Germany’s Cabinet is set to approve a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, setting the scene for the European Union’s most populous member to decriminalize possession of limited amounts and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy the substance for recreational purposes

According to 'Barbie' star Margot Robbie, Barbie cannot experience sexual desire because 'she doesn't have organs'

English model, actress and singer Twiggy has revealed that she never planned to go into modelling. Twiggy, 73, whose full name is Dame Lesley Lawson, rose to prominence as a model in the 1960s, and has appeared on the front cover of fashion magazines Vogue and Tatler. Discussing her career, including an appearance in musical film The Boy Friend, Twiggy told Good Housekeeping: “I’ve spent my life doing things that I didn’t plan to do. “I didn’t plan to model. I definitely didn’t plan to do a musical film with Ken Russell and I certainly didn’t plan to star on Broadway in a big musical. I must be mad!” Russell wrote and directed The Boy Friend, which also starred ballet dancer Christopher Gable and EastEnders actress Barbara Windsor. Twiggy has also been involved in Close Up – The Twiggy Musical, written and directed by comedian Ben Elton and slated to open in September. She said: “I only get involved with projects that really spark something in me, with people I love and want to work with. “Ben Elton is an old friend and I love him to bits. “He’s a huge talent – so clever and such a sweet man. “The musical came about when we were having dinner about six years ago and he said, half-jokingly: ‘I should do your story! It’s an amazing story set in an amazing period – I should write it.’” The musical traces the model’s rise to stardom in a show filled with music from the 1960s and 70s. Twiggy also talked about her marriage to English actor Leigh Lawson and said: “(Leigh and I) have been together for 38 years, which is frightening! I suppose luck has a lot to do with it. “You never know when you meet somebody how it’s all going to turn out or what life is going to throw at you. “We’ve both been through things that didn’t work out for various reasons and when you’ve had that experience, you’re a little gentler when you meet someone else.” Lawson is also a director and writer and he has credits in TV shows including Silent Witness, Travelling Man, Absolutely Fabulous and The Red Tent. The September 2023 issue of Good Housekeeping is now on sale. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live ‘Women short-changed as 65% of weekly working hours ignored in official data’ How to wear the casual tailoring look in summer What is premenstrual dysphoric disorder?

President Joe Biden and European Union leaders delivered a message of unity Friday on the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine wars, despite worries that political paralysis in Washington could...

South Africa’s rolling blackouts have been blamed by strategists as the single biggest factor weighing on the rand.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 24, 2023--

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on six people affiliated with the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah, which is accused of being behind a spate of recent attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel

Andrew Rohde scored 13 points and Virginia took command with a 17-2 run spanning the halves and beat No. 14 Texas A&M 59-47

The degenerative brain disease - chronic traumatic encephalopathy - is linked to contact sports.

A scientist has broken the world record for living underwater after spending 74 days living in a habitat 30 feet (9 metres) below a Florida lagoon. Former naval officer Dr Joseph Dituri is the first person to live that long that far underwater without depressurisation, with plans to remain in Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo until 9 June as part of a 100 day mission dubbed Project Neptune 100. The mission combines educational outreach with medical and ocean research, with scientists keen to see what impact sustained exposure to such pressure will have on the human body. One hypothesis is that the increased pressure – roughly 1.6-times that of the surface pressure – will lead to improvements in health, while also potentially having an impact on key indicators related to disease and longevity. “We know for sure that when you’re exposed to about half the pressure that I am right now, you double the number of circulating stem cells,” Dr Dituri told The Independent via video chat in April. “I will have longer telomeres – potentially reversing ageing – and I will also gain bone density and muscle when I’m down here.” Scientists also estimate he may lose around an inch in height during the mission due to the pressure exerted on his body – in the same way that astronauts grow around 3 per cent taller after spending time in the weightlessness of space. Dr Dituri’s 74th day residing in the underwater lodge was similar to previous days spent there since he submerged on 1 March. The university professor, who also goes by the moniker “Dr. Deep Sea,” ate a protein-heavy meal of eggs and salmon prepared using a microwave, exercised with resistance bands, did his daily pushups and took an hour-long nap. Unlike a submarine, the lodge does not use technology to adjust for the increased underwater pressure. The previous record of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes was set by two Tennessee professors – Bruce Cantrell and Jessica Fain – at the same location in 2014. “The record is a small bump and I really appreciate it. I’m honoured to have it, but we still have more science to do,” Dr Dituri said. “The idea here is to populate the world’s oceans, to take care of them by living in them and really treating them well.” While he says he loves living under the ocean, there is one thing he really misses. “The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the Sun,” he said. “The sun has been a major factor in my life – I usually go to the gym at five and then I come back out and watch the sunrise.” During his time underwater, Dr Dituri also claims to have discovered a brand new species. “We found a single-cell ciliate, a single-celled organism that we believe is a brand new species to science,” Dr Dituri said. “People have dived in this area thousands and thousands of times – it’s been here, we just didn’t look.” Additional reporting from agencies Read More Woman talks to past self in ‘trippy’ conversation after feeding childhood journals to AI Nearly half of all internet traffic is now bots, study reveals ChatGPT is finally connected to the web 75% of Irish data watchdog’s GDPR decisions since 2018 overruled – report

