groups to] the Iran threat is it lets Israel off all hooks.” Omar dismissed the idea of links between groups in the West Bank and Iran as peripheral at best. “There are elements of logistical support [for these groups] coming from outside of Palestine,” Omar said, but there are “a lot of indigenous factors behind the rise of these movements”. Palestinian women stand near the site of a drone strike in Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 27, 2024 [Mohammed Torokman/Reuters] Why now and who for? The recent assault comes as things calm down on another front for Israel. On Sunday, Israel hit Hezbollah in what it declared a preemptive strike while Hezbollah said it had launched 340 rockets at 11 Israeli military bases. The two have traded attacks regularly across the Lebanon-Israel border since October 8, which have led to the evacuation of residents of southern Lebanon and Israeli border villages, a situation their inhabitants are growing increasingly frustrated with. The situation on the Lebanon border has calmed, according to Israel’s allies, but Israel’s war on Gaza continues, even as talks to reach a ceasefire are ongoing. Observers do not hold out much hope for them. Some analysts believe the assault in the West Bank has been spurred on by right-wing politicians who have increasing power and influence in Israeli society. Led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, this faction is pushing for Israel to go further on the West Bank in what analysts said are efforts to completely annex the land and displace Palestinians. A statement by Katz on Wednesday that Israel should displace Palestinians living in the northern West Bank just as it does regularly to the people in Gaza has raised fears further on that front. In recent months, the far right has been vocal about its desire to annex all of the West Bank as it grows stronger under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition relies on Smotrich’s and Ben-Gvir’s support. Netanyahu has faced several domestic obstacles in recent months, including widespread protests against his rule, scathing criticism from the captives’ families over his lack of action to return their loved ones and increasing frustration from displaced Israelis. Despite this growing burden and his giving the far right increasing influence, Netanyahu still holds a slight lead in national polls over his main rival for the premiership, Benny Gantz. “Netanyahu is not a madman,” Goldberg said. “He knows his constituency and his supporters. He knows most Israelis are at a loss in front of the unfolding of events over the past year, … but you will not find a single Jewish Zionist politician who has come up with an alternative political or military vision.” Israel’s continued fight on multiple fronts is likely to continue, analysts said. Ongoing ceasefire talks over Gaza have hit multiple snags, Israel continues to hit Hezbollah targets and this latest assault is an intensification in an already simmering West Bank. “There is a continuation to a genocidal logic unfolding in Gaza since October when there is no accountability and impunity is not just a likelihood or a possibility but virtually guaranteed because of the United States’s very specific role in this and to a lesser but still significant extent the EU’s role in all of this,” Elia Ayoub – a postdoctoral researcher, writer and host of the Fire These Times podcast – told Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/28/israel-launched-a-massive-assault-on-the-west-bank-why-and-why-now

Music title: جلسات بيلبورد عربية مع سانت ليفانت | Jalsat Billboard Arabia with Saint Levant Signer: Saint Levant Release date: 2024/07/10 Official YouTube link:

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The Genesis G80—the entire Genesis brand, really—owes much of its early success to what was originally called the Hyundai Genesis. Built as a Korean interpretation of a modern sports sedan, the Genesis was the start of Hyundai's determination to prove that it could build a solid luxury car. That continued into its second generation, when the Genesis planted a Korean flag at the intersection of quality and value. It also gave Hyundai the kick it needed to finally commit to breaking Genesis off into its own luxury marque. Fast-forward to today, and the G80 continues the traditions laid forth by the predecessor that gave its name to the whole business operation. Its pricing may not be as aggressive—the 2025 model starts a little more than $5000 below a Mercedes-Benz E-class—but this sedan, which just underwent a mid-cycle refresh, continues to ramp up the plushness and give buyers a strong alternative to the typical Teutonic triumvirate. What's New? There is perhaps no more predictable mid-cycle refresh than one that involves a mild rhinoplasty and an ever-growing contingent of ever-widening interior screens. And hey, what do you know, that's exactly what we're staring down in the 2025 Genesis G80—although, we'll admit we were growing tired of the G70-style cabin layout, which felt more than a half-step behind the drastically more opulent G90. But that gulf is narrowing, and the G80 is quickly closing in on its larger sibling. The G80's interior is richly appointed, especially as you wander into higher trims that introduce bits like diamond-stitched nappa leather and flashy cabin trim. The overall design is much closer now too; the G80's dual screens have merged into a 27-inch OLED behemoth that covers both gauge-display