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If you really, really must have your cake and eat it, too, there's the 2024 Jeep Wrangler 4xe Rubicon X. This plug-in-hybrid SUV marries the immense off-road capability we've come to appreciate from the Rubicon name with newfound electric-only capability for almost a couple dozen miles at a time. That pairing works better than you'd think; but then again, for a starting price north of $70,000, it had damn well better. If you're unfamiliar with newer Jeep parlance, the Rubicon X not only brings all the off-road hardware we expect—Dana axles, an electronically disconnecting front anti-roll-bar, locking front and rear differentials—but it also throws a bunch of premium stuff into the equation, like cushy nappa leather seating, a heated steering wheel, a transfer case with a automatic four-wheel-drive engagement mode, additional exterior cameras, and beadlock-capable 17-inch wheels wrapped in 285/70R-17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain K02 tires. HIGHS: Drives nicely in electric mode, still capable of climbing El Capitan, fab cabin tech. Not only does the Wrangler 4xe's electrified powertrain give it the ability to operate emissions-free for an EPA-estimated 21 miles, it also confers some major power benefits. By itself, Jeep's turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four produces 270 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, but the 4xe combo bumps output to an impressive 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque. Combined with Dana's full-float rear axle, this will let you tow up to 5000 pounds, so you never need to leave the Jet Skis at home. Of course, all this power made for some impressive figures at testing time as well. Our test ute made its way to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds (not bad for a 5568-pound brute), a bit of an improvement over a non-X 2021 Wrangler Rubicon 4xe, which required 5.5 seconds. Five-to-60-mph sprints show improvement, as well, with the 2024 Rubicon X needing 6.0 seconds against the 2021 model's 6.2. Handling-wise, the two remain even-steven at 0.72 g on our 300-foot skidpad. In non-instrumented driving, the 4xe Rubicon X is the metallic manifestation of "Meets Expectations." The ride quality is on par with the average unladen body-on-frame trucklet, in that it's a little janky. The recirculating-ball steering—now with a slightly slower steering ratio—is old enough to have fought in the Spanish-American War and feels every bit of its age. The brake pedal is a little too firm, causing a fair bit of head-bobbing if the initial press is even a hair too strong. The BFGoodrich tires are aggressive enough to claw out of almost any dilemma, but there's a trade-off in how much they wander on just about every type of pavement. LOWS: Soft-top cabin noise, five-drink-minimum steering, 10-drink-minimum pricing. And then there's the noise. Our long-term Ford Bronco's removable hardtop lacked the optional sound-deadening, and as a result the cabin can be quite noisy at highway speeds—specifically, 76 decibels at wide-open throttle and 72 decibels at a steady 70-mph cruise. This Wrangler 4xe includes the optional (and, at $3995, expensive) Sky One-Touch power soft top. We had hoped for better sealing on the Jeep, but alas, our microphones picked up 76 decibels at WOT and 73 decibels at 70 mph. It never sounds truly sealed, which makes for some interesting white-knuckling at the car wash. Easily the most standout part of this Jeep is the hybrid half of its powertrain. Its 134-hp electric motor provides smooth—and, more importantly, sufficient—acceleration while the 2.0-liter stays in bed. However, when the charge runs low and it's time to operate as a traditional hybrid, things get a little murky. The transition between EV and ICE power isn't the smoothest, and a lot of it comes down to the gas pedal; give it too small of a jab, and the 4xe simply won't accelerate. Lean on it a little too heavily, though, and the engine awakens with a violent surge of forward motion that will catch your passengers off-guard and lead to more unwanted body movements. Not every 2024 Wrangler upgrade concerns the mechanicals. Creature comfort takes a massive step forward this year with the addition of a standard 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, which replaces the puny 5.0- and 7.0-inch units from years past. The software is, in characteristic Stellantis/Uconnect fashion, easy on the eyes and easy to use. It'll let you connect two phones via Bluetooth simultaneously, it's loaded with off-road trail maps, and it includes wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Two USB-C ports are a welcome addition for front-riding occupants, and the Wrangler can be outfitted with seven USB ports in total, split between USB-A and USB-C. VERDICT: If you really want to buy an $80,000 Jeep Wrangler, we're not going to stop you. You could get a plug-in Wrangler for as little as $52,590, since one of the updates for the 2024 model is a new Sport S 4xe trim meant to make its electrified offerings a little less expensive. But our test example is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, replete with higher-end equipment. A nonhybrid Rubicon X will set you back a little under $60,000, but the PHEV sends the price into low-earth orbit, with a starting figure of $72,290 and our test car ringing in at an eye-watering $79,345. Perhaps Jeep hides $20,000 behind one of the fenders; we should've checked. https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a46804234/2024-jeep-wrangler-4xe-rubicon-x-test/

Janice Dickinson: ‘For breakfast, I’m digging sourdough with English or Irish salted butter.’ Photograph: Paul Archuleta/Getty Images The Observer Sunday with… Interview Sunday with Janice Dickinson: ‘Growing up in Florida it was all about surfing’ Samantha Rea The model talks about sourdough toast, her two Hungarian bird dogs, reading Barbra Streisand and becoming a grandmother What time are you up? I start spreading my toes at around 10am. That’s the time I should be in the gym and my brain is aware of it. ‘You should be in the gym,’ I think. I feel so much better leaving the gym than I do walking in. What’s for breakfast? I’m into toast lately. I’m digging sourdough with English or Irish salted butter. Sometimes I put a little honey on it, or avocado or blueberry jam. Depends on my mood. Bit of fresh air? I have two Vizslas, Jack and Jimmy. They’re Hungarian bird dogs that need to run a lot, so we take them to the park, let them off the leash and they go up and down saying hi to everybody. Sundays growing up? Our house was in Florida, about 12 blocks from the ocean, so I’d throw beach towels, sun lotion and a snack into the basket of my bike and cycle to this surf spot that people hung out at. I’d spend the day surfing and watching the waves. I did that from the age of nine or 10. A Sunday to remember? A few weeks ago I learned I’m having a granddaughter. My son invited us to his house and had us open a pressie. It was an Etch A Sketch with the news written on it. They watched me reading it and I started to cry. I was so happy, I didn’t hit the ground for about an hour. Sunday evening? I’m reading Barbra Streisand’s My Name is Barbra. It’s hard to get into at the beginning, but if you force yourself to stay with it, it’s worth it. Or there is always Netflix. Ever get the Sunday night blues? Sure, I think everybody does. People would be lying if they say they didn’t get them. It’s a normal reaction to be, like: ‘What time is left that I can call my own?’ Sunday nights belong to me! Janice Dickinson’s EP, I Coined It, is available on all digital platforms. Follow Janice on Instagram @janicedickinson and TikTok @officialjanicedickinson https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/18/sunday-with-janice-dickinson-growing-up-in-florida-it-was-all-about-surfing-

Tourists beaten by 434 runs in third Test and trail 2-1 in series Captain raises fresh concerns over Hawk-Eye after India’s win Ben Stokes complained about the technology after England’s defeat. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images Ben Stokes insisted England will not let their bruising defeat against India in the third Test eat up his side for the remainder of the series, even if, for the second loss in a row, the captain left the ground unhappy with the technology. The latter did not relate to a turning point given the nature of this reversal; Yashasvi Jaiswal’s brutal unbeaten 214 and Ravindra Jadeja’s five wickets having inflicted a 434-run hammering – England’s second heaviest by way of runs in history. If anything, the grumbles from Stokes about Zak Crawley’s dismissal – lbw to Jasprit Bumrah and the ball projected to be grazing the leg stump bail by a whisker – were more a symptom of his side being rolled for 122 all out. It was their second collapse in the match after losing eight for 95 on a ruinous third day. “I’ve played 100 Test matches now and I know that thinking too deep can send you on a downhill spiral,” said Stokes, whose side now trail 2-1 with two to play. “Whenever I speak after we lose it’s what we do next that counts. Games are lost in the head. If we carry anything over we’re already going into next week with a disadvantage. I mentioned in the dressing room, we must make sure all the emotion and disappointment is left in there and all the focus goes into the fourth Test.” While Stokes believed Crawley’s lbw on the final day in Visakhapatnam was simply “wrong”, this latest complaint – one that prompted Stokes and the head coach, Brendon McCullum, to speak to the match referee, Jeff Crowe – was based on confusion over a Hawk-Eye projection that, in his eyes, showed the ball was missing. Stokes claimed he was told the calculations were correct but the graphic produced was not and the projected contact was, at best, minimal. But all this risked sounding like deflection from the shortcomings of his team over the four days. “I don’t know what to make of it,” Stokes said regarding his version of the conversation with Crowe. “I think when people are in charge of it say something has gone wrong, that is enough in itself. “My personal opinion is if the ball is hitting the stumps, it is hitting the stumps. They should take away umpire’s call. I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning, saying that is why we lost the Test.” ‘He knows what he’s doing’: Ben Stokes shrugged off questions over Joe Root’s form with the bat. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images That much was true. More relevant was the dropped catch by Joe Root on day one, 27 runs into Rohit Sharma’s eventual 133, or the first-innings collapse that left bowlers barely recharged. Root cut a bereft figure all match, his much-debated dismissal to the reverse scoop on day three summing a disappointing tour so far. “Who am I to question a guy who has 30 Test match hundreds and nearly 12,000 Test match runs. I think he knows what he’s doing,” Stokes insisted, also pushing back at suggestions his predecessor’s bowling demands are affecting his batting. Stokes revealed he is now mulling a return to bowling himself at some stage in the series, having previously promised the medical staff he would not push things following knee surgery last November. “I had my first bowl [in practice] at 100%,” he said. “As a person, I like to jump the gun a little bit too much. I have to get my whole body to get used to bowling, so I am not saying no but I am not saying yes either.” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/18/england-will-not-let-thrashing-by-india-affect-rest-of-series-says-ben-stokes

Controversy in West Bengal centres around Akbar and Sita, named for a Hindu deity, being placed in the same enclosure A Bengal safari park on the outskirts of Siliguri has attracted the ire of Vishwa Hindu Parishad Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock An Indian Hindu nationalist organisation has launched a court petition to stop two lions named after a Hindu deity and a 16th-century Muslim emperor from sharing a zoo enclosure. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a prominent rightwing Hindu organisation, went to court in the state of West Bengal after reports a lioness named Sita had been put with a lion called Akbar. Akbar was a Mughal emperor who extended Muslim rule over much of the Indian subcontinent, a time Hindu nationalist groups consider to have been a period of slavery. “Sita cannot stay with the Mughal emperor Akbar,” the VHP official Anup Mondal said on Sunday, suggesting it would offend religious sentiments in the Hindu-majority country. “Such an act amounts to blasphemy and is a direct assault on the religious belief of all Hindus,” the VHP said , after having lodged a plea on Friday calling for a name change. Critics say religious intolerance has been growing in the world’s most populous country since the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, came to power in 2014. General elections, likely to be held in April, are expected to secure Modi a third term in power. Mondal said the lion called Akbar had previously been named after the Hindu deity Rama when he was in the neighbouring state of Tripura, which is controlled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party. But the lion’s name was changed when he was brought to West Bengal, which is controlled by the opposition Trinamool Congress party. The VHP petition calls for a ban on using religious names for animals in zoos. A West Bengal forest department official, Dipak Kumar Mandal, said “the lion and the lioness are now kept separately”. The case is scheduled for a hearing on 20 February. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/18/hindu-nationalists-court-lion-named-after-muslim-emperor-india

Israeli foreign minister says he will summon Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand over the remarks which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as ‘disgraceful’. Buildings stand in ruin amid Israel's war on Gaza [UNRWA/Handout via Reuters] Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and compared its war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jewish people. “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide,” Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa where he was attending an African Union summit on Sunday. “It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” added the Brazilian president. “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” Led by Hitler, the Nazis systematically killed six million Jews during World War II. Lula said Israel’s war on Gaza was a ‘genocide’ [Ricardo Stuckert/Brazilian Presidency via AFP] Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he would summon Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand over the remarks. “No one will compromise Israel’s right to defend itself,” Katz said on X, adding that the envoy would be summoned on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the comments as “disgraceful and grave”. “This is a trivialisation of the Holocaust and an attempt to attack the Jewish people and the right of Israel to self-defence. Drawing comparisons between Israel and the Nazis and Hitler is to cross a red line,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Lula, 78, had condemned the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel as a “terrorist” act the day it happened. But he has since grown vocally critical of Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza. At