Author: Henry

From a bear posing on a Carpathian wall to the geothermal pools of Iceland, readers have been sharing the road trips that stayed with them long after the engine cooled. The accounts, submitted to The Guardian, range across Europe and closer to home, but they share a common thread: the journey itself, rather than any single destination, is the holiday. Few routes capture that spirit better than Romania’s Transfăgărășan Highway, which one reader, Joe, picked out for its sheer drama. Snaking over the southern Carpathian Mountains in a succession of hairpin bends and steep climbs, the road was once described…

Former professional cyclist Rohan Dennis has allegedly been caught driving while disqualified, with two children in the car. South Australia Police said they stopped a 36-year-old Medindie man just after 4pm on Thursday, after officers saw him driving a vehicle with the two youngsters inside. The man’s vehicle was impounded for 28 days and Dennis would be summonsed to appear in court at a later date, police said. Dennis was banned from driving for five years following the traffic incident in which his wife, Olympian Melissa Hoskins, died in December 2023. A 17-month prison term was suspended on a two-year good-behaviour…

SpaceX has said shares should sell to the public for at least $135 (£100) when it becomes a publicly traded company on Friday, in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history. The estimated price is the same as the space exploration and artificial intelligence (AI) company set a week ago, lifting the firm’s valuation to nearly $1.8tn. SpaceX is aiming to raise $75bn through its initial public offering (IPO). Should shares sell at the suggested price, or more, depending on market supply and demand, SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk – already the richest man in…

A sinister code has appeared on the National Mall just weeks before Donald Trump is set to host Fourth of July celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary. The numbers ’86 47,’ used by left-wing activists to refer to assassinating Trump, were burnt into the lawn by a ‘deranged vandal’, the administration told the Daily Mail. US Park Police and National Guard troops were spotted on Thursday investigating the markings near the World War Two memorial at the western end of the mall. It appears that the numbers were scorched into the grass, with the light brown color contrasting with the surrounding green of…

An Arizona therapist has insisted he accidentally kicked an autistic five-year-old boy in the head, but surveillance footage told a different story, prosecutors said.  Adolfo Salas, 42, an employee at Soar Autism Center in Peoria, about 14 miles northwest of Phoenix, was allegedly caught kicking a boy in the head around 2pm on on June 1. Moments afterward, the child could be heard crying in pain. The registered behavioral technician then allegedly sent another employee an ‘SOS’ message, stating: ‘I accidentally kicked him in the face.’ He later told police he meant to kick the chair, not the boy, who is non-verbal, Law…

The prime minister has responded to John Healey’s letter in which he resigned as defence secretary because the PM has been “unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country”. Sir Keir Starmer defended his defence spending plans, writing: “You are also right that we have to go further. The defence investment plan does just that — delivering an unprecedented increase in defence spending in a sustainable way.”

For a few weeks, guests at Chateau de Pizay had an extra rule to follow. The 11th-century estate, deep in French wine country, was serving as the US team’s 1998 World Cup base and players received instructions that went beyond how to navigate their way out of Group F. Specifically? Don’t venture into the tree line behind the chateau. ‘They told us there’s an [army] regiment sleeping there – as long as we’re at the World Cup,’ ex-USA striker Brian McBride recalls. ‘We just thought: “Oh well, we’re really secure,”‘ McBride tells the Daily Mail. It wasn’t until years later that…

Leafy greens like kale, spinach and arugula get a lot of the attention for their health benefits, but there is another vegetable that deserves a closer look, nutrition experts say. Watercress is an aquatic leafy green in the mustard family that typically costs between $2 and $5 in your local grocery store. It has been recognized as the ‘healthiest vegetable’ by the CDC, earning a perfect 100 out of 100 score among a ranking of 47 fruits and vegetables, thanks to its high nutrient density.  ‘Watercress is rich in vitamins A, C, and K, plus has key minerals and antioxidants,’ said Kristen Smith,…

The US and Iran have exchanged strikes across the Middle East for a second consecutive day, further straining an already shaky ceasefire agreed between the two countries in April. US Central Command (Centcom) said it had completed a wave of “self-defense strikes” targeting military, surveillance and radar sites in southern Iran. The attack came hours after President Donald Trump vowed US forces would hit Iran “hard”, and that Tehran had taken “too long to make a deal” to permanently end the war. In response, Iran launched a round of strikes targeting US military assets in countries across the region. US…

Grieving families and former cops have accused state and federal police of covering up institutional corruption and serious incompetence during homicide and missing persons investigations, an inquiry has heard. The scathing evidence was heard during a NSW parliamentary inquiry into 18 unsolved murders and missing persons cases between 1965 and 2010, chaired by Legalise Cannabis Party leader Jeremy Buckingham. Serial killer Ivan Milat is suspected to be responsible for a range of murders and disappearances from the early 1970s – significantly more than the seven people he was convicted of killing between 1989 and 1992. The inquiry will examine whether police failures prevented…