Recent content by Luke Skywalker

My father was one of a volunteer crew who took a Dutch minesweeper across the Channel so that the Dutch flag was flown on D-day. He said that the worst thing was seeing the faces of those soldiers swept back against the ship as they were killed before they could properly set foot on the Normandy...

Autocorrelation of a trimmed surface Photograph: Sam Ashworth/2019 EPSRC Photography Competition People and Skills category, first prize and overall winner: Syrian refugee at Azraw refugee camp by Dr Dima Albadra, University of Bath As part of a participatory design workshop, refugees in Azraq...

Jared Kushner’s interview over the weekend, in which he said he did not know if he would alert the FBI if approached privately again by Russia, has revived questions about his White House security clearance. The admission came in an interview with Axios on HBO in which Kushner seemed unprepared...

Significant levels of chemicals linked to an array of health problems have been found in seafood, meats and chocolate cake sold in stores to US consumers, the Food and Drug Administration has found. Toxic America The levels in nearly half of the meat and fish tested by researchers were at...

An attempt to extradite Julian Assange to Sweden has suffered a setback after a court in Uppsala said he did not need to be detained. The ruling by the district court prevents Swedish prosecutors from applying immediately for an extradition warrant for Assange to face an allegation of rape...

Apple has announced that the iPhone is going to get faster with iOS 13, the iTunes app is dead on the Mac with the new macOS 10.15 Catalina, and the iPad is getting its own operating system. On stage at the firm’s annual developer conference in San Jose McEnery Convention Center, California...

Safety regulators in the US have identified a further problem in Boeing’s grounded 737 Max model and the generation of planes that preceded it. The Federal Aviation Administration has told airlines to check more than 300 737 aircraft, including 179 of the Max model, for improperly manufactured...

Jared Kushner said Democrats who call the president a racist are doing ‘a disservice to everyone who suffers from real racism in this country’. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP Show Times investigation uncovers "alarmingly inappropriate" behavior from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao Trump...

In Virginia Beach on Monday, signs of a shooting that killed 12 people on Friday could still be seen at a complex of government buildings as authorities search for a motive. A mass shooting couldn’t happen in Virginia Beach … until it did At one entrance to the municipal center, a makeshift...

Executives of Barclays and the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline are among those invited to a breakfast meeting between Donald Trump and senior business leaders. About 10 executives have been asked to attend the gathering on Tuesday at St James’s Palace in central London, making it a much...

It was once heralded as a possible saviour of the music industry in the digital age, famously annoyed fans by forcing a U2 album on them, and its 20,699-word terms and conditions have even inspired a graphic novel, but now Apple is to replace its iTunes download service. According to a report...

'So much land under so much water': extreme flooding is drowning parts of the midwest Homes are inundated with flood waters from the Arkansas river in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Photograph: Tom Gilbert/AP As relentless rain wreaks havoc in the farm belt, many struggle to cope by Chris McGreal...

No country in the world is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030, according to the first index to measure progress against a set of internationally agreed targets. Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said the index, launched on Monday, “should serve as a...

The Sephora beauty chain will close all its US stores, distribution centers and corporate offices on Wednesday to conduct diversity training for employees, after a racial incident involving a Grammy-nominated singer. R&B singer SZA, who is black, said in April she was racially profiled at a...

It is one of the great mysteries of the Trump presidency. Up there with questions about the president’s tax returns and whether or not he obstructed justice in the Mueller investigation, are enduring questions about Donald Trump’s hair. The trademark bouffant, which Jimmy Fallon confirmed...