damerell

I made this black cocoa loaf cake yesterday, and followed it exactly as written despite some skepticism, which turned out to be warranted, because the middle of the loaf collapsed as it cooled. Even as I was measuring out 1 TBSP of baking powder(!!!), I was like, this seems excessive, but maybe it's because the cocoa is so alkalinized??? So I might cut that back slightly to 1.5 or 2 tsps if I make it again, which I might, because the flavor is good, despite all that baking powder. I didn't bother with the ganache since I don't have room in the fridge for the cake. But it would also disguise that kind of collapse, so if I were serving it to other people I probably would make it.

It's been gray and cool since last night, but it hasn't rained yet, so I've been able to keep the windows open. I did have to use the AC a couple times last week, especially to sleep, and I'll put it on again when necessary, but it was nice just using the fan last night.

Anyway, work remains busy, the world is on fire, but the Mets stay winning! Gotta take the little joys while you can...

*

Posted by Robert Mackey (now); Lucy Campbell, Marina Dunbar, Joe Coughlan and Kate Lamb (earlier)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

US military’s Northern Command confirms it is sending 700 marines to the city to protect federal personnel and federal property

• LA braces for more protests against immigration raids

• Trump’s protest response risks politicizing military, veterans warn

About 300 Guard troops have been deployed to LA so far.

President Donald Trump earlier said he would deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests, despite the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

Posted by Nils Pratley

https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2025/jun/10/thames-water-creditors-too-greedy

If group of lenders has any prospect of getting its proposal to fly, some of its big numbers will have to look very different

• Thames Water creditors offer up £5bn as part of emergency turnaround plan

If you would kindly rip up the regulatory system, move the goalposts on sewage and spills and promise not to fine us too much, we’d be delighted to rescue Thames Water. If these requests cause you political difficulty, dear secretary of state, consider how much worse it could be if you end up controlling this failing company yourself. Do you really wish to be responsible for every burst water main in London and every drop of effluent in Didcot?

That seems to be the pitch from the 100-plus group of lenders to Thames Water who are now the only game in town in terms of a “market-led” recapitalisation, the alternative to special administration, AKA temporary nationalisation.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2025/jun/10/thames-water-creditors-too-greedy

Posted by Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/10/sizewell-c-nuclear-power-station-ed-miliband-investment

Ed Miliband promises to ‘get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster’ with new plant expected to create 10,000 jobs

The biggest nuclear programme in a generation will “get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster”, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said, announcing £14.2bn to build a new nuclear power station and a drive to build small modular reactors.

The multibillion-pound investment at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast, which has been long expected, will create 10,000 jobs and power the equivalent of 6m homes.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/10/sizewell-c-nuclear-power-station-ed-miliband-investment

Posted by Michael Savage Media editor

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jun/10/social-media-creators-to-overtake-traditional-media-in-ad-revenue-this-year

User-generated material to surpass advertising income from professional media amid change in viewing habits

Content on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram will attract more advertising income this year than content from traditional media companies, according to research, marking a “huge cultural shift” for the media world.

User-generated material – videos, podcasts and posts put together by individual creators – will eclipse the ad revenue attracted by professional media produced by TV networks, cinemas and news companies, the analysis found.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jun/10/social-media-creators-to-overtake-traditional-media-in-ad-revenue-this-year

Posted by Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/10/cutting-uk-income-requirement-for-family-visas-would-increase-net-migration-says-independent-panel

Migration advisory committee sets out options and suggests scrapping Tory plan to raise threshold to £38,700

Ministers could cut the amount a British citizen or settled resident must earn to apply for a partner’s visa but that would result in a rise in net migration, a report by the government’s independent immigration panel has said.

The migration advisory committee said that ministers could set any future minimum income threshold between £23,000 and £25,000. Since April 2024, applicants have had to earn at least £29,000 to apply for a visa for their partner.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/10/cutting-uk-income-requirement-for-family-visas-would-increase-net-migration-says-independent-panel

Posted by Jamie Grierson

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/10/children-free-bus-travel-west-england-summer-holidays

About 150,000 under-16s will benefit across West of England combined authority and North Somerset

Children under the age of 16 will be able to travel for free on buses in the west of England during the school summer holidays in a move benefiting about 150,000 young people.