Six white former police officers pleaded guilty on Monday to state charges for torturing two Black men. The men had sworn an oath to protect and serve were huddled on the back porch of a Mississippi home as Michael Corey Jenkins lay on the ground, blood gushing from his mutilated tongue where one of the police officers shoved a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The roughly 90-minute period of terror preceding the shooting began late on January 24 after a white neighbor called Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman inside a Braxton home. McAlpin tipped off Deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies who called themselves “The Goon Squad,” a moniker they adopted because of their willingness to use excessive force. “Are y’all available for a mission?” Dedmon asked. They were. Five of the former officers are from Rankin County Sheriff’s Office – Chief Investigator Brett McAlpin, Narcotics Investigator Christian Dedmon, Lieutenant Jeffrey Middleton, Deputy Hunter Elward, and Deputy Daniel Opdyke – while one is from the Richland Police Department, Narcotics Investigator Joshua Hartfield. Some of the group calls themselves the “Goon Squad,” as they were known for “using excessive force and not reporting it.” All pleaded guilty to state charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to hinder prosecution. Each reached individual plea agreements that include prison sentences ranging from five to 30 years, according to court records obtained by the Associated Press. The guilty pleas to the state charges arrive just over a week after all six men also pleaded guilty to 16 federal felonies “stemming from the torture and physical abuse” of two Black men. They will be sentenced for the federal charges in mid-November. According to the Justice Department’s release earlier this month, the officers admitted kicking in a door and entering a home belonging to two Black men – Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker on 24 January – without a warrant. The two men were handcuffed and arrested – without probable cause to believe they had committed any crime. The officers “called them racial slurs, and warned them to stay out of Rankin County,” according to the release. The officers reportedly “punched and kicked” Mr Jenkins and Mr Parker, “tased them 17 times, forced them to ingest liquids, and assaulted them with a dildo.” Court records detail how they burst into a home without a warrant, handcuffed Jenkins and Parker, assaulted them with a sex toy and beat Parker with wood and a metal sword. They poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces and then forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess. Then one of them put a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and fired. As Jenkins lay bleeding, they didn’t render medical aid. They knew the mission had gone too far and devised a hasty cover-up scheme that included a fictitious narcotics bust, a planted gun and drugs, stolen surveillance footage and threats. The deputies were under the watch of Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, who called it the worst episode of police brutality he has seen in his career. On top of other torturous behaviour, the former officers devised a cover-up, involving making false statements and charging the two men with crimes they did not commit, but also neglected to provide medical aid to them. Law enforcement misconduct in the U.S. has come under increased scrutiny, largely focused on how Black people are treated by the police. The 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police ignited calls for sweeping criminal justice reforms and a reassessment of American race relations. The January beating death of Tyre Nichols by five Black members of a special police squad in Memphis, Tennessee, led to a probe of similar units nationwide. In Rankin County, the brutality visited upon Jenkins and Parker was not a botched police operation, but an assembly of rogue officers “who tortured them all under the authority of a badge, which they disgraced,” U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca said. The county just east of the state capital, Jackson, is home to one of the highest percentages of Black residents of any major U.S. city. A towering granite-and-marble monument topped by a Confederate soldier stands across the street from the sheriff’s office. The officers warned Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” court documents say, referencing an area with higher concentrations of Black residents. Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the trauma “is magnified because the misconduct was fueled by racial bias and hatred.” She mentioned another dark chapter in Mississippi law enforcement: the 1964 kidnapping and killing of three civil rights workers. The violent police misconduct is a reminder “there is still much to be done,” Clarke said. Read More Former Mississippi officers expected to plead guilty to state charges for racist assault Alabama riverfront brawl videos spark a cultural moment about race, solidarity and justice Civil suit can continue against corrupt former deputy linked to death of Mississippi man

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON The White House wants federal agencies to "aggressively" execute a shift to more in-person