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British actor and star of 1964 film died at an assisted living home in Los Angeles of natural causes on Thursday Glynis Johns in 1950. Photograph: John Springer Collection/Corbis via Getty Images Glynis Johns, the Tony Award-winning stage and screen star who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, has died aged 100. She died Thursday at an assisted living home in Los Angeles of natural causes, according to her manager. Johns also introduced the world to the bittersweet Send in the Clowns by the American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the song for her role as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music on Broadway, for which she won a Tony in 1973. Sondheim wrote the show’s hit song to suit Johns’ distinctive husky voice, but she lost the part in the 1977 film version to Elizabeth Taylor. “I’ve had other songs written for me, but nothing like that,” Johns told the Associated Press in 1990. “It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever been given in the theater.” In a statement to the Guardian, her manager, Mitch Clem, said: “My heart is heavy today with the passing of my beloved client Glynis Johns. Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives.” He added: “She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely. “Today is a somber day for Hollywood. Not only do we mourn the passing of our dear Glynis, but we mourn the end of the golden age of Hollywood.” Others who followed Johns in singing Sondheim’s most po[CENSORED]r song include Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan and Olivia Newton-John. It also appeared in season two of Yellowjackets in 2023, sung by Elijah Wood. Johns was known to be a perfectionist about her profession and insisted the roles she took were multi-faceted. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m not interested in playing the role on only one level,” she told the AP in 1990. “The whole point of first-class acting is to make a reality of it. To be real. And I have to make sense of it in my own mind in order to be real.” Johns was nominated for an Oscar for her role in 1960 film The Sundowners, and starred alongside Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O’Toole in the film Under Milk Wood. She made a number of TV appearances, and starred in her own sitcom Glynis in 1963. Later on in her career, she played the role of the kooky and fragile grandmother in the 1995 romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping. She played the grandma again in her final role in the 1999 film Superstar, starring Molly Shannon. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/05/glynis-johns-dead-mrs-banks-mary-poppins

Known since Palaeolithic times, valued by the Romans and key to Portugal’s empire-building, there are now less than 3,000 Garranos left by Sam Jones in Vieira do Minho There is more life in the fog-bleached mountains of northern Portugal than the raptors wheeling overhead in search of rabbit and the invisible cows whose clanking bells ring out through the damp whiteness. The trick is finding it. Along the hillside, piles of fresh manure signpost the way to one of the region’s most emblematic and endangered species. Before long, the curve of a dark brown neck rises from a nest of mossy rocks and winter-brown ferns. It belongs to a Garrano, an ancient breed of pony that has lived on the Iberian peninsula long enough to appear in paintings by both Palaeolithic artists and Diego Velázquez. Its strong, stocky build helped Portugal build and maintain its empire. Today, however, the Garrano is struggling to hold on. After 16,000 years of domestication, the breed began to fall from favour in the middle of the 20th century as farms were mechanised and tractors and cars replaced horses. In the 1940s, there were between 40,000 and 60,000 Garranos in Portugal. Current estimates put the total po[CENSORED]tion at 1,500-3,000. “A horse needs a function,” says José Leite, a vet who serves as a technical adviser of the Association of Garrano Horse Breeders (Acerg). “Without it, they’re doomed to disappear. And that’s what was happening here. The need for the horse as an agricultural tool ended, and so this intensive breeding stopped, too.” Acerg is trying to ensure the breed’s survival by highlighting its multifaceted potential: not only has the pony been valued as a hardy trekker since at least Roman times, it can also pull buggies, do dressage and is an ideal animal for novice riders. “It’s about giving the breed back a purpose,” says Leite, “or finding a new one.” Ariana Bezerra with one of the stallions on her family’s farm in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. Photograph: Gonçalo Fonseca/The Guardian “It’s about giving the breed back a purpose,” says Leite, “or finding a new one.” In a country such as Portugal – which knows all too well the damage wildfires can do – the Garrano is now being pressed into service as a fire-prevention tool. Acerg has signed an agreement with Portugal’s largest electrical infrastructure company, REN, to provide 280 horses