I’m a PWC comp pilot and SIV instructor based in Annecy where I’ve been for the last five years. I also do some commercial tandems in the summer. My name comes from Malin Head, the most northerly point in Ireland. My dad was a sailing instructor a long time ago and he heard it on the radio, on the BBC’s shipping forecast. It goes, “Dogger, Bay of Biscay, Malin Head…” I always dreamt of flying. I got a two-seater ride in a plane for my 18th birthday. I just thought I had to own a plane to fly. And then I was at Glastonbury Festival and a paramotor flew in low. (He subsequently got done). I went on YouTube, saw people flying above the clouds and thought, I can afford to do…

Nascida em Cheleiros, Carla Henriques é hoje uma líder mundial na área em que trabalha. É chefe executiva de pastelaria do Hawksmoor, com uma equipa de 65 pasteleiros, em várias partes do globo, de Londres a Nova Iorque. Referida no New York Times, no início deste ano, assume gostar do stresse que a profissão e as grandes responsabilidades lhe imprimem mas é nas Filipinas que se imagina a viver um dia mais tarde. Há quantos anos a Carla vive fora de Portugal? Vivi em Londres 19 anos e vivo agora em Nova Iorque. Como foi a sua vida em Portugal? Infância, escola? Nasci em Cheleiros e vivi lá até aos oito anos e depois fui viver para a freguesia de Vialonga. A minha vizinha da frente era uma das padeiras da nossa aldeia, a…

When the forecast is correct, we rarely comment, but we are often quick to complain when it is wrong. Are we ever likely to achieve a perfect forecast that is accurate to the hour? A weather forecast begins its life as a global ‘snapshot’ of the atmosphere at a given time, mapped onto a 3D grid of points that span the entire globe and stretch from the surface to the stratosphere (and sometimes higher). Using a supercomputer and a sophisticated model that describes the behaviour of the atmosphere with physics equations, this snapshot is then stepped forward in time, producing many terabytes of raw forecast data. It then falls to human forecasters to interpret the data and turn it into a meaningful forecast. ‘Huge challenge’ Forecasting the weather is a huge challenge. The atmosphere…

The Acoustical Systems AXIOM Reference tonearm The AXIOM tonearm from acoustical systems—the company prefers lowercase—has been on my To-Review list since I spotted it at Munich High End more than a few years ago, but for one reason or another, that never happened. Until now. The understated, “lab-grade” AXIOM holds its own visually even when paired with designer D.D. Brakemeier’s enormous and equally lab-looking APOLYT turntable. You can take the turntable tour on AnalogPlanet or on Brakemeier’s website.1 That turntable’s scale makes even the TechDAS Air Force Zero appear diminutive. Brakemeier, who describes himself as the “chief design officer, so to speak,” says his goal for the $24,995 AXIOM was to produce an infinitely adjustable “universal” tonearm capable of precisely adjusting every setup parameter you can think of and maybe a few you…

LA historia de Nuria March y George Donald Johnston III podría servir de argumento para una película de amor a la americana. En 2017, el matrimonio formado por Gonzalo Díaz-Rato y Blanca Andrada-Vanderwilde pensó que podrían hacer una buena pareja y decidió organizar una cita a ciegas para que se conocieran. No se equivocaron. Desde entonces, la empresaria española y el financiero estadounidense encajaron a la perfección y se volvieron inseparables. El pasado fin de semana, cinco años después de aquel primer encuentro, protagonizaron, en Londres, la escena más esperada de todo filme romántico que se precie, la de su boda. Los festejos comenzaron el viernes 10 de junio. Ese día tuvo lugar la ceremonia civil en la que se dieron el «sí, quiero». La localización fue, de nuevo, muy cinematográfica.…

«Los únicos que ganan son los abogados. Aquí perdemos todos y el más perjudicado es nuestro hijo», confiesa a ¡HOLA! desde Miami HACE dos semanas, Colate Vallejo-Nágera y Paulina Rubio volvían a ser noticia por la guerra judicial que se disputan desde que se separaron, en marzo de 2012. Según «EsDiario», la cantante mexicana habría denunciado al empresario español, con quien tuvo al pequeño Andrea Nicolás, en noviembre de 2010, para que realizara «un curso para ser mejor padre». De momento, Colate no tiene constancia de dicha demanda, tal y como afirma a ¡HOLA! desde Miami: «No he recibido nada. Si hubiera alguna, ya la tendría que haber recibido, porque llegan por “e-mail” inmediatamente». —¿Has hablado con tu abogado? —No. Lo que sé es por un periodista que me llamó para decirme que,…

