The region’s president responds to criticisms that he was slow to act by attacking the prime minister
The sun still hadn’t risen on Tuesday 29 October when the mayor of Utiel, Ricardo Gabaldón, took another look at the warnings from Spain’s state meteorological office and ordered all the schools in the small Valencian town to close.
“The warning early that morning – at 5am or 6am – was orange,” he said. “That’s when I was weighing up whether to close the schools here. In the end, I ordered them to close at six or seven that morning. Soon after, the alert went red.”
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/10/2024 - 00:00
11/09/2024 - 15:50
Ten people have been injured so far by the Mountain fire, which was 17% contained by Saturday morning
As firefighting crews continued to battle the Mountain fire on Saturday, some residents were allowed to return to areas destroyed by the blaze to sift through the destruction to their homes.
As of 7am Pacific time on Saturday, the fire had been 17% contained, according to Cal Fire, the state’s wildfire-fighting agency.
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11/09/2024 - 15:00
Shadow cabinet secretary Claire Coutinho accepted donation from Lord Bamford while overseeing millions awarded to his family businesses in green grants
A Conservative former cabinet minister who took donations from the billionaire boss of the JCB digger dynasty – including a £7,000 trip on his VIP private helicopter – oversaw decisions to award his family’s business empire millions in taxpayer-funded green energy grants.
Claire Coutinho also posed for pictures promoting Lord Bamford’s personal £100m hydrogen engine project and accepted a £7,500 donation from JCB to her local election campaign while she was the energy secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government.
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11/09/2024 - 14:00
Energy secretary says Britain must work on vital alliances with other countries following victory of climate-denier Trump
The UK must ramp up its efforts on renewable energy to foster national security in an increasingly uncertain world, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has warned, on the eve of a fraught global summit on the climate crisis.
He pledged that the UK would lead efforts at Cop29 to secure the global agreement needed to stave off the worst impacts of climate breakdown, in talks that have been thrown into turmoil by the re-election of Donald Trump as US president.
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11/09/2024 - 14:00
The lesson of his first term is that he does what he says he is going to do: the UK must prepare
Wednesday 9 November 2016: a misty, drizzly day in Washington DC, an overwhelmingly Democrat city in trauma after the shock victory of Donald Trump in the election the previous day. A Washington rarity, a declared Trump supporter, was among a group of guests for lunch in the residence that day. I took him aside and asked whether Trump would be as radical and disruptive as the giants of American political journalism were predicting. “Not at all,” he said: “I know the guy. All that red meat was just for the campaign. I expect him to govern as a mainstream Republican.”
Fast forward to London, Wednesday 6 November 2024. I’m speaking at a business dinner about the election outcome and what will come next. I mention Trump’s commitment to levy 20% tariffs on all imports into America. One participant says he has just spoken to a friend in Arizona who knows Trump personally. This friend has said: “It’s not about instant action. Trump will use the tariffs as a threat, to persuade countries to act to get trade flows into balance.” Another participant says: “Trump has won his second term now. So he doesn’t need to fight any more. Surely he’ll calm down and focus on his legacy?”
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11/09/2024 - 12:00
After Donald Trump’s victory, brute force will prevail over geopolitics as authoritarians are appeased from Russia to Israel to China
Feelings are not the usual focus of a world dominated by macho strongmen, complex geopolitical challenges, wars and disasters. Yet every rule has exceptions. Following Donald Trump’s unexpectedly decisive US election victory, dark storm clouds seeded with powerful emotions overshadow the international landscape.
Feelings of shock and anger that this lying conman again seduced enough voters to win the presidency roil America’s friends and allies. There is incredulity that so very many people collaborated in their own seduction. And there is puzzlement at exit polls that show 45% of female voters backed a serial sexual predator while Latino and black men helped a shameless racist to prevail.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
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11/09/2024 - 12:00
Landscape and architecture photographer Vincenzo Pagliuca was always fascinated by the empty, isolated houses scattered around the Campania region of southern Italy where he grew up. Since 2016 he has travelled along the Apennine mountain range that runs almost the length of the country, photographing uninhabited rural houses and abandoned holiday homes linked to ski tourism – now unused due to lack of snow. These images, collected in the book Mónos, were shot during the winter months to capture the particular quality of the light. “A house immersed in a winter landscape, even more so in its isolated state, evokes an ancestral sense of shelter and protection,” says Pagliuca. “It becomes an archetypal image of intimacy, inviting us to reflect on the psychological significance of home for human beings.”
Vincenzo Pagliuca’s Mónos is published by Hartmann Books (£28). To order a copy for £25.20 go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
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11/09/2024 - 11:00
Patrick Grant says not even luxury clothing labels care enough about quality any more
Earlier this year Patrick Grant, The Great British Sewing Bee presenter and clothes designer, criticised the poor quality of Marks & Spencer’s jumpers and socks – and now the luxury British heritage brand Burberry is in his line of fire.
Speaking at an event organised by the Design Council last week, Grant had a simple message for the audience: “Most people who sell you clothes do not give a stuff about the quality.”
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11/09/2024 - 06:00
Gabriel Kay hopes his design can help tackle the problems caused by discarded electrical goods
Gabriel Kay really understands his target audience. As a student of industrial and product design at De Montfort University, he focused on the kettle.
“Everyone can relate to a kettle, right?” says the 22-year-old graduate. “It’s easy to understand and associated with comfort. It’s a friendly introduction to design.”
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11/08/2024 - 21:25
More than 130 structures destroyed in two days by ferocious Mountain fire, as thousands remain under evacuation order
Firefighters in southern California made progress in their effort to contain a wildfire that destroyed more than 130 structures in two days as fierce wind gusts that were fanning flames eased on Friday.
The Mountain fire, which started on Wednesday morning in Ventura county, had grown to 20,630 acres (about 8,349 hectares) with 14% contained as of Friday evening.
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