that will clear brush under pylons by grazing across 4,000 hectares of mountainside. Michel Pereira, who has been beguiled by Garranos since he was 11, has been breeding the ponies for three decades and has 48 animals, many of which are now roaming the Serra da Cabreira. The wildfires of 2017, which killed more than 100 people in Portugal and Spain, reached one of his stables, devouring the plastic lining of its roof and bringing it down on the ponies beneath. Although the burned animals survived, the fire was a reminder of all that could be lost. ‘Portugal would be a poorer country without these horses,’ says Michel Pereira, a Garrano breeder and trainer. Photograph: Gonçalo Fonseca/The Guardian “Portugal would be a poorer country without these horses,” says the 55-year-old breeder. “It would be a great loss to Portugal and to all the families whose lives are bound up with Garranos.” Obsolescence and the climate emergency are not the only threats the Garrano faces. The mountains of north-west Portugal are also home to around seven packs of Iberian wolves, comprising an estimated 30-40 animals. Like the ponies, the wolves have been in the area since the Palaeolithic period, and have been a protected species since 1988. Garrano foals are rich and easy pickings for the wolves. Susana Lopes, a vet who joined Acerg eight years ago, says that wolves are killing up to 70% of the foals in some areas. “If there aren’t too many wolves, the Garranos can do OK,” she says. “It’s OK if the wolves take the odd sick foal, but we’ve got to the point where … there’s no balance.” In the 1940s, there were between 40,000 and 60,000 Garranos in Portugal. Current estimates put the total po[CENSORED]tion at 1,500-3,000. Photograph: Gonçalo Fonseca/The Guardian The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), the state body responsible for managing Portugal’s natural heritage, points out that wolves are protected by law, adding that the government pays compensation to farmers whose livestock are killed by the carnivores. A spokesperson for the ICNF says the institute and its partners have launched a range of projects “to raise awareness among livestock farmers of the importance of conserving this large carnivore and to support them in implementing the most appropriate protection measures to prevent wolf attacks”. Such programmes, she adds, include the use of traditional Portuguese livestock dogs and the building of fenced enclosures. But the Garrano breeders argue that neither measure is suited to roaming ponies, and say the only sustainable way to address the attacks would be to introduce other animals for the wolves to eat, such as goats. In the meantime, many breeders are bringing their pregnant mares down from the mountains so they can give birth and raise their foals in safety. Garrano breeder Fernando Bezerra fell in love with the breed after visiting a local horse fair as a young boy, says his daughter. Photograph: Gonçalo Fonseca/The Guardian Ariana Bezerra and her father, Fernando, have six Garranos on their farm on the outskirts of the ancient town of Ponte de Lima. Keeping them stabled, she says, is a mixed blessing. “To protect the bloodlines and the foals, people like us keep their horses at home, but by doing that, you lose a lot of their wildness,” says Bezerra, as her father – who fell in love with the breed when he visited the local horse fair as a young boy – shows off his Garrano saddles and plies his visitors with bowlfuls of the wine he makes in a cellar beneath the stables. “Losing the Garranos would be like having your heart broken and losing the pieces forever,” she says. “They’re not just part of Portugal’s history, they’re part of the world’s history.” Losing the Garrano ponies ‘would be like having your heart broken and losing the pieces forever’, Ariana Bezerra. Photograph: Gonçalo Fonseca/The Guardian Leite says the breed’s disappearance would be the environmental equivalent of losing Lisbon’s famous Jerónimos monastery. What is more, he adds, if the ponies go, they could take their predators with them. “We’d be losing all that very important genetic heritage,” he says. “And if the Garranos disappeared, the wolf packs in the mountains would disappear.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/01/portugal-efforts-to-save-the-garrano-pony-ancient-breed-extinction

The United States also expressed concerns that Russia is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran. Missiles launched from Russia fly towards eastern Ukraine [File: Vadym Bielikov/AFP] 4 Jan 2024 The United States has said that Russia is using ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that recently declassified intelligence found that North Korea had provided Moscow with the weapons, at least one of which was fired into Ukraine on December 30, landing in an open field in the Zaporizhia region. Russia also launched “multiple” of the North Korean missiles on Tuesday during an overnight attack, he added. Kirby also said that a Russia-Iran deal had not been completed but that the US “is concerned that Russia’s negotiations to acquire close-range ballistic missiles from Iran are actively advancing”. He said Washington and its allies will now raise the matter at the United Nations Security Council as it signals a breach of US sanctions against North Korea. The Biden administration has repeatedly looked to make the case that the Kremlin has become dependent on North Korea and Iran for the weapons it needs to continue its military operation in Ukraine and has disclosed findings it says prove that. So far, North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programmes and human rights records. In October, the White House said that North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Moscow. Britain on Thursday condemned Russia’s use of North Korean missiles in recent attacks against Ukraine. “We urge North Korea to cease its arms supply to Russia,” the UK’s Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement. Crimean attacks Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine announced that its air force had conducted a raid on a Russian command post near the occupied city of Sevastopol and hit a military unit in a separate attack on the Crimean Peninsula. Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk posted a video on the Telegram app showing smoke rising from an explosion near Sevastopol, a Crimean port that serves as the main headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. “Thanks again to the Air Force pilots and everyone who planned the operation for perfect combat work,” he said. The Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, described the attack as “the most massive in recent times”. He said one person was hospitalised after a piece of shrapnel struck. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had foiled a Ukrainian attack, destroying 10 incoming missiles over the peninsula. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/4/russia-used-north-korean-missiles-in-ukraine-us-says

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New iteration of flagship vehicle is JLR’s first foray into building electric cars in UK A Range Rover plug-in hybrid. Photograph: Nick Dimbleby British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has begun road testing prototypes of its electric Range Rover, in its first foray into building electric cars in the UK as it tries to catch up with rivals. JLR, which makes the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, said it had opened a waiting list for pre-orders of the new Range Rover, its flagship vehicle, which is seen as a crucial step towards its electric future. The carmaker, which vies with Japan’s Nissan to produce the most cars in the UK, has been relatively cautious in embracing electric vehicles. However, in April it announced a £15bn investment plan to upgrade its factories and launch electric versions its models, starting with the Range Rover. JLR already sells electric cars, but its award-winning battery electric Jaguar I-Pace model has been built in Austria by contract manufacturer Magna Steyr since 2018. In the following five years, JLR’s rivals have launched a series of luxury sports utility vehicles (SUVs) such as BMW’s iX and Mercedes-Benz’s EQC, which compete against Tesla’s Model X. The electric Range Rover is being manufactured in JLR’s factory in Solihull, near Birmingham, using many of the same tools as the existing Range Rovers, which are hybrids that combine smaller batteries with a petrol engine. The shared tooling will allow JLR to shift between electric and petrol hybrid versions more quickly if its plans change. Batteries and electric drive units will be assembled at JLR’s plant in Wolverhampton. The company has not confirmed the price of the electric Range Rover, and customers are registering to gain the option to purchase one when they become available. Prices for the diesel mild hybrid Range Rover start at £103,000. Geraldine Ingham, managing director for Range Rover, said the model was “seeing the highest levels of client demand in our 53-year history”. The car is undergoing hot- and cold-weather testing in Dubai and Sweden. JLR said the car will come with 800-volt charging, which allows much faster charging speeds when using the network of ultra-rapid chargers that are generally located on main roads and motorways for longer journeys. The company also said the Range Rover would be its quietest model, taking advantage of more efficient electric motors. Almost every major carmaker in the UK has revealed plans for all-electric models built in British factories, in a relief to many in the car industry who had feared the loss of factories and automotive jobs after Honda’s decision in 2019 to close its Swindon factory. An important aspect of JLR’s electric plans had been out of its hands, as it waited for its Indian owner, Tata, to decide whether to build a battery “gigafactory” in the UK or Spain. Tata announced a planned £4bn investment in the plant, expected to be located in Somerset, in July. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/13/jaguar-land-rover-begins-road-testing-electric-range-rover-prototypes