The West of England combined authority (Weca) – covering Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire – plus North Somerset will allow children aged from five to 15 to travel for free with no bus pass or registration required.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/10/children-free-bus-travel-west-england-summer-holidays

Posted by Jasper Jolly and Anna Isaac

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/10/thames-water-creditors-offer-up-5bn-as-part-of-emergency-turnaround-plan

Regulator Ofwat concerned that plans do not write off enough debt to secure investment-grade credit rating

• Nils Pratley: Thames Water’s creditors are being too greedy

Lenders to Thames Water have said they will provide £5bn in funding to the struggling utility, in an emergency turnaround plan that has quickly raised concerns from the water regulator, Ofwat, over potentially inadequate losses for debt holders.

The group of existing senior creditors to Thames Water, a band of more than 100 financial institutions, said their plan would inject £3bn of equity and another £2.25bn of debt.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/10/thames-water-creditors-offer-up-5bn-as-part-of-emergency-turnaround-plan

Posted by Abby West

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/10/variety-of-wildlife-in-uks-woodlands-falling-as-habitats-degrade-says-report

Only 7% of Britain’s woodlands in good condition, while number of birds fell by 15% over last five years

The variety of wildlife in the UK’s woodlands continues to decline as the habitats deteriorate, according to a new report.

The Woodland Trust found that the progressively worsening ecological condition of woodlands is making them a less effective habitat for the wildlife living in them.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/10/variety-of-wildlife-in-uks-woodlands-falling-as-habitats-degrade-says-report

Posted by Jonathan Jones

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jun/10/tracey-emins-jesus-royal-academy-summer-exhibition-review-cindy-sherman

Royal Academy of Art, London
With an extraordinary painting by Emin, great works by Cindy Sherman, Cornelia Parker and Sean Scully, assisted by some perving from Allen Jones, this annual jamboree has returned to relevance

Halfway through the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, I was woken up by Jesus (but more on this shortly). Suddenly, as I came to, the whole place appeared alive and more and more good stuff leapt out from the 1,600 works on view. What’s that upsidedown stag? It’s by the 87-year-old German master Georg Baselitz. As for those convex mirrors above your head, reflecting you and the floor in radical foreshortening, that’s an installation by Cornelia Parker. In the same room hang eviscerated animal carcasses hooked up on chains, made of textiles by Tamara Kostianovsky.

But it’s Jesus who lifts this exhibition out of the ordinary. He moves towards you like a shark in the illusion created by Tracey Emin’s painting The Crucifixion. And like a shark, he is frightening. I thought art had lost its capacity to shock. But what can be more shocking than a celebrated 21st-century artist sincerely painting the passion? Emin shows another work before this startling, upsetting show-stopper – an outsized, melancholy portrait print. It makes you wonder and worry: is the artist OK? And even, is the artist any good? This female face is so broadly sketched it’s a bit clumsy, and yet you can’t forget it.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jun/10/tracey-emins-jesus-royal-academy-summer-exhibition-review-cindy-sherman

Posted by Robert Mackey (now); Lucy Campbell, Marina Dunbar, Joe Coughlan and Kate Lamb (earlier)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

US military’s Northern Command confirms it is sending 700 marines to the city to protect federal personnel and federal property

• LA braces for more protests against immigration raids

• Trump’s protest response risks politicizing military, veterans warn

About 300 Guard troops have been deployed to LA so far.

President Donald Trump earlier said he would deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests, despite the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

Posted by Associated Press

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/09/us-arrests-chinese-scientist-biological-material

Scientist accused months ago of shipping material, described as related to worms, to University of Michigan lab

A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at the Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday.

The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/09/us-arrests-chinese-scientist-biological-material

Posted by Ben Fisher at King Baudouin Stadium

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/09/belgium-wales-world-cup-qualifying-group-j-match-report

Just when Wales thought they had done enough to earn an unthinkable comeback draw, having trailed 3-0 inside 27 minutes, Kevin De Bruyne wheeled away in celebration, arms splayed, after regaining the lead for Belgium. Now it was 4-3, Wales’s extraordinary work to bounce up off the canvas undone but not forgotten, Craig Bellamy’s unbeaten run finally over.

In the city of the Delirium Village, a cul-de-sac near the Grand Place with a bar sporting a Guinness world record for the most varieties of beer, the Wales supporters who made the pilgrimage felt deliriousness turn to disappointment. It should not linger too long given the manner of Wales’s response from the moment Jérémy Doku, not for the first time, made those in red shirts look silly before firing a shot into the far corner to make it 3-0.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/09/belgium-wales-world-cup-qualifying-group-j-match-report

Posted by Robert Mackey (now); Lucy Campbell, Marina Dunbar, Joe Coughlan and Kate Lamb (earlier)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

US official says military is sending 700 marines to the city but that Insurrection Act is not expected to be invoked

• LA braces for more protests against immigration raids

• Trump’s protest response risks politicizing military, veterans warn

About 300 Guard troops have been deployed to LA so far.