En venant renforcer le segment de la berline hybride inauguré par Toyota avec la Prius, Hyundai a joué une carte avant-gardiste avec un modèle sans moteur diesel ni purement thermique. Sur la totalité des Ioniq vendues en France, la moitié des exemplaires sont des hybrides, les deux autres technologies se répartissant à parts quasi égales le reste des immatriculations. Sur la route, en fonction de la motorisation choisie, les prestations dynamiques de la coréenne vont d’assez bonnes à bonnes, avec des suspensions fermes. Jamais pataude, l’Ioniq fait parfois ressentir son poids, tout comme les trépidations de ses suspensions sur les inégalités franchies à petite allure. Équipée d’une boîte de vitesses robotisée à double embrayage plutôt qu’à variateur, elle accélère progressivement sans monter exagérément dans les tours. À bord, l’espace est…

«Queríamos compartir este día especial solo con nuestras familias y amigos más cercanos, en línea con la discreción que hemos tenido desde que estamos juntos. El verdadero amor es reservado, privado e íntimo» DURANTE dos décadas, Lapo Elkann ha sido el hombre más deseado de Italia y el «soltero de oro» predilecto de la «jet set» internacional. Sin embargo, el pasado siete de octubre, el día que cumplía cuarenta y cuatro años, el nieto del magnate Gianni Agnelli y heredero del imperio automotriz de la Fiat se despidió definitivamente de la soltería. Lapo y su pareja desde hace casi dos años, la expiloto de «rallies» portuguesa Joana Lemos, se dieron el «sí, quiero» en una ceremonia romántica e íntima, con sus familiares y amigos más cercanos, en Portugal. Lapo, miembro de…

China’s effort to protect its economy from Western pressure is not going well IN A MESSAGE to Chinese aerospace engineers and researchers for “Youth Day” earlier this month, President Xi Jinping shared his ambitions for the industry. Young workers should advance the cause of Chinese self-reliance, he said, following in the footsteps of their predecessors who developed a home-grown nuclear weapon, missile and satellite, with little help from outsiders, in a campaign in the era of Mao Zedong called “Two bombs, one satellite”. On the face of things, this is an odd message to trumpet in the country that has benefited more than any other from the most recent wave of globalisation. In 2000 China was the biggest merchandise trading partner of only a tiny number of countries. Now it is the…

IN SEPTEMBER 2020 doctors and publichealth officials in the northern hemisphere were on high alert. They did not know how covid-19 would behave in the first winter of the pandemic. Respiratory viruses tend to surge during cold weather. And there were the usual concerns about influenza, the shape-shifting virus that sickens and kills many people every year. At worst, doctors feared they would see simultaneous outbreaks of covid-19 and flu which would overwhelm hospitals and send deaths soaring—a “twindemic”. It never materialised. Covid-19 cases continued to rise in much of the world in late 2020 and early 2021 but the wave of influenza never struck. And yet today those same experts are worried once again. Flu’s absence in 2020-21 has probably made the prospects for 2021-22 worse: outbreaks could occur sooner,…

“THE HISTORY book on the shelf/Is always repeating itself.” So sang ABBA in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, in the song that catapulted the Swedish band to global fame: “Waterloo”. Half a century later those words seem apt. The band has reunited, with a new album due in November. Its members are going on a virtual tour, performing as CGI avatars that look like their younger selves. And in Britain, where ABBA dominated the charts for more than a decade after that Eurovision victory, echoes of the 1970s are growing louder, too. Back then, Britain was struggling with energy shortages and industrial disruption. In 1974 the government limited many manufacturers to a three-day week. Today, Britain once again faces interrupted energy supply, empty supermarket shelves and government bail-outs. On September 20th…

Un A340 vole à 800 km/h en ligne droite, 10000 mètres au-dessus de la surface de l’océan Atlantique. Un Rafale le rattrape à mach 2, se positionne en formation serrée et contacte l’équipage par radio: « Vous devez vous ennuyer… regardez. » Le pilote de chasse entame une série d’acrobaties puis se replace. « Que pensez-vous de ça? » « Très impressionnant », répond le commandant de bord de l’Airbus, « à votre tour, regardez ». Le gros-porteur continue son invariable course rectiligne pendant 10 bonnes minutes. Son capitaine recontacte alors celui du jet: « Qu’en dites-vous? » Interloqué, le pilote du Rafale répond: « – Qu’y avait-il à voir? – Je me suis levé, je me suis étiré, je me suis dégourdi les jambes, j’ai bu un thé, mangé un…