From left: Emma Hayes, Lucy Bronze and reigning Olympic champions Canada. Composite: Getty Olympic, Nations League and W Gold Cup champions will be crowned, while Emma Hayes faces a baptism of fire in the USA Last year was a historic one for women’s football and it shows no sign of letting up in 2024. Here are seven things to watch out for over the coming months, from first-time finals to a World Cup host at last, while Chelsea bid farewell to their legendary six-times Women’s Super League-winning manager. Olympic title up for grabs The headline tournament of the year is the women’s football competition at Paris 2024. Sixteen teams will compete for the gold medal in the tournament, which runs from 24 July to 10 August. The holders, Canada, have already qualified alongside the USA, Colombia, Brazil and the hosts, France, but there are still 11 places up for grabs. The Nations League finals involving the Netherlands, Spain and Germany will decide the two remaining Uefa spots. Australia and Japan will be favourites to claim the two Asian places in February while Samoa will host the final Oceania qualification round (one place) in the same month. There are also two spots for African nations to be decided in April. Who will make Nations League history? The inaugural Nations League will conclude in February with four teams vying for the title. After a fascinating conclusion to the group stage last month, Spain and France will host the Netherlands and Germany, respectively, as they seek a place in the final. The Dutch dramatically pipped England on goal difference to seal their progress while Germany outfoxed Denmark, France eased through Group A2 and Spain condemned Sweden to missing out on Olympic football for the first time. As mentioned above, the final two European places for Paris 2024 will be decided as the tournament concludes on 28 February. Inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup More history will be made in February and March as the USA stages the first ever W Gold Cup. The hosts will be joined by Canada as the Olympic playoff winner, while Costa Rica and Mexico came through Concacaf qualifying. Panama will also take part after topping a qualification group that contained Jamaica and Guatemala, the former being without many of their first-team players after a well-publicised dispute with their federation. In addition, there are spots for the top four finishers at 2022’s Copa América – Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay – while the three remaining Concacaf places will be confirmed with three single-leg playoffs in Carson on 17 February. Will there be a new European club champion? Bilbao will take centre stage for the conclusion of the 23rd Women’s Champions League in May but there is still so much football to be played. The group stage will conclude towards the end of January with only Barcelona and Lyon having secured places in the quarter-finals so far. Chelsea have put themselves in a good position in the hunt for the one trophy that has eluded Emma Hayes in her more than decade-long tenure at the club. Meanwhile, Group C is shaping up to be the one to watch with only three points separating all four contenders: Ajax, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Roma. Kadidiatou Diani of Lyon celebrates during their successful group stage. Photograph: @OLfeminin/X Euro 2025 finalists to be decided Following the conclusion of the Nations League, European qualification will begin in April as teams look to seal places in Euro 2025. Despite relegation to League B, Switzerland claim an automatic place as hosts and they will be joined automatically by the top two of each group in League A. Two rounds of playoffs will then determine the final seven nations. After a strong Nations League campaign, the Republic of Ireland will be hoping to reach their first ever European Championship, but Scotland and Wales face an uphill task. Stalwarts Sweden and Norway, meanwhile, will have to go through playoffs in February, as do Northern Ireland, as they jostle for the best possible position to begin qualifying. World Cup host to be named While the next two host countries of the men’s World Cup have already been decided, Fifa has bizarrely not yet confirmed the location for the 2027 women’s edition. The bidding process was only launched last year, and the host is eventually set to be announced at the Fifa congress in May. After the withdrawal of South Africa, there are three bids in contention. USA and Mexico have put in a joint application, as have Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Brazil have also thrown their name into the hat. Hayes takes over the USWNT Chelsea hearts were broken in October when it was announced that Hayes would be leaving for pastures new on the conclusion of the 2023-24 season. Shortly after, it was confirmed that she would become the next manager of the US women’s national team. It will be a baptism of fire for the highly acclaimed manager as she takes the USWNT to the Olympics only weeks after the conclusion of the Women’s Super League. Turning the team’s waning fortunes around will be no easy task but it will surely be a challenge that a coach of her calibre will relish. Recommended viewing With most leagues enjoying the winter break, catch up on all the goals from Australia’s A-League as they continue to play throughout the Christmas period. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/jan/03/womens-football-in-2024-seven-big-stories-to-look-out-for-across-the-year

Two explosions occurred at Kerman ceremony marking fourth anniversary of killing of top general Qassem Suleimani Over 100 people dead after two explosions hit Qassem Suleimani memorial in Iran – video report Over 100 dead in blasts at memorial for assassinated Iranian commander Two explosions occurred at Kerman ceremony marking fourth anniversary of killing of top general Qassem Suleimani Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor Wed 3 Jan 2024 15.57 GMT Two explosions have killed at least 103 people and injured scores more at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the US killing of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force and one of the most powerful men in the Middle East. A senior official called the blasts a terrorist attack, without elaborating on who could be behind them. No one has immediately claimed responsibility for what appeared to be the deadliest attack to target Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. According to IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, the first explosion in the south-central city of Kerman occurred 700 metres (0.4 miles) from Suleimani’s burial place and the second 1km from it. State-run media cited Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for the country’s emergency service, as saying 73 people had been killed and 170 wounded. State television later reported that the death toll had climbed to 103. Initially, local officials said it was not known if the explosions were caused by gas canisters, or suicide bombers. Later, officials said the explosions occurred in two bombs that were detonated remotely, and classified the incident as terrorism. The blasts occurred on the roads leading to Golzar Shohada, the Garden of Martyrs cemetery in Kerman. Suleimani’s body is buried there along with more than 1,000 other people regarded as martyrs, and the site has become a place of pilgrimage for supporters of the so-called “axis of resistance” against the US and the west. Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 and was seen as the leader directing Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and Syria. Iran has multiple foes who could be behind the attack, including exile groups, militant organisations and state actors. A representative of Kerman province accused agents of Israel of committing the offence, the first elected representative reported to make such an attribution. Separately, Kianush Jahanpur, the former spokesperson of Iran’s health ministry, said on social media: “The answer to this crime should only be in Tel Aviv, Haifa.” A still image from a video released by the Iran Press news agency shows the site where two explosions occurred on Wednesday. Photograph: Iran Press/AFP/Getty Images Iran only recently said it had eradicated a group backed by the Mossad, the Israeli state secret service. Some analysts said it would be unusual for Israel to undertake a generalised attack on civilians with no high-level military targets and so did not fit a previous pattern of what Israel has done to date inside Iran. Israel rarely comments on international operations. Israel is suspected of launching an attack on Tuesday that killed a deputy head of Hamas in Beirut, but that attack saw limited casualties in a densely po[CENSORED]ted neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital. On 25 December, an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a top commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, prompting Tehran to threaten that Israel would “certainly pay” for its actions. Iranian state media identified the commander as Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser of the Quds Force, saying he had been killed in an airstrike near the Syrian capital, Damascus. Israel has in the past carried out the targeted assassinations of nuclear scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear programme. Hospitals in Kerman and surrounding areas have been put on alert to treat the injured. Other major terrorist incidents inside Iran include two simultaneous attacks that were carried out by five terrorists belonging to Islamic State in 2017. The Iranian parliament building and the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, were hit, killing 17 civilians and injuring 43. Tehran has claimed it has stopped multiple other Isis attacks inside Iran that were targeted at civilians in public places. Suleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional military activities and is hailed as a national icon among supporters of Iran’s theocracy. He also helped secure Bashar Assad’s Syrian government after the 2011 Arab Spring protests against him turned into a civil, and later a regional, war that still rages today. Suleimani’s po[CENSORED]rity and mystique grew after American officials called for his killing over his help arming militants with roadside bombs that killed and maimed US troops. A drone strike launched by the Trump administration killed the general, part of escalating incidents after America’s 2018 unilateral withdrawal from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/03/dead-in-blasts-at-memorial-for-assassinated-iranian-commander

