Category Archives: Life and style

South Korean airport authorities crack down on Trader Joe’s bagel seasoning

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Travellers say the popular seasoning mix by the US brand has been the subject of increased confiscation by authorities, because it contains poppy seeds

A popular US food seasoning mix created for “yummifying the tops of bagels” is the subject of an intensifying crackdown in South Korea, where poppy seeds – one of its key ingredients – are banned.

Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning blend – a crunchy mix of sesame seeds, salt, dried garlic, dried onion and poppy seeds – has been on South Korea’s list of restricted foods since 2022, but travellers say it has been the subject of increased confiscation in airports in recent weeks.

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Wimbledon gardeners reuse coffee grounds in sustainability bid

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More plans afoot for compostable food use, says head gardener, as tournament commits to wildlife ‘net gain’ by 2030

Rain or shine – usually more of the former – Wimbledon’s stunning floral displays always manage to dazzle.

For those hoping to give their gardens an SW19-inspired transformation, the tournament’s secret has finally been revealed: coffee grounds from the staff room.

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‘King of the Fells’ runner Joss Naylor dies aged 88

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Tributes pour in for former sheep farmer who broke record for most peaks climbed in a 24-hour period three times

Tributes have poured in for the veteran fell runner Joss Naylor, known as the “King of the Fells”, who has died aged 88.

Naylor, from Wasdale Head, Cumbria, is famous for breaking the record for most fells climbed in a 24-hour period three times. He also ran the fastest known times on the Three Peaks, Welsh 3,000ers and Pennine Way.

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Britain embraces pond life as aquatic garden plant sales boom

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RHS reports 35% surge in orders, while garden designers note pond trend at Hampton Court Palace flower show

A pond boom is happening in Britain’s gardens as people try to halt wildlife loss by digging water sources for amphibians and other aquatic life.

Data from the Royal Horticultural Society shows a marked increase in sales of pond greenery; their online store had a 35% increase in sales of pond plants for 2023 compared with 2022.

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Londoner continues epic trans-Africa run after release from South Sudan jail

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Deo Kato detained by security services for three weeks after being arrested near Juba on run from South Africa to UK

A Ugandan-born Londoner on a 9,000-mile run from South Africa to London has been released from jail in South Sudan, his partner has told the Guardian.

Deo Kato had already run more than the length of Africa – the equivalent of more than 200 marathons – when he was arrested near Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on 2 June. His partner and project manager, Alice Light, had no idea where he was, only discovering he was in prison on 17 June.

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India’s supreme court to rule on new penal code permitting marital rape

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Rights groups protesting at Modi government’s view that criminalising sexual assault violates ‘sanctity’ of marriage

Campaigners angry that marital rape is not to be criminalised under India’s long-awaited new penal code have been promised a ruling on the issue by the supreme court next month.

Human rights organisations, including the All India Democratic Women’s Association, have been petitioning India’s supreme court to make it a criminal offence. The court has in turn asked the government for a response.

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Chanel shows no sign of drift, even without a chief designer at helm

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Luxury brand’s studio team turn to timeless tweeds and neat silhouettes in first show since Virginie Viard’s sudden exit

There were 12 boucle-tweed suits, in colours from pistachio to raspberry. There were endless swishy blond ponytails tied with black silk bows, and a clatter of satin Mary Jane shoes with pearled heels. There were Hollywood faces – Keira Knightley and Michelle Williams – in the front row of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, countless quilted-flap 2.55 handbags in the front row and a finale bridal gown with a sweeping ivory silk train.

But one crucial thing was missing from this season’s Chanel haute couture show: a designer to take a bow. Since the sudden exit this month of the designer Virginie Viard, who had led Chanel since the death of Karl Lagerfeld five years ago, this mighty luxury brand, worth an estimated £15.5bn ($19.7bn), is headless. The vacancy for fashion’s top job is the talk of Paris fashion week.

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Paris fashion week: Dior champions goddess gowns and 1920s glamour

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Fashion house takes inspiration from Olympic Games in grandest sense for show in garden of Musée Rodin

Like everyone else in Paris right now, the Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri is thinking about the Olympics. Her latest Dior haute couture show was staged in the garden of the Musée Rodin, a stone’s throw from the grand open space of Esplanade des Invalides, where banks of seating are already being erected in preparation for the archery competitions of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

But in haute couture, where no price tag is fewer than five figures, athleisure does not make the cut. So this season’s Dior was Olympian in the grandest sense: classically draped goddess gowns, with asymmetric necklines cut to expose a shoulder and skirts cascading in silken layers.

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Kim Jones opts for ceramic cats and classics at Dior Paris menswear show

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The designer homed in on staples for the show, without losing a sense of adventure or playfulness

The Dior menswear designer Kim Jones has gained a reputation as a somewhat prolific collector of art and rare books. His homes are peppered with pieces by Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol, and he is the owner of the largest collection of Virgina Woolf books and letters in the world – 21,000 pieces and counting. So it’s not surprising the aesthete enjoys melding the world of art with his other great love, fashion.

For his latest spring/summer 2025 collection that he showed in Paris on Friday afternoon Jones worked with the South African ceramicist Hylton Nel. The octogenarian is best known for his plates, pots, figures and vases featuring whimsical illustrations and satirical text.

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Weightlifting at retirement age keeps legs strong years later, study finds

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Year of heavy weights resistance training around retirement age has long-lasting benefits, research suggests

Lifting heavy weights three times a week around the age of retirement could dramatically preserve your leg strength long into the later stages of life, research suggests.

People naturally lose muscle function as they get older, and experts say faltering leg strength is a strong predictor of death in elderly people.

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‘Youth is the future’: gen Z should be celebrated, says Prada

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The house’s menswear show drew on youthful spirit, while Fendi got ready to mark 100 years with a new crest

They have been been ridiculed as snowflakes and “too woke” by some, but Prada’s co-creative designers think gen Z are a generation to be celebrated.

Speaking backstage after their latest menswear show, which took place on Sunday afternoon at the Prada Foundation in Milan, Miuccia Prada said: “Youth is the future. It is hope. We wanted to do something that would express youthful optimism because the times are so bad.”

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Wild horses return to Kazakhstan steppes after absence of two centuries

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Seven Przewalski’s horses, the only truly wild species of the animal in the world, flown to central Asian country from zoos in Europe

A group of the world’s last wild horses have returned to their native Kazakhstan after an absence of about 200 years. The seven horses, four mares from Berlin and a stallion and two other mares from Prague, were flown to the central Asian country on a Czech air force transport plane.

The wild horses, known as Przewalski’s horses, once roamed the vast steppe grasslands of central Asia, where horses are believed to have been first domesticated about 5,500 years ago.

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Fans call foul over England’s Euro 2024 sticker album debacle

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A row between rivals Panini and Topps has meant collectors cannot fill an album with players in their kits from all 24 nations in this year’s tournament

Adding stickers of your favourite players into an album is arguably one of the few innocent pleasures that remain for football fans. But children and seasoned collectors have discovered that even this gentle pastime has been affected by modern football’s passion for money.

The Panini sticker album has been a staple of international tournaments since the 1970s. But after Uefa sold the rights for stickers for Euro 2024 to its American rival Topps, Panini launched an alternative “England 2024” album, using rights held by England, Italy, Germany and France that were not part of Uefa’s deal.

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German naturists fear for future of lifestyle amid falling interest

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Celebrations cancelled due to low uptake as people go off public nudity in country known for liberal attitudes

An organisation promoting nudity and a self-confident approach towards the body in Germany has sounded the alarm over the future of naturism in the country.

The German Association for Free Body Culture (DFK), an umbrella organisation for myriad naturist interest groups, has told its members that celebrations in August marking the anniversary of its creation will no longer go ahead owing to a lack of interest.

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Barcelona police criticised for baton charge at protest over fashion show

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Police response to protest over closure of Park Güell for glitzy event was ‘totally out of proportion’, resident says

Catalan police have been criticised for baton-charging people protesting against the closure of Barcelona’s Park Güell for it to host a Louis Vuitton-organised fashion show, as anger grows that the city is being overrun by tourists and glitzy international events to the detriment of local life.

A residents association complained that in the lead-up to the event the whole neighbourhood had been cordoned off. “For days the neighbourhood has been saturated with police and private security companies,” said one resident, Aidà Almirall Serra, adding that armed police had demanded ID cards and searched parents’ bags when they picked up their children from nursery.

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Kabosu, dog that inspired ‘Doge’ meme and became face of Dogecoin, dies

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Atsuko Sato announces death of her shiba inu, whose 2010 photo led her to be described as the ‘Mona Lisa of the internet’

The Japanese dog whose photo inspired a generation of oddball online jokes and the £18bn Dogecoin cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk has died, her owner said.

“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog on Friday, thanking the fans of her shiba inu called Kabosu – the face of the ‘Doge’ meme.

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Sake takes UK by storm as Japan’s national drink goes mainstream

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No longer just drunk for courage at karaoke clubs, the ‘food-friendly’ rice spirit is becoming a first choice of connoisseurs

When sommelier Erika Haigh opened the UK’s first independent sake bar, in London’s West End in 2019, passersby would wander in and try to order milkshakes, bewildered by the unfamiliar drink advertised in the window.

“Today, that confusion has largely disappeared,” said Haigh, who has since opened Mai Sake, a shop offering tasting events and meals. “You can now go on a sake bar crawl across London, and you’ll find it featured on the beverage lists of many restaurants – including non-Japanese establishments.”

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Lake District caravan owners forced out by 60%-plus price rise

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A huge increase in fees means many vulnerable people have to leave the Derwentwater site they call home

Retired and vulnerable holiday homeowners claim they are being priced out of a “breathtaking” waterside campsite in the Lake District after the Camping and Caravanning Club raised one of the main charges by more than 60%.

The row at the static caravan park on the edge of Derwentwater, sometimes called “Queen of the Lakes” because it is cradled by fells, is over the “siting” fee owners pay when ageing vans are replaced.

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Celebrities turn out for Met Gala in high fashion – as it happened

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This blog has now closed. You can see a gallery of the highlights here and read our coverage of a nearby protest calling for a Gaza ceasefire here

Co-chair and absolute queen of meta-dressing – see the shoes with tennis ball heels she wore to promote sexy tennis flick, Challengers – Zendaya has arrived. Her stylist Law Roach has had the internet speculating, with a red herring post yesterday on Instagram that read “How did I forget that I have this dress in my archive!… we had the dress the entire time,” followed by a face palm enoji. But the floral Emanuel Ungaro couture gown he posted a picture of was clearly not meant to be. Of course Zendaya went for the drama of this gown by Maison Margiela’s John Galliano, complete with wonky silhouette and plumage.

The Met Gala is all about drama and the British actor Gwendoline Christie is certainly bringing it by slowly ascending the steps and giving a different pose at each level. The GOT star is wearing a red velvet gown and sheer tulle cape by John Galliano for Maison Margiela. She closed his spring ’24 couture show in January so it’s a natural fit. Although we do kind of wish she’d opted for that corseted rubber look. This feels a little less adventurous and tonight of all nights is when you can really push the red carpet boundaries. The bouffant is fabulous, wonder how many cans of hairspray it took?

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