Why more Mexicans wrap themselves in the flag   12%

500 years after conquistadors first set foot on Mexican soil, a renewed sense of nationalism is taking root.

Spain jails Catalan leaders up to 13 years for sedition   -26%

Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to prison terms of between nine and 13 years for sedition for their role in a failed 2017 independence bid.The long-awaited verdicts were less than those demanded by the prosecution, which had sought up to 25 years behind bars for former Catalan Vice-President Oriol Junqueras on grounds of rebellion.Spain has been bracing for weeks for the court’s ruling, with tension mounting steadily and police sending reinforcements to…

Doctor Sleep, It, The Dark Tower: is there too much Stephen King on screen?   21%

The horror overlord is everywhere in 2019, and with good reason. But we may be getting close to saturation point

Stephen King rules modern horror – but how much of his reign can we take? In 2019, his stories seem to be everywhere. On Halloween comes Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining. It is the fourth King-derived movie this year, following Pet Sematary, In the Tall Grass (Netflix’s third King adaptation in three years) and, still on release, It: Chapter Two. Meanwhile, coming to the small screen we have HBO’s The Outsider, Amazon’s The Dark Tower, a Julianne Moore-led Lisey’s Story, The Stand, season three of Mr Mercedes and season two of Castle Rock. His 61st novel, The Institute, was also released last month. A TV adaptation is already in the works.

You do not have to look far for explanations for King’s ubiquity. For one thing, It: Chapters One and Two are two of the highest-grossing horror movies ever. For another, King movies have an illustrious pedigree: Carrie, The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, The Dead Zone, etc. In a content-hungry but risk-averse age, he is a recognisable seal of quality. And where so many current titles are built on elaborate mythologies, political allegory or genre-savvy trickery, King is a master at inserting supernatural elements into familiar settings: a hotel, a car, high school, suburbia. He makes horror for people who wouldn’t say they liked horror.

Three U.S. soldiers killed during training exercise at Fort Stewart   -15%

The accident comes as more than a dozen American service members have been killed in training exercises in the past year.

Andy Murray looking to the future after remarkable European Open victory   6%

Murray defeated his old rival Stan Wawrinka 3-6 6-4 6-4 in the final of the European Open in Antwerp to claim his first ATP Tour singles title for more than two-and-a-half years

Memorial of Mississippi lynching has a new sign. This time, its bulletproof   -100%

For decades, the spot of a horrific murder that helped galvanise the US civil rights movement was unmarked. But in the years since, the sign marking the memorial site has been repeatedly vandalised.

Astros and Nationals bring similar elite starting pitching to the World Series   23%

Superior starting rotations vaulted the Washington Nationals to their first World Series and the Houston Astros to their second in three years.

Regulations, funding keep Canada from becoming world leader in cannabis research, scientists say   10%

Onerous regulations and insufficient funding are holding back cannabis research in Canada, some experts say, a year after recreational use of the drug became legal.

Australia's birds: pretty and sweet or just a pack of bastards? | Sean Dooley   66%

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count begins on Monday and an exceptionally dry 2019 could see a changing of the guard in the top 10

• The Guardian/Bird Life Australia bird of the year poll returns on 28 October

Since BirdLife Australia launched the Aussie Backyard Bird Count in 2014, the number of participants has risen from 9,000 to over 70,000. Unsurprisingly, the amount of birds that have been counted in our cities and towns has also risen – from 850,000 to more than 2.75 million birds last year.

Yet when it comes to the top 10 most commonly seen birds, the song remains the same, with the same species entrenched firmly at the top every year. It’s the birding equivalent of tuning into Countdown in the 70s to find Abba’s Fernando top of the charts for the 27th week in a row.

Chinese scientists turn black coal by-product into white paper   -18%

More than 2,000 years after the invention of paper in China, the country’s scientists are claiming another first – a breakthrough that replaces its key ingredient with the dirty waste from coal-fired power plants.The result – which is almost indistinguishable from paper made from wood pulp – achieves a more than 90 per cent match to pure whiteness, despite being made with the black fly ash produced from burning coal.The process has passed stringent tests in real production lines and is ready…

Police found 3 children living with 245 animals. Among them: Rats, sugar gliders and a hedgehog.   -40%

A police officer performing a wellness check said it was “the absolute worst residence” he had visited in his five years on the force.

Austria's Handke and Poland's Tokarczuk win Nobel literature prizes   25%

Austrian writer Peter Handke won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday and Polish author Olga Tokarczuk was named as the 2018 winner after a sexual assault scandal led to last year's award...

NRG refreshes its board, adds two new independent members  

NRG Energy, the Houston- and New Jersey-based power company, announced the board is adding two new independent members as part of an effort to refresh the makeup of the board.  The two new members replace one board member who is leaving at the end of the year and another who will not be up for re-election at next year's annual meeting.

Paris Contemporary Art Fair welcomes galleries from Iran and Ivory Coast  

It’s the beating heart of the French art market for one weekend every year: a one-stop art shop where visitors can invest in a future masterpiece or bag a bargain from an up-and-coming artist. The 46th edition of the FIAC is showing work from some 200 galleries from 29 different countries, with Iran and Ivory Coast represented among the art dealers at Paris's Grand Palais for the very first time.

One big snow job for people in central Toronto   6%

Toronto city council was full of promises last year to resolve the double standard that sees sidewalks cleared everywhere in the city, except in the old city of Toronto. This year? Same old, same old.

To my Sweetheart in the Navy: Solving the mystery of a pair of Second World War romantics   10%

Their letters were found in an antique shop nearly 80 years after being written. Caitlin Huson tells the epic story of two friends hoping to reunite them with their owners

Moroccan king pardons journalist jailed for having an abortion  

Morocco’s king has pardoned Hajar Raissouni, a journalist sentenced to a year in prison last month for extramarital sex and an abortion, along with her fiance, a doctor and two of his colleagues, the justice ministry said on Wednesday.

Real estate transactions down 15 percent   11%

The Finance Ministry said that the real estate transactions in the first nine months of 2019 shrunk by 15 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Solskjaer turns back clock while Pereira highlights value of a modern No 10 | Richard Williams   13%

Andreas Pereira joined Manchester United during the Alex Ferguson years and the young playmaker is now starting to display an influence the team have long been missing

Manchester United were unrecognisable on Sunday. Which is to say that for most of the time they played like Manchester United rather than the dispirited rabble written off by many commentators in the noisy lead-up to their meeting with Liverpool, the European champions and Premier League leaders, at Old Trafford.

The weekend papers would have made Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s players feel as though they were reading their own obituaries. Their tactics were “muddled”. The club had “decayed”. Their performance in their previous match, a bedraggled defeat at St James’ Park just before the recent international break, had been “historically bad”. They were described as “shorn of authority and confidence” and “the last cuts of offal” compared to the prime steak offered in the glory years. Two former international players, in separate columns in different papers, reached the same conclusion: only one current United player – Harry Maguire – would be good enough to join 10 from Liverpool in a combined XI.

Manchester United vs Liverpool: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes shot at rivals long wait for title   10%

The United boss believes they will recapture the title much quicker than their rivals, who have waited 30 years since their last league title

In a career of landmarks, Roger Federer set for 1500th match   16%

Despite not adding to his tally of majors, he still stands at 47-8 for the year, a record bettered only by eternal rival Rafael Nadal, whose triumphs at Roland Garros and the US Open have taken the Spaniard to 19 Grand Slams.

China plans to end illegal hazardous chemical dumping by 2025   -2%

China will step up efforts to end the illegal dumping of hazardous chemical waste over the next six years, raising its monitoring and treatment capacity and blacklisting violators, the environment ministry said on Monday.

Ethiopian, Yemeni or Ashkenazi? Traditions behind Rosh Hashanah breads   -20%

Whether you like dipping a bit of challah into a bowl of honey or go for the Sephradi bolo, the meaning behind round baked goods connects Jewish communities worldwide on the New Year

Brexit a bigger humiliation than Suez  

We’re going in roared the front page of British tabloid The Daily Sketch, 63 years ago this month.

In historic first, Israel's national baseball team qualifies for Olympics   -3%

The blue and white will be competing against five other teams in Tokyo next year

New Balis, Islam, and moving the capital: Indonesias Luhut Pandjaitan on Jokowis challenges   2%

Former general Luhut B. Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs in President Joko Widodo’s first cabinet, sat down earlier this month with researchers from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore to offer his thoughts on the priorities and challenges for Widodo in his second term. The following are edited excerpts of the interview.SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT CONCERNSThere were reports that a new naval base had been built in the Natuna Islands about a year ago. What…

Top 34 bestselling 'fruit' drinks for kids deemed unhealthy   30%

Americans spent $1.4 billion on the most popular brands of children's fruit drinks and flavored waters last year. Yet according to nutritional guidelines, none of the drinks were healthy.

Students' union elections to clash with mid-sem exams at Presidency University: IC  

The West Bengal government had put students' union polls on hold for over two years in four state universities.

Kanye West brings his Sunday Service to Howard Universitys homecoming   16%

West's show at the prominent black college comes after a few rocky years for the Trump-supporting artist.

Du Tu Le, beloved Vietnamese poet who came to U.S. as a refugee, dies  

Le wrote 77 volumes of poetry -- one for each year he lived

Extinction Rebellion protests show what a car-free future could look like   1%

We can create a transport system that is zero carbon – and socially just – in only a few years. We just need to recognise that it's possible, writes Paul Chatterton

Australia's second biggest aid recipient Indonesia to launch its own Pacific aid program   30%

Indonesia is setting up an aid program worth about $60 million per year to help Pacific island neighbours, even though it still receives hundreds of millions of aid funding itself.

After Michigan's no-fault overhaul, health insurance costs may depend on your employer   17%

Health insurers say the new no-fault auto insurance law so far isn't spiking 2020 premiums, but the full picture won't be known until next year.

Lonely Planet best places to travel 2020: The full list from Bhutan to Salzburg   50%

Bhutan scooped best country to visit next year

William Hill Sports Book of the Year shortlist announced  

The six-strong shortlist for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award was announced on Tuesday, with twice winners Donald McCrae and Duncan Hamilton in contention for the 2019 prize.

How we met: Im a staunch Brexit critic but it did lead to us falling in love   -10%

Tom Browne, 43, and Nara Falcón, 36, have been together since 2018. They have a baby daughter

Tom and Nara met in a queue last year. “I’d spent three years living in the UK,” jokes Ireland-born Tom. “I’d picked up some of your ways.” Forced to relocate to Madrid because of Brexit, he had been in town only three weeks and had a friend visiting from Dublin, so he was ticking off some of the local attractions.

“We’d done most of the tourist stuff, so we ended up in El Retiro park, queueing to go on a boat ride,” he says. Waiting in front of them was Nara. “There was a vibe from the start. Nara is beautiful and has this warm personality that I could see when she was talking to her friend, even though I couldn’t understand the words she was saying. She’s gorgeous, open and friendly.”

Could the Royal Family shrink?   -10%

Over the years, there have been signs of a gradual streamlining of the House of Windsor, but there has been little recently to rival the straight-up announcement coming out of another royal household the other day.

Explorers find wreckage of two Japanese aircraft carriers sunk at the Battle of Midway   -40%

The discoveries rank as some of the biggest underwater historical finds in years.

Afghan museum restores Buddhist history, one broken piece at a time   50%

Restoring Afghanistan's Buddhist artifacts that were destroyed by the Taliban 18 years ago is like working on a 1,500-year-old jigsaw puzzle, say conservators working on the latest restoration...

Phuket feels impact of US-China trade war as popular Thai resort struggles amid fewer mainland tourists, stronger baht   16%

Hotels on Thailand’s most popular holiday island have been forced to slash prices with rooms left vacant and beaches sparse as tourist chiefs struggle with a plunge in Chinese visitors caused by the US trade war and a stronger baht. Located on the Andaman Sea and known for its beaches and nightlife, sun-drenched Phuket was the most visited destination in the country last year after Bangkok and a good gauge of the state of its crucial travel industry. Tourism accounts for 18 per cent of…