Kate Brody, pictured as a child with her father. Photograph: Courtesy of Kate Brody A moment that changed me: my dying father told me he had a secret son. Then my brother got in touch ... I was 14 when I found out in 2006, and Ryan was 16 months older than me. Our lives continued apart and in parallel, until he reached out over social media Until I was 14, I believed I was my father’s eldest child. But in 2006, a month before he died, he sat me down at the kitchen table – alone, my younger sisters asleep – for the kind of talk I knew would involve bad news. “I need to tell you something.” He looked more distressed than when he told me his lung cancer had returned and had spread to his brain. “I have a son.” My mum stood beside him, silent, as he told me about Ryan, a boy 16 months older than me. Ryan lived in Pennsylvania, driving distance from our house in New Jersey, and my dad explained that he had arranged for them to meet recently, at a local horse farm. Part of his farewell tour. I felt panic rise in my throat. “How?” I asked. “It was … an accident. An error in judgment. Early in my relationship with your mum,” he replied. “He’s not your family though, right?” My dad nodded, and I hugged him, avoiding the wound on his chest. I promised not to tell my sisters. Looking back, I don’t know how to explain or excuse my response, other than to say that once I understood our time together was limited, everything felt like a threat. I wanted my dad to myself. My sisters found out on their own, of course, and in the years after his death, we spoke of Ryan in whispers. One sister to another, relaying what little information we had about “the boy” or “Dad’s son”. Never “our brother”. I could feel him – my phantom limb – as we marched in lockstep towards adulthood, as we moved from our teens into our 20s. I went to grad school, moved to New York, and started teaching. Ryan graduated from college, joined the military, and started flying planes. I knew because of LinkedIn, the chilliest, most distant form of social media. I sent him a friend request one night when I was drunk and he accepted. And for almost 10 years, we watched each other on our screens, getting only the facts – job histories, current locations, and one photo each. I could see him looking and he could see me. Someone has viewed your profile. ‘My sisters and I spoke of Ryan as “the boy” or “Dad’s son”. Never “our brother”’ … Kate Brody. Photograph: Annabel Graham Then in September 2023, a message appeared: “How are you? I saw that you wrote a book. I’m in flight school for the navy now after some time in the corporate world. What are your plans for the future? Are there any questions that I can answer?” “My novel comes out in early January,” I wrote back. “But flight school? Incredible.” I included my phone number and went to bed, aware of what I didn’t say: that my book was a kind of apology, a story in which a deranged and grieving young woman uses social media to reach out to her long-lost brother. One in which the brother is vindicated by the callousness of the family that rejected him. The next morning, a text: “If you come to Texas on tour, I will need to get a copy.” We texted about my sisters, his job, the climates in Texas and Los Angeles. It was surprisingly easy to talk, even if there was one subject we were avoiding: the man who linked us to one another. Finally, from him: “I would love to hear any stories you have to share and pictures would be great too. I don’t know what you looked like or did.” That night, I couldn’t stop wondering about Ryan’s childhood. I thought of my own little boys. What would I do if their father chose not to be involved in their lives? I built an album: pictures of my dad, me and my sisters, my kids – Ryan’s nephews. I wondered if it would all be too painful. Here is the man you were missing. Here he is helping me blow out my birthday candles. Here we are on the beach. Here he is sick, dying. Here I am, holding his hand. I sent it, feeling obliged to fulfil Ryan’s one, small request. He sent me back a photo: a baby in blue velvet with a four-toothed smile and an upturned nose. Hair, reddish like mine, peeking from under a cap. “I think we looked similar as little ones,” Ryan said. “I can’t say I have a clear picture of the man.” I tried to fill in the gaps: “Whip-smart. Very intense. Dry sense of humour. Phenomenal dancer. Loved dogs. Very sick for a long time.” I went to bed that night angry with my dad, who had been dead for 17 years, and angry at myself, for my own cowardice and cruelty. For thinking I was ever the victim of anything, when I had experienced such a relatively charmed childhood. The next day, Ryan asked for some of my dad’s writing. Looking through the letters my dad