least 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas members also took about 250 people captive, 130 of whom are still in Gaza, including 30 who are presumed dead, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 28,858 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities. Lula criticised Western countries’ recent decisions to halt aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, after Israel accused some of its employees of involvement in the Hamas-led attack. Lula, who met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh Saturday on the sidelines of the summit, has said Brazil will increase its own contribution to the agency and urged other countries to do the same. “When I see the rich world announce that it’s halting its contributions to humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, I just imagine how big these people’s political awareness is and how big the spirit of solidarity in their hearts is,” Lula said. “We need to stop being small when we need to be big.” He reiterated his call for a two-state solution to the conflict, with Palestine “definitively recognised as a full and sovereign state”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/18/brazils-lula-compares-israels-war-on-gaza-with-the-holocaust

The anti-corruption campaigner and leader of the Russian opposition leaves behind a legacy of ‘the struggle for Russia’s better future’. Flowers and a candle are placed next to a portrait of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny following Navalny's death as people gather near the Russian embassy, in Paris, France, February 16, 2024 [Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters] Alexey Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most high-profile nemesis, has died in a penal colony inside the Arctic Circle. He was 47 years old. The authorities’ seeming reluctance to let his family collect his body has aroused suspicions around the circumstances of his death. The announcement was made by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service on Friday. Navalny rose to fame as an anti-corruption campaigner, rallying massive demonstrations over the 2011 elections, which were widely believed to be rigged. He and his team released exposés of officials and business figures close to Putin’s inner circle – even Putin himself, accusing him of hiding an extravagant palace by the Black Sea. “It won’t be easy for the opposition to find someone who could stand in Navalny’s place,” said political scientist Gulnaz Sharafutdinova. “Nonetheless, Navalny’s political goal will survive and his name will remain as a symbol of struggle for Russia’s better future.” A woman lays flowers at a monument to the victims of political repressions following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, in Moscow, Russia, February 16, 2024 [Stringer/Reuters] Controversial, but undoubted opposition leader Navalny was a controversial figure. Early in his career, he made hateful remarks about Muslims, immigrants and Georgians, and walked alongside the Russia March, an annual procession attracting monarchists, ultranationalists and far-rightists of all stripes. He later took back some of his comments, was one of the few prominent Russians to support Black Lives Matter, and spoke out against systemic discrimination against Muslims in the prison system. After a suspected poisoning attempt in 2020, Navalny was flown to Germany for treatment but nevertheless returned to Russia in January 2021, where he was immediately arrested and handed a 30-year term for “extremism” and other charges. “Navalny was undoubtedly the leader of the Russian opposition,” said Alexei Krapukhin, a member of the Moscow branch of the centre-left Yabloko Party. “Even after he was poisoned, he remained the leader, and even after he wound up in prison, he maintained his irreproachable authority.” Krapukhin attended Navalny’s rallies and campaigned for him during his bid for Moscow mayor in 2013 (Navalny also ran for president in the 2018 elections). “He was a hero and he inspired me a lot,” said Arshak Makichyan, an environmentalist and anti-war campaigner. “What happened just now is not about what he said 10 or 15 years ago, it’s what he’s been doing for the past three years. When he returned from Germany to Russia, it was very brave and inspirational for us in Russia to continue our struggles.” What will the opposition do now? So, what does Navalny’s death mean for the Russian opposition? Opposition to Putin is broad. There are the ultranationalists and neo-Nazis with whom Navalny has flirted in the past, who believe that by welcoming Muslims and immigrants, Putin is a traitor to their ideal of a white Slavic ethnostate. Hundreds of them have volunteered to fight for Ukraine, though conversely, there are neo-Nazi militias fighting for Moscow as well, for whom the idea of a Greater Russia trumps any misgivings about Putin. Leftists and communists are similarly split – the leadership of the Communist Party has cheered Putin’s invasion, alienating their grassroots members. While liberals are almost universally against Putin and the war, they are few in number, are mostly abroad, and squabble amongst themselves, with Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and exiled tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky forming two separate camps. Anarchist cells have proactively sabotaged the war effort. Finally, there is dissent within Russia’s far-flung regions and ethnic republics such as the largely-Muslim Bashkira, where protests erupted in January after activist Fail Alsynov was jailed for inciting ethnic discord and discrediting the army, including questioning the war effort and its aims. Nearly 20,000 Russians have been detained for anti-war activities and hundreds have been convicted following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They include Navalny’s ally Ilya Yashin, imprisoned for eight and a half years for livestreaming about alleged war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, which the authorities deemed to be spreading misinformation, as well as the Russian-British Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years for treason. Like Navalny, Kara-Murza has survived two suspected poisonings that have left him suffering from a rare nerve disorder, and his wife has voiced fears that he may not survive the harsh prison conditions. While Yashin and Kara-Murza are liberals, Igor Girkin – aka Igor Strelkov – definitely is not. A former Russian intelligence officer, Strelkov arguably started the Russo-Ukrainian war by leading the original insurgency in east Ukraine in 2014, and had since reinvented himself as a blogger criticising Moscow’s war effort for not being waged fiercely enough. Last year, he was arrested on extremism charges and has since been handed four years’ confinement. Russian prominent nationalist, former military commander and Kremlin critic Igor Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, who is charged with inciting extremist activity, sits behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, January 25, 2024 [Maxim Shemetov/Reuters] On Telegram, Strelkov’s wife expressed her fear of Navalny’s death setting a precedent, a sentiment shared by the Kremlin’s liberal opponents. “Kara-Murza and Yashin and other anti-war, anti-Putin leaders are in danger, because now that Putin established the reputation of a politician who kills to stay in power, he has less to lose,” economist Konstantin Sonin told Al Jazeera. “He can kill more, with no new damage to his reputation. Yet neither of them is an immediate threat to Putin as Navalny was because he was very po[CENSORED]r. “Girkin will be at risk if his ideas would become more po[CENSORED]r, which I do not expect to happen.” The outbreak of full-scale war was accompanied by a mass exodus of anti-war Russians and draft dodgers. However, even there they are not always safe from Moscow’s reach: dissidents who’d moved to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, have been harassed, arrested and even extradited back to Russia. Between mass imprisonment and exile, there’s no one left of Navalny’s stature to rally around. “I think Navalny was a uniquely po[CENSORED]r Russian politician, more po[CENSORED]r than anyone else, including Putin,” said Sonin. “For the opposition, his death leaves the void that will be hard to fill.” One of the last remaining notable Kremlin critics neither incarcerated nor exiled is Yevgeny Roizman, the po[CENSORED]r ex-mayor of Yekaterinburg, an industrial city in the Ural mountains, famed for his colourful social media tirades. Last year, Roizman narrowly avoided confinement after being repeatedly convicted of “discrediting” the armed forces and was slapped with a 260,000-rouble ($3,250) fine instead. Since then, he has kept a lower profile. “I’m certain there’ll be a new wave of repression now,” Krapukhin predicted glumly. “The authorities will stop at nothing. The resistance will continue – some from abroad, some within Russia – but there is also fear, so it remains to be seen how active this resistance will be. Since 2022, the laws have become much tighter and many people are sitting in cells. Our duty is that one day there will be a statue to Navalny and his murderers are punished.” “I think Putin gave us a reason to be more radical because peaceful protests, which Navalny was promoting, don’t work anymore,” added Makichyan. “We need to be more effective against Putin’s regime,” he said, “and we need to change our strategy.” Supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny gather to mourn his death, in Beverly Hills, California, the United States, February 16, 2024 [Jorge Garcia/Reuters] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/18/hard-void-to-fill-navalnys-death-poses-challenges-for-russian-opposition

Nick movie: THE WITCH - Hollywood English Movie | Nicolas Cage Superhit Action Adventure Full Movie In English Time: Hollywood English Collection Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 81Mins. Trailer:

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Available in 342-hp A-Spec, 459-hp A-Spec AWD, and 500-hp Type S forms, Acura's first electric model is more expensive than its GM sibling, the Cadillac Lyriq. Acura has released pricing for the new 2024 ZDX electric SUV. It starts at $65,745 for the rear-wheel-drive A-Spec model and $74,745 for the more powerful Type S version that comes standard with all-wheel drive. The ZDX will go on sale in the U.S. starting in early spring. UPDATE 2/16/24: Acura has released the destination charge for the ZDX, so we've added that mandatory $1245 fee to the prices listed here. Acura also now says that the base A-Spec makes 342 horsepower and that the A-Spec AWD makes 459 horsepower. Acura is getting a little help from its friends in kickstarting its electric-vehicle lineup: the 2024 ZDX is the brand's first EV effort, and it's based on GM's Ultium platform that also underpins the Cadillac Lyriq. We now know how much the ZDX will cost, and its starting price of $65,745 is higher than the Lyriq's, which starts at under $60,000. Similar to the Cadillac, the Acura ZDX lineup starts off with a rear-wheel-drive, single-motor configuration producing 342 horsepower. The base ZDX A-Spec trim level is also available in a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration for an extra $4000, which offers 459 hp. The ZDX A-Spec has a 102.0-kWh battery pack estimated to provide 325 miles of range in the RWD version and 315 miles in the AWD version. ZDX A-SPEC The Type S turns up the wick with a 500-horsepower dual-motor powertrain, starting at around $74,745. Its range estimate is lower, at 288 miles. The sportier Type S features an upgraded height-adjustable air suspension with adaptive dampers, plus 22-inch wheels and larger Brembo brakes. There's an optional set of summer tires for an extra $1000. Included in the purchase of a ZDX is a choice of one of three charging packages. They all include 60.0-kWh of free charging at Electrify America stations, plus various options such as a home charging station, a portable charging kit, an installation credit, and credits at EVGo charging stations. The ZDX will start arriving at U.S. dealerships in early spring. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46486119/2024-acura-zdx-price/

Duckett produces innings of his life with rapid-fire 133 runs India’s Ashwin becomes ninth bowler to take 500 Test wickets Ben Duckett celebrates scoring his century for England against India. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images After the innings of his life, Ben ­Duckett left it to others to sing his praises and perhaps understandably so. The opener was unbeaten overnight, a rapid-fire 133 runs on the second day of the third Test ending with the promise of more to come. Instead it was over to Ravichandran Ashwin and Mark Wood to appraise the innings, the former having dominated Duckett back in 2016 – a brutal first taste of Test cricket – only to sit among the spinners taken down on the day. England had responded to India’s 445 all out by racing to 207 for two in just 35 overs. England's Ben Duckett (right) plays a shot on the way to a blistering 133 not out off 118 balls on day two against India. Duckett’s 88-ball century leads England fightback in third Test against India Read more “Ben Duckett is a phenomenal ­talent so credit to him, he’s made a wonderful hundred today,” Ashwin said after stumps, his 500th Test wicket secured. “I wanted to clap, but the hardcore competitor in me didn’t allow me to. But I’m very happy for him. A couple of the shots he hit, especially the slog sweeps, were really special.” Wood was simply “over the moon” to have his feet up after figures of four for 114 in England’s earlier toil. Not that his teammates higher up the order are likely to offer too much respite, their blistering approach unlikely to be throttled back. “To be that far behind in the game and go out and play like that showed real bravery and skill,” said Wood, glowing about Duckett’s counterattack. “The way India changed the field and then he’d hit it somewhere else, it was just such a skilful innings against a good attack. He’s a nightmare to bowl at in the nets – we try to get him to leave the ball but he never leaves any. “It’s been hot, he’s spent all that time in the field [130.5 overs]. He had that capability to then go out there and play with the freedom and clarity of mind, to play those shots and pick the right ball and still be there at the end. Ravichandran Ashwin is congratulated after taking his 500th Test wicket. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images “ Maybe he hasn’t gotten the accolades that he would like with big scores but this was his day and it was amazing to watch, especially as a bowler that’s just bowled plenty of overs.” While Duckett had enjoyed his best day to date as a Test cricketer, his old rival had locked down immortality. Ashwin, who removed Zak Crawley during a frenetic final session of 176 runs and two wickets, became the ninth bowler to reach 500 Test ­victims and the second for his country after Anil Kumble. “I’d be lying if I said 500 doesn’t mean anything. It probably does. At the moment, it hasn’t sunk in,” said the 37-year-old, before explaining how the pandemic changed his perspective. “It gave me a really good reflection of where I stood in life, what I wanted to play for. This game is all I love and I think I had lost some of that love before that and I managed to rediscover it.” Ashwin was the centre of another talking point on the day, becoming the second Indian player officially warned for running down the pitch during his innings of 37 – a breach of the laws – and incurring the lesser-spotted five-run penalty from the umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena. He added: “They clearly warned some of our batters yesterday for running on the pitch. I was aware of it, but my poor motor skills didn’t allow me to get off the pitch in time. If the English media and players think it was on purpose, it wasn’t. If that’s how they want to treat it, so be it. I don’t think that pitch is breaking up.” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/16/ben-duckett-ravichandran-ashwin-mark-wood-england-india-cricket