BORIS JOHNSON’S premiership started collapsing to the sound of “Zadok the Priest”. On July 5th, beneath the windows of Downing Street, the bands of the Household Division were conducting the Beating Retreat, an annual parade marking the closure of camp gates at nightfall. One hour before, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the health secretary, had resigned. In the offices of Whitehall, all hell was breaking loose. On the square below, immaculate precision. Over the next 36 hours, some 50 members of the government would resign; countless more MPs would urge Mr Johnson to go. On the evening of July 6th, a delegation of cabinet ministers—among them Mr Sunak’s replacement, Nadhim Zahawi—told him the game was up. His response was a fit of Shakespearean defiance. He sacked…

“I WAS ACTUALLY shaking,” said Mitesh Patel, a particle physicist at Imperial College, London, as he describes the moment he saw the results. “I realised this was probably the most exciting thing I’ve done in my 20 years in particle physics.” Dr Patel is one of the leaders of LHCb, an experiment at CERN, in Geneva. CERN is the world’s largest particle-physics laboratory, and the “LHC” bit of the experiment’s name stands for “Large Hadron Collider”, which is likewise the world’s biggest particle accelerator. This machine, which collides packets of high-speed protons (examples of a type of subatomic particle called a hadron) was switched on again on July 5th, after a three-and-a-half-year upgrade, for what is known as “Run 3”. In the interim Dr Patel and his colleagues have been crunching…

A GILDED CONFERENCE room stocked with coffee and lanyard-wearing men in dark suits is a common enough sight in Washington. Only a sign at the door reading “The Lies of the Ruling Class”, hosted by the Claremont Institute’s year-old Centre for the American Way of Life, marks this event at the Mayflower Hotel as something more unusual. “America’s elites are not bright, not competent and not qualified,” says Michael Anton, a former national-security aide to Donald Trump, in the day’s first session. United in favour of economic nationalism, a restrained foreign policy and restricted immigration, many of the room’s self-described national conservatives see the “threat” to America from the left in existential terms. Yet they are brimming with confidence. Come November, when Republicans expect to retake one if not both chambers…

DT MIGHT BE TIME TO REVISIT OUR BACK-of-the-mag summary of the 296bhp Mk7.5 Volkswagen Golf R. It currently reads ‘Outrageous but accessible performance’. Outrageous? Those words obviously predate the arrival of the 415bhp Mercedes-AMG A45 S, still the most powerful production hot hatch more than two years on from its launch. Audi’s RS3 gets close, retaining 394bhp in its latest incarnation, but you don’t need to wait for VAG to crack 400bhp if you want to challenge the supremacy of the Stuttgart-Affalterbach alliance. There’s a very healthy aftermarket tuning scene geared to increasing the power of the previous generation Golf R, from simple, plug-in tunes that lift the output of the 2-litre, four-cylinder engine to 350bhp, to more complete conversions costing thousands that promise north of 600bhp. There was even a…

DOCUMENTÁRIOS FASHIONSCAPES Livia Firth, fundadora e diretora criativa da Eco-Age (uma consultora de sustentabilidade e comunicação), é a anfitriã desta minissérie que pretende acompanhar o sistema produtivo da moda, desde a seleção e recolha das matérias-primas até à transformação das mesmas, e qual o impacto causado no planeta. Este projeto, com realização de Andrew Morgan – responsável pelo aclamado documentário sobre o verdadeiro custo da produção e consumo de roupa (mais em baixo) – mostra-nos Firth a viajar até a Tasmânia, Botswana e Guatemala. O propósito destas viagens é de conhecer as histórias das pessoas que estão alimentar a indústria e perceber quais as verdadeiras consequências do excesso de consumo e como o ritmo acelerado que impomos à nossa vida está a afetar o património cultural e ambiental da humanidade. Ao mesmo tempo,…

‘Wine writer’, cronista do The Sunday Express, autor do blogue wineanorak.com é doutorado em Biologia de Plantas e co-chair do International Wine Challenge. Assina esta colaboração regular na Revista de Vinhos e também na brasileira Gula. Não há nada de muito original em um congresso de vinhos focado numa única casta – já estive em conferências de Sauvignon Blanc na Áustria e na Nova Zelândia, e eventos de Pinot Noir em Oregon e Nova Zelândia, mas a razão pela qual descreveria o Congresso de Chenin Blanc como notável é porque conseguiu realmente unir duas regiões vitivinícolas bastante diferentes num espírito de união e amizade que seria difícil de prever. Dos 350 delegados do congresso, realizado no STIAS, nos arredores da cidade, havia 70 viticultores de Anjou, Saumur e Vouvray, no Loire. É…

Para ver e ouvir “Nunca provei nada assim, é um vinho que me transtorna. Sem dúvida, é o melhor vinho que já fiz, um grande vinho em qualquer ponto do planeta”. Sem meias palavras, António Maçanita parece um criador ultrapassado pela dimensão da própria obra. Vinha dos Ultras 2019 tem por base uma vinha antiga da Criação Velha, na quase totalidade Arinto dos Açores, primeira linha de mar. São 1.166 garrafas de um vinho efetivamente notável na ainda curta mas bem vibrante história da Azores Wine Company (AWC). Não é exagero dizermos que existe um antes e um depois da AWC nos vinhos do Pico. Em 2010, quando iniciou os primeiros ensaios com a casta Terrantez, ainda sob a insígnia Fita Preta, António Maçanita apercebeu-se do efetivo potencial da ilha. Atirou-se aos livros,…

Bernhard, what’s the new Swiss hike-and-fly league all about? The Swiss hike-and-fly league launched on 1 November. It’s a separate league within our national association (SHV)’s main Swiss league. The goal is to develop a wider base of talented hike-and-fly pilots, to facilitate training and coaching to ensure more of them will reach the top to represent Switzerland in international hike-and-fly competitions. In addition, we aim to improve safety and reduce accidents. We provide training and support and we organise competitions. How did it start? Some years ago Chrigel Maurer started the X-Alps Academy, a private initiative to train talented pilots to be better prepared for the Red Bull X-Alps. The Swiss league at the time wasn’t interested in participating. I was a coach at the Academy for two seasons, from 2019 to…

Cultural buildings are often works of art in their own right, and the new addition to the National Centre for Art, Crafts and Design (CNAD) in Mindelo, Cabo Verde, is no exception. Not only does its colourful mosaic make for a pointillism-like composition, it also doubles as a reflection of the strong collective effort behind the project, which ultimately engaged everyone from metalworkers to music composers. Back in 1977, renowned artist Manuel Figueira co-founded CNAD’s predecessor institution as a place to study, preserve and celebrate the ancestral handicrafts of his homeland: a 10-island (and five-islet) archipelago off the West African coast that had gained independence from Portugal just two years earlier. The National Craft Centre — which later evolved into CNAD — operated out of a historic colonial house in Mindelo,…

NO se trata de un caso de «El comisario », serie en la que participó, ni de una broma de «La que se avecina», donde también trabajó. La realidad vuelve a superar a la ficción, aunque esta historia parezca sacada de una novela de misterio. El lunes 30 de mayo, a las puertas del juzgado, el actor y presentador Luis Lorenzo rompía su silencio desde que fuera detenido, la pasada semana, junto a su mujer, Arancha Palomino, como principales sospechosos de la muerte, por presunto envenenamiento, de la tía de ella. El viernes 27, la pareja pasó a disposición judicial y fue puesta en libertad con cargos, no sin antes imponerles una serie de condiciones mientras prosigue la investigación. Les retiraron sus pasaportes y tienen la obligación de ir a…

José João Santos, diretor de conteúdos da EV-Essência do Vinho, tem a paixão da escrita, da reportagem, da formação e da prova. É ainda autor do podcast "Vinho, Palavra a Palavra". Mentir é feio. Essa será porventura uma das primeiras lições que nos ensinam em criança, sempre com o fito de criar uma saudável relação de confiança, que se pretende mútua e duradoura, de preferência à prova de bala. Já em adulto aprendemos a lidar e até a perdoar a mentirinha piedosa. Acaba por tornar tudo mais fácil, não obriga a grandes confrontações, muito menos a substanciar a divergência de opiniões ou de decisões. Uns povos toleram mais isso do que outros. Por exemplo, admiro a forma quase sempre frontal com que alguns anglo-saxónicos tratam a mentira – evitam-na, optando pela sinceridade.…

« Je ne crois pas qu’il y ait de famille en Amérique qui soit plus diabolique que la vôtre. » C’est en ces termes que Jim Cooper, député du Tennessee, a désigné la famille Sackler, lors d’un audit au Congrès en 2020. Tristement célèbres aux États-Unis, les Sackler sont à l’origine d’un des plus gros scandales sanitaires du pays. Ils ont été aux commandes du laboratoire Purdue Pharma qui a fabriqué pendant vingt ans l’OxyContin, un antidouleur surpuissant – deux fois la puissance de la morphine ! –, responsable en grande partie de la crise des opioïdes aux États-Unis, laquelle a causé 500 000 morts par overdose en deux décennies. Cette histoire d’avidité, de mort et de mensonges, Patrick Radden Keefe, journaliste au « New Yorker » et au « New…

Is the 2024 Cadillac Celestiq for real? This head-turning, all-electric superluxury sedan is longer than the brand’s Escalade SUV and priced in a stratosphere Cadillac has long only dreamed of returning to. To wit: Pricing will start above the $300,000 threshold, but customers can easily add up to $100,000 more via customization, all but guaranteeing no two owners have the same exact car. The mere fact Cadillac is producing the Celestiq is nearly as surprising as the vehicle itself, which fulfills a longstanding desire to build a proper flagship. An idea became a vision, then a concept car, and now a fabulous final-form four-door that brings to life almost all the gee-whiz features envisioned along the way. The Celestiq has an estimated 600 hp and 640 lb-ft of torque, a 0–60…

“People sail for fun, and no one has yet convinced me that it’s more fun to go slow than it is to go fast,” said visionary multihull designer Dick Newick in the last century. “We all want high performance with comfort and low cost. Since the three cannot be combined in one vessel, priorities must be established and compromises made.” Now, Newick may belong to another generation, but his observation is as true today as it has ever been. This time round, though, buyers have the money to park the cost issue. A new cohort of boatbuilders like Gunboat, HH and Kinetic are mining a rich (if narrow) seam of demand for high-end cats that go like rocketships and offer genuine comfort, if not outright luxury. Gunboat is the trailblazer here. Launched…

Honorin Hamard won the British Paragliding Winter Open and the World Cup in Colombia in January flying the new Ozone Zeno 2. Certified EN D, he beat a field of competition-class CCC wings in both comps. A test pilot for Ozone, he was intimately involved in the development of the glider. Honorin, congratulations on Colombia. How is the wing compared to the Zeno 1? It’s better in every aspect! First, in the quality of the turn. We worked on it a lot because it was sort of considered to be the Zeno 1’s weak point. The turn is now higher in the brake travel, firmer and therefore more precise. We also gained in performance, which we measured throughout the development of the glider. We did a lot of comparative glides against the Zeno…

We never get conditions like this in March. I’m pressing out as much speed as I dare, cheststrap tightened at 5,400ft (1,650m), gliding as hard as I can upwind under a strong street. My Oudie’s lift tone is screaming interspersed with “airspace, airspace” voice warnings. To be honest, it’s all a bit much. I wonder how I got here, flying a small triangle on the first epic day of the year, in my usual state of excitement-fear-excitement-fear. If you could imagine the opposite of Honorin Hamard – it’s me. While Honorin is the confident, young French world number one who raced his Zeno 2 to not one but two victories in Colombia, I am a slightly socially awkward Brit whose 45-year-old heart much prefers the serenity of gentle XC to red-line…

WHATEVER A BRITISH voter’s natural political hue—Tory blue, Labour red or Liberal Democrat orange—these days it ends up green-tinged. The Tory government talks effusively about “building back greener”. Labour wants a “green industrial revolution”. Liberal Democrats have used their position as the third party to argue for everybody to go further and faster. And then there are all the people who want to raze the carbon economy to the ground the day after tomorrow: not just the Green Party but also extremist groupuscules such as Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain. Which leaves a gap in the market for something different: antigreen politics. Brexit transformed Britain by tapping into ordinary people’s resentment of distant elites, and anti-greenery could do the same. Environmentalism is driven by populists’ two big bogeymen, scientific experts and…

BERLINERS, MORE than four-fifths of whom rent their homes, have an unusual opportunity on September 26th to vent their anger over the rising cost of housing. A referendum, on the same day as Germany’s national and municipal elections, will give them a say on whether or not the city should in effect “expropriate” some of Germany’s largest residentialproperty firms, affecting up to 240,000 homes. The vote is non-binding. But its impact on the housing market is already having an effect. On September 17th two giant property investment trusts, Vonovia and a firm it is targeting in a €19.1bn ($22.5 billion) takeover, Deutsche Wohnen, said they would sell almost 15,000 flats to the city for €2.5bn. They portrayed it as a friendly gesture. But it was also a thinly veiled attempt…

IN JUNE A newly surfaced segment of a German talk show from 1997 set the internet alight. The clip shows Angela Merkel, a fresh-faced environment minister in Helmut Kohl’s government, explaining the urgency of action on climate change. Her fellow panellists listening closely, Germany’s future chancellor says delay will only incur higher costs. The dangers of failure, she warns, include hunger, drought and the mass movement of refugees. The clip highlights a contradiction familiar to observers of Mrs Merkel’s 16-year reign, which will end once a new coalition is formed after the election on September 26th. On one hand is the diligent scientist-stateswoman, blessed with the ability to understand complex issues and explain their consequences. On the other is the hesitant politician who struggles to convert analysis into action. A quarter…

Un refinado equilibrio entre la tradición de Mallorca y la modernidad. Así se nos presenta esta villa de 850 m2 situada en el corazón del pueblo mallorquí de Santanyí. De finos detalles y una serenidad y belleza que se aprecia en cada elemento, la casa ha sido bautizada como Sa Buguenvil.lea y, nada más llegar, nos recibe un amplio y también sosegado exterior. El proyecto de interiorismo de Terraza Balear es el ejemplo de cómo una casa abierta y con look natural sirve para reconectar con la naturaleza. El tiempo, la calma, el espacio… son el nuevo lujo, ¿verdad? La casa combina la tradición de Mallorca con toques actuales El jardín se organiza en tres cómodas zonas: comedor, estar y zona de tumbonas junto a la piscina. Aunque sea un espacio abierto,…

THE WAR in Ukraine is hastening America’s own military rethink. The fighting holds lessons, from the vulnerability of tanks to the value of defensive weapons. Those pondering a future war between America and China draw a further conclusion: the advantage that “mission command” can give a military force, even one as outgunned as Ukraine’s. A “decentralised, power-down, do-whatever-it-takes-to-win approach” to command and control is one reason the Ukrainians have pushed the Russians back from Kyiv, notes Doug Crissman, who was recently in charge of the Mission Command Centre of Excellence at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where much military doctrine is developed. In contrast, the Russian army’s rigid, top-down command system from the Soviet era has left it flat-footed, able to advance only through destructive artillery fire. Around a dozen Russian generals, taking…

IN THE NINE years since China launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a multibillion-dollar spree of global infrastructure-building, American efforts to counter the scheme have repeatedly faltered. Barack Obama’s administration failed to persuade allies to boycott the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Mr Obama touted a free-trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but Donald Trump sank it in his first week in the White House. As some countries struggled to repay Chinese loans, the Trump administration got some traction calling the BRI “debt-trap diplomacy”. The scheme still accounted for about $890bn in investment and construction contracts (many financed by Chinese loans) between 2013 and 2021, says Christoph Nedopil Wang at Shanghai’s Fudan University. And every time America criticised China’s “new Silk Road”, the riposte came: “What are you offering instead?” Now, just…

IN THE EARLY days of the war in Ukraine, a rapid Russian advance plunged Kherson province into darkness. What little is known about life there comes from refugees who escape to front-line towns such as Zelenodolsk. They come by foot, bike, boat and in wheelchairs. One woman was dragged by her son on a carpet. At one point, nearly 1,000 were arriving a day. Destroyed bridges and increased risks have cut the daily count to single digits. But a vast yard of abandoned bicycles, wheelchairs and baskets stands as a memorial to the lives left behind—temporarily, so those who have fled hope. The most recent arrivals talk of intense fighting as Ukraine readies itself to counter-attack from the west, near Mykolaiv, and the north, from towns like Zelenodolsk. Vlad Milin, 31,…

IT’S A FAIR BET THAT BBR DOESN’T NEED any introduction, particularly in relation to tuning Mazda’s perennial roadster. We’ve driven a number of its conversions in recent years – some tuned but still naturally aspirated, others turbocharged – and generally enjoyed them enormously. More recently, BBR had been working on conversions for the different MX-5 generations using a Rotrex supercharger, when part-way through its development cycle it was approached by another tuning firm, Corten Miller, who had already designed, developed and extensively tested a supercharger installation for the Mk3 (NC) model. As BBR’s own research had already suggested there was no real alternative in terms of how the Rotrex should be installed, and since Corten Miller was moving on to other things, a deal was struck where BBR took over all…

Sarah Ahmed é uma reputada jornalista e crítica de vinhos britânica, especializada em vinhos portugueses e australianos, no blogue "The Wine Detective". Quando, ainda o ano passado, a Decanter publicou um artigo sobre vinhos de verão com baixo teor alcoólico, a fasquia foi fixada em menos de 12% de álcool por volume ('abv'). Naturalmente, este alinhamento incluía um Vinho Verde 'clássico', cujo teor alcoólico deve variar entre 9% e 11,5%. Mas, à medida que as cada vez mais complexas e inovadoras bebidas alcoólicas com teor alcoólico reduzido ou nulo ('nolo', corruptela de ‘no and low’) - não excedendo 1,2% ou 0,5% - atingem o mercado e alimentam tendências de consumo, a indústria do vinho enfrenta uma nova ameaça. Deve oferecer produtos de volume alcoólico ainda mais baixos, dada a mudança acentuada…

Símbolo de resistência face à Coroa Portuguesa, a cachaça é, desde sempre, associada ao Brasil. Foi o primeiro destilado da América Latina e conhece expansão crescente no mundo. Ao longo dos séculos, aliás, a cachaça tornou-se um símbolo de resistência face à Coroa Portuguesa, uma vez que o consumo substituía-se ao das aguardentes portuguesas, reduzindo assim o volume de rendimento fiscal da metrópole. “Inventada” no Brasil do século XVI, diz-se da cachaça que foi a primeira bebida destilada da América Latina, suplantando mesmo o rum em ancestralidade. Aliás, durante muitos anos verificou-se alguma confusão entre as duas categorias, já que a cachaça era importada pelos EUA como um tipo de rum. Era fácil o erro, até porque ambas provêm da destilação do melaço da cana-de-açúcar; este processo foi descoberta pelos escravos dos…

“Finally! Everyone back and in full colour!” said organiser Monika Eller. In March 2020 the Stubai Cup in Austria marked the start of the Covid pandemic in Europe – straight after it much of Europe entered their first lockdown. Two years later we were back, along with 25 paragliding manufacturers and 700 pilots who had pre-booked for the weekend of glider testing in the scenic Stubai Valley in the Austrian Alps 30 minutes south of Innsbruck. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Stubai Cup. Once a simple glide test held in crisp winter air to compare wings between manufacturers, today it is a festival and testival, a chance for pilots to test-fly new gliders and an opportunity for manufacturers to introduce their new wings and harnesses. The location couldn’t be…

Western allies are starting to split over the endgame, though neither side seems ready to stop fighting THE WAR in Ukraine, says its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will be won on the battlefield but can end only through negotiations. When to stop fighting, and on what terms? The West says that is for Ukraine to decide. Yet three months into the war, Western countries are staking out positions on the endgame. They are splitting into two broad camps, explains Ivan Krastev, of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, a think-tank in Sofia. One is the “peace party”, which wants a halt to the fighting and the start of negotiations as soon as possible. The other is the “justice party”, which thinks Russia must be made to pay dearly for its aggression. The argument turns in…

As I noted in previous Re-Tales columns, audio dealerships that stick to outmoded models after the world has changed may find themselves in danger of extinction. Such conflict between old and new has been with us since the beginning of time, or at least since the internet became ubiquitous. But the pandemic and its economic stresses and stimuli have accelerated the pace of change. So, how are dealers, um, dealing? One brand—or, rather, one two-branded company—is rolling out a new hi-fi retail chain, along with another option for dealers. Single-brand audio retail stores aren’t new. Devialet and Bang & Olufsen stores can be found in most major cities. Harman opened its first retail store in Shanghai in 2010 and has since opened others in Tokyo, Munich, and New York City—plus a…

19 Titan of Távora-Varosa Daemon Sescenti Sexaginta Sex 2020 Távora-Varosa/Branco/Luis Leocádio Vinhos 666,00€/11ºC Dourado, reflexos alaranjados. Austero, revela muito solo e notas de limão, maçã e fumo. A precisão de ataque é notável, o nervo é demoníaco, a estrutura é eletricidade de alta voltagem. O final tem muito sabor, breve especiado, nuances oxidativas e salgadas. 18,5 Murganheira Czar Grande Cuvée Rosé Bruto 2016 Távora-Varosa/Espumante/Sociedade Agrícola e Comercial do Varosa 25,50€/8ºC Tudo neste espumante denota finura e elegância, desde logo na bolha persistente e regular. Aroma fino, com as notas de autólise e pastelaria, a par de fruto seco e cereja fresca. A mousse é cremosa e a acidez vibrante, texturada e ampla. 18,5 Quinta da Gricha Vinha Velha 2014 Douro/Tinto/Churchill Graham 60,00€/16ºC Cor rubi/granada ainda jovem. Aroma inicialmente discreto, abre para notas balsâmicas da madeira. Cedro, resina, ligeiro verniz, algum fruto seco. Mostra ainda…

Are well-heeled audiophiles ready for a knob-free future? Gryphon Audio Designs thinks so. In contrast to Gryphon’s volume knob–dominated Pandora preamplifier, the Danish company’s new Commander offers nothing on its bold front panel to grab or turn. Instead, there’s a large, extra-thick, triangular glass protuberance that extends dramatically below the chassis’s vertical dimension. That’s where you’ll find an “on/off” button, the main unit’s only physical switch. A 4.3" TFT capacitive touch screen incorporated within that triangular glass panel controls all this preamp’s functionality. The pushbutton remote control duplicates many but not all operations. More about that later. The Commander is an unusually large, heavy, two-chassis design featuring an 84lb power-supply chassis and a 67lb signal/control chassis. Each chassis weighs more than many powerful power amplifiers and measures approximately 18" wide × 9" tall…

Hey, Toyota—is everything, um, OK? Strapped into the new Toyota GR Corolla and sitting in pit lane awaiting our turn at a 2.1-mile section of Utah Motorsports Park’s wildly undulating road course, we felt slightly silly. Until now, we imagined, the only people who’d ever worn helmets inside a dealership-ready Corolla were unbalanced folks with visions of, well, something as absurd as a track-ready production Toyota Corolla. One such person is Toyota President Akio Toyoda. He’s been pushing the company’s Gazoo Racing (GR) subbrand, and he personally signed off on the final product. The result is the craziest showroom-spec Corolla hatchback ever built. Just how out of bounds is it? We can count on one hand the sporty Corollas sold here over the decades. It was long ago typecast as an anodyne, safe…

! La oferta de compactos es enorme. Te presentamos doce modelos relevantes PARECE QUE TODO EL MUNDO QUIERE UN SUV. Pero un grupo no tan pequeño de conductores todavía prefiere confiar en dimensiones y costes más manejables que los de los todocamino y se decantarán por un compacto. Casi uno de cada cinco automóviles nuevos en España es un compacto. Razón más que suficiente para plantear esta extensa guía de compra y decirte qué modelos y motores recomendamos. Doce de los modelos compactos más importantes e interesantes del mercado han pasado por nuestras manos y han sido sometidos a un control exhaustivo. Por supuesto, no faltan los últimos en llegar: la octava generación de VW Golf, con sus hermanos del Grupo VW, el Skoda Octavia y el Seat León. También están presentes…

None of the politicians vying to succeed Germany’s outgoing chancellor has her knack for appealing to a centrist electorate THE MOOD among her comrades is “euphoric”, says Sonja Hergarten, a volunteer for Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) at a campaign stand in Munich’s university district. At the last election, in 2017, she had the unenviable task of persuading Germans to vote for Martin Schulz, a littleknown politician who had returned from a career in Brussels to lead the SPD’s campaign. This time the candidate is Olaf Scholz, a familiar face to most Germans as the finance minister and vice-chancellor, and a much easier sell. As if to prove the point, a grinning passer-by exclaims “Toll, toll, toll!” (“Great, great, great!”). A few hours later Mr Scholz himself arrives in town. Speaking below…

An unpredictable election is no cure for the malaise in Japan’s democracy THE FOUR candidates for the presidency of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) come from different corners of the party’s big tent. Takaichi Sanae (pictured, left) is a nationalist who wants to become the first female prime minister, but opposes allowing married couples to keep separate surnames. Kono Taro (pictured, bottom) is the American-educated scion of a political family; he supports gay marriage and renewable energy. Kishida Fumio is a Hiroshima native who pines for a new form of capitalism. Noda Seiko is the mother of a disabled son. She has promised to be a champion for the vulnerable. It is an unusually eclectic cast for the staid old party. It is also an unusually unpredictable contest: facing a revolt…

Mantén el color de tu ropa Con el tiempo y los lavados, las prendas de color pierden intensidad. Con estos trucos puedes evitarlo. 1. VINAGRE COMO SUAVIZANTE Ayuda a fijar los colores de la ropa y, además, les da un tacto más esponjoso. Añádelo al cajetín. 2. ROPA NEGRA POR SEPARADO Así evitas que destiña el resto de colores. Lávala siempre con agua fría. 3. TOALLITAS ESPECIALES Cuando mezcles colores añade estas toallitas al tambor. Absorben el tinte que sueltan las prendas y así evitas desagradables sorpresas al tender. 4. TIENDE A LA SOMBRA Lo mejor para preservar el color de tu ropa es que la tiendas a la sombra y nunca al sol. Eso es especialmente importante en verano. Hazlo por la tarde-noche. Cuánto cuesta LIMPIAR LOS CRISTALES • Si contratas un servicio de limpieza profesional de…

Isn’t it about time we had a bit of fun? This very question must have hung in the air at the dawn of the 1920s. After years of war, followed by the devastating Spanish-flu pandemic, the world was ravaged and weary – hungry for a burst of something new and exciting. Enter the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age and the modern ebullience of art deco. This defiantly bold, contemporary moment in the decorative arts may well be the perfect style to adopt as we (finally) enter our own roaring Twenties, after a year of global turmoil. Having its origins in the angularity of cubism, and taking motifs from China, Japan and Ancient Egypt, art deco brought a feeling of sleek freshness and unabashed luxury to interior design. The most expensive materials…

OCEAN Ir jantar a um restaurante com duas estrelas Michelin é levar connosco um manto de espectativas. Sabemos, à partida, que vai ser um carrocel, com momentos tranquilos e outros de emoções fortes. No Ocean, situado no resort Vila Vita Parc, no Algarve, Hans Neuner é o maestro de uma orquestra que nos serve a mais perfeita das sinfonias gastronómicas. O espetáculo começa no cenário – tons de azul e dourado, com a presença de corais e o mar no horizonte – e prossegue em cada um dos momentos que vão chegando à mesa num serviço irrepreensível. Natural da Áustria, o chef revela um respeito e uma paixão profundas pelo produto (do mar e não só) e pelas tradições nacionais. Exemplo disso são as várias versões que vai fazendo do chichen…