and infotainment-touchscreen duties. There's a redundant physical knob if you prefer to avoid smudges, and the whole shebang remains just as easy to use as any other Korean tech. The climate controls also receive a big update. Their position below the infotainment screen remains the same, but they're much more cleanly integrated into the dashboard now, spilling over from the upper section in a sort of waterfall design. It looks good, the touch display is easy to get used to, and switchgear fans can rejoice at the continued presence of some physical controls. Outside, changes are more limited. The G80 sports a larger grille, with some mild adjustments to the headlights, bumpers, and wheels. Sport models at the higher echelons of the lineup get a unique bumper that looks a little angrier and has more pronounced intakes to gobble up air. Powertrains, however, are untouched for 2025. The entry-level engine is a turbocharged 2.5-liter I-4 producing 300 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque. Reach a little deeper into your wallet and you can swap that out for a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 making 375 horses and 391 pound-feet. All variants utilize standard all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission. If you're wondering about the status of the Electrified G80 EV, it's on a slightly different cadence and is being treated as distinctly separate model. The E-G80 should be receiving a refresh for the 2026 model year, which we expect will include many of the same updates, in addition to a longer wheelbase. Driving the G80 Our time was spent in a single variant—the range-topping G80 Sport Prestige, which carries every single appointment possible, including some unique sporty bits such as a limited-slip differential and rear-wheel steering. It also packs a Sport+ mode that adjusts shift points, disables some of the e-nannies, and sharpens up the steering and suspension. The twin-turbo V-6 provides more than enough thrust to get up to speed; it won't blow any barn doors off, but it feels quick—a mechanically identical 2022 model posted a 4.7-second 60-mph time in our testing—and the engine soundtrack isn't half bad. Fake sound can be piped through the speakers, but thankfully, Genesis had the foresight to allow it to be fully disabled. The eight-speed automatic is a deft shifter, and even in the car's sharper modes, upshifts and downshifts never became so immediate as to feel uncomfortable. In its calmest modes, the electronically controlled suspension (which uses cameras to scan the road ahead and adjust for humps and potholes and such) kept the G80 serene. A little bit of body motion makes its way into the stiffer tunes, a good reminder that this car is about luxury first and sporting premise second. The steering is a bit too artificially heavy in its sportier modes for our tastes. The brake pedal can be set to one of two levels of responsiveness via the infotainment system, but its default mode is just fine. The sportier setting adds a lot of head bob and not much else, so, best to leave that one be. Genesis continues to nail its take on luxury. The cabin is simply delightful; the nappa leather seats are comfortable and supportive, with the massage function kicking in automatically to stimulate the driver as the runtime moves past the hour mark. Visibility is solid, sound isolation is commendable—the whole thing just feels nice. It's a fine bit of evolution for a car we already enjoyed. One thing, though: Sport models should offer cabin-trim materials that aren't aluminum or (sigh) carbon fiber. It's tired. Pack it up. Oh, yeah, and one of our favorite new additions: There's a small pass-through from the center armrest cubby that allows you to snake a phone cable through, preventing said cable from having to sprout up from the middle of the clamshell opening like a weed growing through a crack in the sidewalk. It's a small touch that keeps the overall look a little cleaner. Summing It Up It's no surprise that as the G80 pushes its way into ever-fancier territory, its price would climb as well. Prices are up between $2700 and $4400 for 2025. A base 2.5T now sets you back $58,350. If you want fancier trim, larger wheels, a panoramic roof, and a Bang & Olufsen audio system, move up to the $63,150 2.5T Advanced. The 2.5T Sport Prestige adds an electronically controlled suspension, a wireless device charger, a host of driver-assist tech, and power-closing doors for $69,600. And then we finally reach the 3.5T models. The cheapest V-6 model is the $70,850 Sport Advanced, which gets the aforementioned niceties minus a couple of the driver assists and the power-closing doors. At the top of the lineup is the $78,250 Sport Prestige we drove, which has everything but the kitchen sink—the nappa leather, rear limited-slip differential, and rear-wheel steering, plus a heated armrest and that special Sport+ mode. Sporting pretensions aside—since it almost feels like everyone has to include something like that these days—the 2025 Genesis G80 continues its streak of excellence. It's a damned solid luxury car that, while it may not provide the insane value it once did, continues to make a very appealing counterpoint to all the established players out there. Then again, after nearly 20 years of existence, the G80 (née Hyundai Genesis) is becoming a stalwart in its own right. https://caranddriver.com/reviews/a61956472/2025-genesis-g80-drive/

The Eiffel Tower Stadium will host blind football at the Paralympics. ‘What made a success of the Olympics was the atmosphere,’ says Paris 2024 president, Tony Estanguet. ‘We will do exactly same thing in the Paralympic Games.’ Photograph: Zac Goodwin/PA ‘A true fervour’: Organisers rally locals to get behind Paris 2024 Paralympics Exhilarating sport is guaranteed even if scepticism remains about scheduling the Games at the end of Les Vacances Paul MacInnes Paul MacInnes in Paris Tue 27 Aug 2024 20.00 BST Share Plastered on the walls of every Métro station in Paris this week are adverts boasting some boundary-pushing Franglais. Alongside images of Paralympic athletes running, leaping and wheeling is a slogan directed at residents of the French capital. It reads: “Game [is not] over”. For those unfamiliar with 1980s video arcade jargon, “game over” was the message that heralded the moment a machine ate your money. The grammatically tortuous “is not” has been overlaid by organisers of Paris 2024 to remind locals that the summer of sporting excellence will continue. The Paralympic Games begin on Wednesday night, and every Parisian is welcome. Zakia Khudadadi of the Paralympic Refugee Team Khudadadi fights for Refugee Team at Paralympics after escaping Taliban Read more After months of anxiety over low ticket sales and concerns over whether a French audience would embrace disability sport, the news in recent days has been good. More than 2m tickets have now been sold, out of 2.5m, with a number of events sold out. The Île de France regional government has announced an ambition to make the Paris Métro accessible to wheelchair users at last, one of the abiding concerns around the Games. And on Wednesday night comes an opening ceremony that will once again take place in the heart of the city and organisers say it will act as a “gigantic hug” to the 44,000 athletes competing over the following 11 days. Starting on the Champs Élysées, the opening parade will move along “the world’s most beautiful avenue” before a more traditional ceremony takes place in the open air at the Place de la Concorde. Continuing Paris’s key theme of being open to everyone, organisers say they want to extend the general message of welcome and inclusion to one specific to people with disabilities. According to the president of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet: “This ceremony at the heart of the city is a strong symbol illustrating our ambition … to position the issue of inclusion for people with disabilities at the heart of our society.” The president of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, promises an incredible ceremony. “I like the French expression ‘la fête continue’ and tomorrow’s opening ceremony is going to be fantastic, it’s going to be incredible, no doubt,” he said. “The concept was always that [by staging the event] in the Champs Élysées and the Place de la Concorde it’s like the city’s embracing the Paralympic athletes, the Paralympic movement. We are seeing it as a gigantic hug for our athletes and this cannot be more positive.” Estanguet emphasises that the job of engaging French and Parisian people with disability sport has been ongoing. Official estimates predict 300,000 visitors for the Games, about half the number that travelled for the Olympics. Engaging locals becomes more important as a result, especially in helping to fill out the 80,000-capacity Stade de France, which will once again play host to the track and field programme. An uptick in ticket sales means organisers are now working to create extra space at the Eiffel Tower arena and the Château de Versailles, with events at seven locations now sold out. Carine Hall and Lora Fachi of ParalympicsGB during a training session at the velodrome. The team are aiming to match or surpass Tokyo’s 124 medals. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images “What made a success of the Olympics was the atmosphere,” Estanguet said. “The fans sang the Marseillaise more than ever before and this is the fruit of work we did to have a square at each venue which held very proactive supporters. We found it worked very well and we will do exactly same thing in the Paralympic Games.” Some local scepticism remains, particularly with the Games coinciding with the end of Les Vacances and the return to school. But Estanguet says the scheduling is deliberate. “We decided on purpose to position the games during back to school in France because we want to take advantage of the opportunities it offers,” he said. “Back to school is a good time to send messages to students, to show inclusion and accessibility, to provide an opportunity for education. “I believe French people are going to be able to make a difference, to make these Paralympics their own. We went beyond what we dreamed of with the Olympics, creating a true fervour, and I believe it’s going to be the case with the Paralympics as well.” Jonnie Peacock in the 100m at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games ‘I’m not the hunted, I’m the hunter’: Peacock lays down challenge Read more Another reason for optimism is that exhilarating elite sport is guaranteed. New fans will be introduced to compelling events unique to disability sport, the pace and aggression of wheelchair rugby and the precision and strategy of boccia, for example. They will also come to the various arenas at a time when performance in parasport is improving almost exponentially. There will be a record number of countries in competition, 182, and as Parsons put it, “world