left me, I found one I hadn’t read in years. It ended: “Forgive my shortcomings, and your own. Don’t be sad when the acute pain of sorrow grows gratefully more distant. Be glad that life goes on. I’ll always love you.” I cried reading it. In spite of everything, I missed him. I was mad at him, and I loved him. I sent it to Ryan. I thought once more of my own boys. “He would have been very proud of the man you’ve become. I’m sorry he didn’t give himself the chance to be.” Our texting tapered off, and we went back to our lives. But every so often, I look up flights from Los Angeles to Houston. I picture us in a coffee shop – him in his military regalia, me in my writerly black. We are so different. Of course we are. We have lived different lives. But even our Texas waiter can see that we are the same. His smile is my smile. His laugh is my laugh. He is the brother, and I am the sister. Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody, published by Bloomsbury, is out in hardback on 18 January, price £16.99. To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy for £14.95 at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/03/a-moment-that-changed-me-my-dying-father-told-me-he-had-a-secret-son-then-my-brother-got-in-touch-

Scientists played audio recordings to volunteers – with the majority responding correctly to the birds’ emotions A little bird told me: the data points to common ground in how animals share their emotions. Photograph: georgeclerk/Getty Images People can tell if chickens are chirpy or frustrated from their calls, according to researchers who believe that listening to the birds could help breeders improve the welfare of their flocks. Scientists played audio recordings of hens to nearly 200 volunteers and found that 69% could tell the difference between birds that were happy about an imminent treat and those that were annoyed that no such reward was forthcoming. Joerg Henning, a professor in veterinary epidemiology at the University of Queensland and senior author on the study, said: “People involved in chicken husbandry can identify the emotional state of the birds they look after, even if they do not have prior experience.” The work points to an apparent common ground that many animals share in how they express their feelings. More practically, it paves the way for acoustic monitoring of chicken flocks that uses artificial intelligence to gauge the mood in the coop and alerts breeders when their hens aren’t content. Listen to sounds chickens make when they're about to get food – audio If such monitoring proves reliable, Henning said, it would provide “a convenient and cost-effective way to enhance welfare assessment methods in the commercial chicken production industry”. The Victorian naturalist Charles Darwin suspected that animals further down the tree of life expressed their emotions vocally. Writing in The Descent of Man in 1871, he described how the ability might have evolved through successive adaptations in the animals’ vocal organs. It raised the prospect that many creatures not only shared a knack for emotion-laden calls, but that they might respond to emotions in other species’ calls too. To see if people could identify emotions in chicken calls, Henning and his colleagues played volunteers audio recordings from hens. The birds had been trained to associate different sounds, such as beeps, rings and buzzes, with the contents of a bowl hidden behind a swing door. The surprises ranged from mealworms and normal chicken feed to dust for cleaning their feathers and a rather disappointing empty bowl. When the chickens knew a treat lay behind the door, they produced a barrage of fast clucks or high-pitched staccato clucks known as food calls, but when there was nothing to get excited about, they responded with whines and long, wavering moans known as gakel calls. Listen to a chicken gakel call, which often indicates frustration – audio Each volunteer heard 16 recordings, all of the same length. Half were from chickens that were preparing for a treat, and half from birds that knew no such treat was coming. While nearly 70% of the volunteers, recruited from the researchers’ professional networks and adverts in online poultry journals, could tell the excited chickens from the frustrated ones, older people were less accurate, perhaps because they had poorer hearing. The work is published in Royal Society Open Science. The findings build on recent research that suggests humans around the world can interpret emotions in the calls of a vast range of animals from tree frogs and alligators to ravens and giant pandas. The results have led scientists to suspect that terrestrial vertebrates share an emotional vocal signalling system, in line with Darwin’s thinking. If the idea survives further investigation, chicken call monitoring could be written into animal welfare assessments, said Henning, which would be particularly valuable on farms that hold thousands of birds. But smallholders could also benefit, he added, from knowing that their perception of chicken calls has a good chance of being correct. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/03/humans-can-tell-by-chickens-calls-if-they-are-happy-or-frustrated-research-finds