‘Rule one is good communication.’ Composite: Getty/GNM Design You don’t have to spend a fortune to have fun with someone you adore – especially if you stop measuring yourself against other couples For the three years my partner and I have been engaged, we have tiptoed around the financial elephant in the room: how much should we spend on our wedding? We’re both freelance and our finances fluctuate, so for a long time we did what any tension-averse introverts do and didn’t talk about it. Eventually – a few months ago – we had The Chat, decided we didn’t need anything flashy to show how in love we are and settled on a small register office affair followed by a party upstairs in a pub. The point is, rule one of keeping a long-term relationship alive when financial burdens hit is good communication. “The most important thing is transparency,” confirms relationship psychotherapist Vasia Toxavidi. “There needs to be open communication and support and understanding.” Pent-up financial worries, Toxavidi says, can create “anxiety, stress and then depression, which can become almost like a loop” that is difficult to escape from. Societal pressures and the catalogue of manufactured dreams that is Instagram also play their part, leading to distorted expectations of what your relationship should be like, an illusion brought into sharper focus by money troubles. “People see certain things happening on social media and they go home and say: ‘Why aren’t you providing for me?’” says Michelle Bassam, a psychological therapist at Harley Therapy in London. “It helps not to have any expectations of each other apart from our basic self-care and being open and truthful. Then why, in moments of financial difficulty, do your expectations of your partner have to change?” There are also practical ways of lightening the financial burden. “In terms of saving specifically, one of the first things you can look at is where you’re spending the most money,” says Vicky Parry, content editor at moneysaving website Money Magpie. “For a lot of people, aside from rent or mortgage, that would be food. Look for ways in which you can get food cheap – go to Lidl, get a £1.50 veg box, freeze food, use the food-saving apps, create meal plans together.” If you’re staying in more, the urge might be to load up on even more streaming platforms, but Parry suggests using the LittleBirdie app that “goes through all your subscriptions and finds out which ones you’re using the most. My partner and I cut down £100 a month using that.” She also recommends the channel Talking Pictures TV, which specialises in classic films, for a romantic night in. “Or, if you want a day out, there are so many good things you can do for free – go to museums, go to the parks. Just be a bit creative.” In fact, creativity is key when living on a budget. “We don’t need to go out to have fun,” says Bassam. “Being together should always be enough. Have times with no telephones, no television, just each other. Have an indoor picnic, enjoy a shower together, run your partner a bath.” These small acts of kindness can be a great way of showing that you’re in it together. Another way of cementing that togetherness is to open a joint account. While there are risks involved – both parties are equally responsible for any withdrawals, which could cause problems if one person has a different attitude towards spending, and credit ratings can also be affected – it’s a way of putting that all-important transparency into action. “Joint accounts work very well because you’ve both got visuals on what’s going on,” says Stephen Page, a chartered financial life planner with Serenity Financial Planning. Joint accounts used as a way of saving, even in small increments, mean you can still have something to look forward to when financial hopes for the future take a knock. One way to have fun with your partner, for free, at home, is of course to have sex. But as lovely as that can be, financial stresses can quash libidos and dampen sexual appetite. For Bassam, it’s about focusing on intimacy rather than sex. “Intimacy is important because we feel loved and respected and needed at a time of difficulty,” she says. “It’s about enjoying each other’s company and each other’s bodies. It doesn’t have to be sex because stress can cause problems on both sides. It’s about being present: if you are with your partner, it’s not being half on your phone and half with them. It’s remembering the things you used to laugh about and things you want to share in the future.” Keeping a relationship healthy when money is tight is about recalibrating expectations, being creative, focusing on what’s important and finding fun together. But honesty is the key to unlocking all of the above. “There are three taboos – death, sex and money – and if you’re open and face that conversation about money with your partner then it leads to a deeper and more rewarding relationship,” says Page. “It takes another fear off the table.” If you’re worried about all the budget chat, the spreadsheets and the cashback apps being the antitheses of romance, then Page has a question for you: “Why wouldn’t being financially secure be sexy?” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/16/how-to-keep-love-alive-when-money-is-tight

Georgia residents and animal rights activists unhappy at proposal to house long-tailed macaques in sprawling complex A long-tailed macaque. The plan is to house a 30,000-strong mega-troop of the species, which is native to south-east Asia, in Bainbridge, Georgia (po[CENSORED]tion: 14,000). Photograph: Rahman Roslan/Dokumen Studio/The Guardian A plan to establish the largest monkey-breeding facility in the US, which would allow 30,000 macaques to roam within outfitted warehouses in Georgia, is facing a furious backlash from animal rights groups and some local residents. The sprawling, 200-acre complex would house an unusually large number of monkeys, which will then be sent out to universities and pharmaceutical companies for medical research. Over the next 20 years, the facility will assemble a mega-troop of about 30,000 long-tailed macaques, a species native to south-east Asia, in vast barn-like structures in Bainbridge, Georgia, which has a human po[CENSORED]tion of just 14,000. Safer Human Medicine, the company behind the new $396m simian metropolis, has said the monkeys will be kept in highly secured conditions, will not spread disease in the local area and will be fed fresh local produce. “We all depend on these critical primates to save the lives of our loved ones and ourselves,” the company said in an open letter to residents that featured a mocked-up picture of monkeys joyfully cavorting with toys in a light-filled, apartment-like room. But the plan faces fierce opposition, with some Bainbridge residents calling on local authorities to block the construction of the proposed primate manse. “They’re an invasive species and 30,000 of them, we’d just be overrun with monkeys,” claimed Ted Lee, a local man. “I don’t think anybody would want 30,000 monkeys next door,” added David Barber, who would live just 400ft from the new facility. Animal rights groups are also calling for the plan to be scrapped, arguing that breeding primates for medical tests is cruel and provides little benefit in coming up with new treatments for humans due to differences between the species. “This move not only further threatens the survival of these primates in the wild, it perpetuates a cycle that we should be breaking away from,” said Kathleen Conlee, vice-president of animal research issues for the Humane Society. “We urge local officials to reject the proposal to build this facility and the federal government to prioritize science that will ultimately save both human and animal lives.” The vast majority of medical testing on animals involves rodents, with only about 1% requiring primates, but the practice of conducting experiments on humans’ closest relatives has long been controversial. The National Institutes of Health said in 2015 it would no longer support biomedical research upon chimpanzees and welfare groups have called for a broader ban alongside a switch to alternative methods, such as using new technology like artificial intelligence. About 70,000 monkeys a year are still used across the US in tests for treatments to infectious diseases, ageing and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, with researchers warning that the US is running low on available primates for tests. Safer Human Medicine has said its planned monkey mini-city will help alleviate this, while also creating more than 260 local jobs to care for the new residents, which will not be taken from the wild. The monkeys weigh about 5 to 7lbs and, as their name suggests, have very long tails. “There can often be a lot of misinformation surrounding animal research,” a spokeswoman for Safer Human Medicine said. “Our goal is to provide the Bainbridge community with the facts and accurate information about our purpose and the new facility’s operations. We still believe Bainbridge is the right place for this project and we plan to move ahead with the facility’s plans based on the approvals and support we received at the project’s outset.” The facility initially secured tax breaks ahead of construction, although those have now been withdrawn ahead of a decision by local authorities over whether to allow the project. Safer Human Medicine has said it will press on with the monkey containment plan even without the tax breaks. Edward Reynolds, the mayor of Bainbridge, was contacted for comment. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/16/georgia-monkey-animal-testing-facility