records are going to be smashed”. ParalympicsGB hope to match the a towering performance in Tokyo three years ago. Finishing second in the medal table and winning 124 medals overall, it was one of the best British performances at a Paralympics, especially given the challenges of Covid. With a target of 100 to 140 medals this time, and with 215 athletes and guides in the team, ParalympicsGB will be intent on maintaining the record of never finishing outside the top five nations. On Tuesday, Terry Bywater and Lucy Shukur were announced as the British flag bearers for the opening ceremony. Shukur, a wheelchair tennis athlete, will be competing at her fifth Games, while Terry Bywater will be adding to six previous appearances in wheelchair basketball. “I feel quite emotional,” said Bywater. “This is my seventh Games, I actually wear the No 7 vest too – so this is all a bit crazy right now. I’m just super-, super-proud. “This is not just about me, this is for the 215 athletes that are here, all the staff, my family, my wife, my son, my family that have passed away that always followed me – I’ll be doing it for everyone.” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/27/paralympics-2024-paris-opening-ceremony

Noel and Liam Gallagher in 2008. Photograph: Zak Hussein/PA For most of the 1990s and 2000s, the Gallagher brothers clashed on stage and traded high-profile insults in newspaper interviews and on social media. So rumours of an Oasis reunion tour in 2025 have prompted furious speculation about how the pair repaired a rift that for decades appeared intractable. Family therapists told the Guardian that although sibling rifts are common and often reparable, reunions like the Gallaghers’ only succeed if both warring parties are ready to bury the hatchet. Janet Reibstein, a family therapist, emeritus professor at Exeter University and author of Good Relations: Cracking the Code of How to Get On Better, said such reconciliation events could “become explosive” if both sides aren’t ready, and people must enter into them aiming for a collaborative peace-making process, not a battleground. “It isn’t usually a one-step heal but gingerly going forward,” she said, adding that reunions “can often be healing episodes in themselves, because people can have the experience of having been in an anodyne situation where you can not have anger around and often you can see each other again anew”. Reibstein said family rifts were common because family is the “cauldron of most intense emotions”, with sibling relationships particularly “intense and problematic and rewarding”. “The sibling has at its heart a dilemma, a sort of bipolar bit to it: you feel loyal and identified with each other, you’ve been through the same things, but at the same time you’re competing for the limited resources any family has – physical space, food, but particularly for the attention, admiration, care of the most important people to you, which are your parents,” she said. She said transition points such as such as marriage or career achievements could be “potentially fragile times”, highlighting “who was first, who gets what”. Reibstein said conflicts often take time to resolve, and the first step is processing and validating feelings of anger, which are “always a kind of defence against some sense of hurt or injustice”. “The rifts can’t be healed until the pain is addressed,” she said, adding that once hurt feelings are validated, anger often dissipates since there is a feeling that justice has been done. Often it can take a third party to recognise the underlying issue, point out that there are other perspectives and encourage the person to reflect on the role they may have played in driving the conflict. “Anger is blinding, hurt is blinding, you can’t really see the other person’s side until you can get rid of those two things. That’s why it often takes somebody outside to go ‘how about this perspective?’ – take the blinders off and you can see,” Reibstein said. This is usually a therapist but it can be a trusted friend or relative who can reflect on what may be happening on both sides while also acknowledging and validating the feelings. Reibstein said one misconception that fuels much conflict is that people deliberately set out to hurt. “Often it doesn’t start out with malevolent intention, it’s misunderstandings,” she said. Dr Anu Sayal-Bennett, a consultant clinical psychologist at the London Child and Family Therapy Centre, said siblings could be “competitive, jealous and angry”, and this was often linked to childhood where they are affected by parental preference, and their approval or disapproval. “There may be transgenerational patterns of communication which are characterised by estrangement and distancing. Sometimes this is protective: a person may feel hurt and wounded and need to retreat. They may not have the words to express their emotional pain,” she said. As a result, some individuals are able to reconnect after a long separation as though nothing happened in the interim. Other relationships may play out as a “continuous cycle of reconnection and separation”. She said family therapy could often provide an important space to work through difficult feelings. “Separations and feeling stuck can be very painful. We need to be compassionate and nonjudgmental to all those who experience or have experienced family rifts.” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/aug/27/anger-is-blinding-family-therapists-on-how-to-resolve-sibling-feuds