President Donald Trump earlier said he would deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests, despite the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

Posted by Aaron Bower

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/09/wigan-great-billy-boston-to-be-knighted-in-historic-first-for-rugby-league

• Accolade has never been given to a rugby league player

• Boston, 90, a pioneering black figure in British sport

The Wigan Warriors legend Billy Boston will become the first rugby league player in the sport’s 130-year history to receive a knighthood on Tuesday.

Rugby league has never had a player awarded the highest accolade in an honours list, with calls increasing in recent years thanks to the fundraising done away from the field by people such as Kevin Sinfield – who is expected to be given a similar honour at some stage – and the late Rob Burrow. But Boston’s name has also always been high on the list of candidates overlooked.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/09/wigan-great-billy-boston-to-be-knighted-in-historic-first-for-rugby-league

 I've been feeling bloated and puffy these last weeks, which my ankles tell me is what I am, and anyway, mug and heat and all = summer life as normal. But I woke this morning oddly limber and decided I'd better see what the damage is, so went downstairs and weighed myself. To find I'm ten pounds/ 4.5 kilos less than I'd thought and fifteen pounds less than I'd feared. What I was last February, basically. This is what not drinking will do to you. So I need only lose 20 pounds/ 9 kilos to get to my pre-op weight, not 30.

The problem basically is that my body image hasn't really changed since my mid-30s while my body certainly has. So seeing my reflection in store fronts is a shock.  Who's that short thick woman? Why, it's me.

It stopped raining mid-afternoon so I set out for the laundromat and ran into my garbage bin painters coming down the street with their newly purchased 3. So I was able to pay them then, and stop worrying about them coming some morning to roust me out of bed during one of my indulgent lie-ins. Not that I lay in this morning. My exhausted lungs took me to bed at 11 last night, meaning I was wide awake at 8:30.

Today was still not easy on the lungs but miles better than yesterday. Sinuses still fill, throat is still scratchy, eyes still itch. But laundry has been achieved, I have clean towels and hand towels and sleep pants, so count myself content.

Posted by Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/09/gaza-aid-boat-madleen-israel-greta-thunberg-freedom-flotilla-coalition

Crew of activists making symbolic attempt to deliver aid expected to be held in port until deportation hearings

A boat seized by Israel’s military as it tried to break the blockade on Gaza was towed into an Israeli port after sunset on Monday, with the crew of activists including Greta Thunberg expected to be held there in advance of deportation hearings.

The Madleen was attempting to bring a symbolic shipment of aid to Gaza, which faces a looming famine after more than 11 weeks of total siege and ongoing severe restrictions on food entering the territory.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/09/gaza-aid-boat-madleen-israel-greta-thunberg-freedom-flotilla-coalition

Posted by Andy Hunter

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/09/thomas-tuchel-england-best-teams-spain-portugal-club-world-cup

• Head coach thinks players ‘will rise to the occasion’

• Tuchel wants ‘more fluid’ and ‘more exciting’ football

Thomas Tuchel has said England should not have an inferiority complex in relation to the world’s strongest teams but must start playing with a smile to realise their true potential.

The England head coach said his side “have not clicked yet” and, as well as criticising the attitude against Andorra on Saturday, believes the performance was too rigid and too serious. England’s labours in Barcelona were put into sharper focus by the quality of Portugal and Spain in the Nations League final the following night. Tuchel, however, insists England are not inferior to those nations and will improve, beginning with the friendly against Senegal in Nottingham on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/09/thomas-tuchel-england-best-teams-spain-portugal-club-world-cup

Posted by Anna Betts in New York

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/09/diddy-trial-jane-testimony-freak-offs

‘Jane’ resumes testimony and she repeatedly told Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs she didn’t want to have sex with other men

The federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs entered its fifth week on Monday as a former girlfriend of Combs resumed her testimony, telling jurors that she repeatedly told the music mogul that she didn’t want to have sex with other men.

The woman, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane”, dated Combs from 2021 until his arrest in September 2024.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/09/diddy-trial-jane-testimony-freak-offs

Posted by Robert Mackey (now); Lucy Campbell, Marina Dunbar, Joe Coughlan and Kate Lamb (earlier)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

US official says military is sending 700 marines to the city but that Insurrection Act is not expected to be invoked

• LA braces for more protests against immigration raids

• Trump’s protest response risks politicizing military, veterans warn

About 300 Guard troops have been deployed to LA so far.

President Donald Trump earlier said he would deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests, despite the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom.

Continue reading...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops