While all eyes have been on the war in Gaza, Israel’s occupation of southern Syria has been intensifying, and since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Israeli forces have taken advantage of the country’s instability and launched frequent air strikes, ground incursions, and rejected the long standing disengagement agreement established in 1974. The Guardian's Will Christou travelled to Al Quineitra in southern Syria, to see what Israel's military presence has meant for those living there.

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While all eyes have been on the war in Gaza, Israel’s occupation of southern Syria has been intensifying, and since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Israeli forces have taken advantage of the country’s instability and launched frequent air strikes, ground incursions, and rejected the long standing disengagement agreement established in 1974. The Guardian's Will Christou travelled to Al Quineitra in southern Syria, to see what Israel's military presence has meant for those living there.

Continue reading...

While all eyes have been on the war in Gaza, Israel’s occupation of southern Syria has been intensifying, and since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Israeli forces have taken advantage of the country’s instability and launched frequent air strikes, ground incursions, and rejected the long standing disengagement agreement established in 1974. The Guardian's Will Christou travelled to Al Quineitra in southern Syria, to see what Israel's military presence has meant for those living there.

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Hollywood is still trying to court younger audiences but this year’s crop of new comedies, from Adults to I Love LA, have yet to prove essential

This year, despite not particularly liking the show nor wanting to, I have thought a lot about the opening scene to Adults . The FX half-hour comedy about a group of recent college graduates in New York begins, naturally, on the subway; what seems like an over-studied portrait of early adulthood intimacy – tangled limbs, in-group references, aggressively relaxed banter – quickly devolves into a standoff between a creepy subway masturbator and the group’s instigator, Issa (Amita Rao), trying to out-masturbate him to make a wildly off point about feminism. “Is this the world you want?!?” she shouts at him, hand vigorously in pants.

The moment is intentionally off-putting, perhaps too much so – I’m as ripe as anyone for surprise, but found the try-hardness of this shock memorably irksome. Yet it’s also unintentionally revealing: this, it implicitly screams, is a show to get young people’s attention . A similar anxiety courses through the opening of I Love LA , HBO’s west-coast rejoinder to Adults that is similarly pitched as a zeitgeist-y take on the thrilling chaos of young adulthood. We meet Maia, played by creator and co-writer Rachel Sennott , mid-sex with her boyfriend, heedlessly determined to come before going to work, even if it means ignoring an earthquake.

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Hollywood is still trying to court younger audiences but this year’s crop of new comedies, from Adults to I Love LA, have yet to prove essential

This year, despite not particularly liking the show nor wanting to, I have thought a lot about the opening scene to Adults . The FX half-hour comedy about a group of recent college graduates in New York begins, naturally, on the subway; what seems like an over-studied portrait of early adulthood intimacy – tangled limbs, in-group references, aggressively relaxed banter – quickly devolves into a standoff between a creepy subway masturbator and the group’s instigator, Issa (Amita Rao), trying to out-masturbate him to make a wildly off point about feminism. “Is this the world you want?!?” she shouts at him, hand vigorously in pants.

The moment is intentionally off-putting, perhaps too much so – I’m as ripe as anyone for surprise, but found the try-hardness of this shock memorably irksome. Yet it’s also unintentionally revealing: this, it implicitly screams, is a show to get young people’s attention . A similar anxiety courses through the opening of I Love LA , HBO’s west-coast rejoinder to Adults that is similarly pitched as a zeitgeist-y take on the thrilling chaos of young adulthood. We meet Maia, played by creator and co-writer Rachel Sennott , mid-sex with her boyfriend, heedlessly determined to come before going to work, even if it means ignoring an earthquake.

Continue reading...

Hollywood is still trying to court younger audiences but this year’s crop of new comedies, from Adults to I Love LA, have yet to prove essential

This year, despite not particularly liking the show nor wanting to, I have thought a lot about the opening scene to Adults . The FX half-hour comedy about a group of recent college graduates in New York begins, naturally, on the subway; what seems like an over-studied portrait of early adulthood intimacy – tangled limbs, in-group references, aggressively relaxed banter – quickly devolves into a standoff between a creepy subway masturbator and the group’s instigator, Issa (Amita Rao), trying to out-masturbate him to make a wildly off point about feminism. “Is this the world you want?!?” she shouts at him, hand vigorously in pants.

The moment is intentionally off-putting, perhaps too much so – I’m as ripe as anyone for surprise, but found the try-hardness of this shock memorably irksome. Yet it’s also unintentionally revealing: this, it implicitly screams, is a show to get young people’s attention . A similar anxiety courses through the opening of I Love LA , HBO’s west-coast rejoinder to Adults that is similarly pitched as a zeitgeist-y take on the thrilling chaos of young adulthood. We meet Maia, played by creator and co-writer Rachel Sennott , mid-sex with her boyfriend, heedlessly determined to come before going to work, even if it means ignoring an earthquake.

Continue reading...

Meeting with pontiff follows UK visit on Monday and comes ahead of talks with Meloni

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with Pope Leo this morning, with the pair discussing the war in Ukraine, according to the Vatican readout.

Pope Leo “reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace, ” the statement read.

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Meeting with pontiff follows UK visit on Monday and comes ahead of talks with Meloni

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with Pope Leo this morning, with the pair discussing the war in Ukraine, according to the Vatican readout.

Pope Leo “reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace, ” the statement read.

Continue reading...

Meeting with pontiff follows UK visit on Monday and comes ahead of talks with Meloni

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with Pope Leo this morning, with the pair discussing the war in Ukraine, according to the Vatican readout.

Pope Leo “reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace, ” the statement read.

Continue reading...