The skeletons are remarkably well preserved given their age By Rebecca Morelle and Alison Francis A rare, early medieval cemetery has been unearthed in Wales and it has left archaeologists scratching their heads. It's thought to date to the 6th or 7th Century and 18 of the estimated 70 graves have been excavated so far. Some of the well preserved skeletons have been found lying in unusual positions and unexpected artefacts are also emerging from the site. The dig is starting to reveal more about this ancient community - but it's also raising questions. The cemetery lies in an unremarkable field in the grounds of Fonmon Castle, close to the end of the runway at Cardiff airport. Over two summers, a team has been busy carefully removing the thin layer of topsoil to expose the graves that were carved into the bedrock so long ago. The front teeth from one of the skeletons are very worn Summer Courts, an osteoarchaeologist from the University of Reading, says the skeletons are in good condition despite being around 1,500 years old. She points to a skull that's just been excavated, which is providing clues about how these people lived and worked. "We have some teeth that are very worn in a kind of a funny way that might indicate the use of teeth as tools," she says. "Maybe for textile work, leather work or basketry - they're pulling something through their front teeth." But some of the skeletons are posing a puzzle - they're lying in a whole variety of positions. Some are flat on their backs, normal for the period, while others are placed on their sides, and a few are buried in a crouching position with their knees tucked up against their chest. The archaeologists aren't sure what this means. Was the cemetery used over a long period of time as burial practices were changing? Or were some people being marked out as different? The team thinks there are about 70 graves at the site - 18 have been fully excavated so far The items being found around the graves are also surprising and they show how life in the middle of the first millennium was very different from now. Fragments of dishes and cups have been found, and splinters of animal bone that have been butchered and burnt. One item really brings this community to life: a tiny carved peg that may have been used as a marker for scoring in a game, perhaps something like we use in a cribbage board. This small carved peg is made from animal bone and may have been used for a medieval gaming board Dr Andy Seaman, a specialist in early medieval archaeology from the University of Cardiff - who is leading the digging team - says unlike cemeteries now, this doesn't seem to be just a place to dispose of the dead. "We tend to think of graveyards as sort of enclosed spaces that we don't really go to, but they probably would have been quite central to life in the past," he explained. "And it's not just a place for people being buried, but it's a place where communities are coming together: they are burying their dead, but they're also undertaking other forms of activity, and social practice, including eating and drinking - and feasting" A tiny shard of glass imported from France was found in one of the graves Most perplexing though is that the artefacts being discovered here suggest these people were far from ordinary. While we're at the dig, an excited shout goes up: "I've just found a piece of glass." It's lying in one of the graves. "It's a rim shard, an ice-cream shaped cone vessel - very fine material, very fine glass… it's a really nice find," Andy Seaman says as he admires the fragment. He thinks it's from the Bordeaux region in France - and it's not the only imported item, the team has also found pieces of pottery, possibly from North Africa. The team will carry out a DNA analysis of the bones to find out more about this community The quality of these finds suggests that the people there were of a high status. Tudur Davies, from the University of Cardiff, says: "The evidence we've got here is that the people have access to very high quality imported goods, that you can only get through trading or exchange networks, with people with a lot of wealth, to bring it here. "What exactly is going on? Who are these people being buried here?" The artefacts suggest that the people buried at the cemetery may have been of high status Further research is needed to get a more precise date for when the graveyard was in use, and DNA analysis will reveal more about the skeletons buried there. The cemetery will provide a snapshot in time of both each individual and the community as a whole helping to shed more light on an era that we still know very little about. But the questions about who actually lived and died here may take a lot longer to answer. Follow Rebecca on X, formerly known as Twitter. You can see more on the medieval cemetery on Digging for Britain on BBC 2 at 8pm on 4 January. The full series is already available on iPlayer. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67750403

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