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      England fans’ treatment in Greece investigated; Lineker on exit: football – live

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    That call for witnesses for the Athens from Football Supporters’ Association.

    (PA Media) – The Football Association and Football Supporters’ Association are investigating after England fans faced heavy-handed policing and tear gas before the Nations League match in Greece.

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      Shel Talmy, producer for the Who, the Kinks and David Bowie, dies aged 87

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    The American producer helped to craft a raw, immediate sound for British rock in the mid-1960s, with hits such as You Really Got Me and My Generation

    Shel Talmy, the music producer behind classics such as the Kinks’ You Really Got Me and the Who’s My Generation, has died aged 87. His publicist said he died peacefully in his sleep, due to complications following a stroke.

    “Even the briefest survey of the most essential pop and rock recordings of the 1960s would need to include something Shel produced,” said Talmy’s archivist Alec Palao in a statement. “That in itself is an incredibly meaningful legacy … Talmy was truly a one-off.”

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      Stephen King leaves X describing atmosphere as ‘too toxic’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    Author denies Elon Musk kicked him off platform and says he is joining rival Threads

    Stephen King has announced he is quitting X after describing the platform as “too toxic”.

    In a post on X on Thursday, The Shining and Shawshank Redemption author wrote: “I’m leaving Twitter. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic.” Referring to the rival platform launched by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, he added: “Follow me on Threads, if you like.”

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      From Maupay to Doak: how Premier League players are faring on loan

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    We assess 10 players who made temporary summer moves, including an unusually small goalkeeper who is thriving

    It seemed very sensible to send the creative midfielder to learn more about top-flight football under the tutelage of Cesc Fàbregas, although Perrone would probably have had opportunities at City amid their recent injury crisis. Como are back in Serie A and have attracted an eclectic group of players, including Sergi Roberto and Alberto Moreno. Perrone has made eight league appearances and sits alongside Roberto in front of the defence where he has looked composed and capable of instigating attacks with his intelligent use of the ball. The Argentinian is happy to collect facing his own goal and smart in tight spaces.

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      Garth Greenwell: ‘For me, Frank Bidart is the most important living US writer’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    The novelist on Virginia Woolf’s luminous prose, obsessively rereading James Baldwin and why Saint Augustine is his favourite writer

    My earliest reading memory
    The earliest book I remember reading and loving was Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon . A boy imagines himself into an adventure, gets into trouble, imagines a way home. It bears rereading still: it’s the very best parable of the creative life I know.

    My favourite book growing up
    I read voraciously and indiscriminately as a kid, so much so that I’m not sure I really had favourites. I loved the Judy Blume books I stole from my older siblings’ bookshelves and the darker novels of Cynthia Voigt. Two series by the fantasy writer Mercedes Lackey left a mark: Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Promise, Magic’s Price, maybe the first books I read that featured a gay protagonist; and the Diana Tregarde mysteries, a noir series featuring a hardboiled witch. Catnip for 13-year-old me.

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      ‘We don’t go to Ravenholm’: the story behind Half-life 2’s most iconic level

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024 • 1 minute

    On the 20th anniversary of the seminal game, we look back at the extraordinary moment where sci-fi dystopia turned into tense and terrifying body horror

    At the start of Valve’s Half-Life 2, the seminal first-person shooter game that turns 20 this month, taciturn scientist Gordon Freeman is trapped within a dystopian cityscape. Armed soldiers patrol the streets, and innocent citizens wander around in a daze, bereft of purpose and future. Dr Wallace Breen, Freeman’s former boss at the scientific “research centre” Black Mesa, looks down from giant video screens, espousing the virtues of humankind’s benefactors, an alien race known as The Combine.

    As Freeman stumbles through these first few levels of Half-Life 2, the player acclimatises to the horrible future laid out before them. It’s hardly the most cheerful setting, but there are some friendly faces (security guard Barney, Alyx and Eli Vance) and even moments of humour, as Dr Isaac Kleiner’s pet, a debeaked face-eating alien called Lamarr, runs amok in his laboratory. It feels safe. It feels fun. It feels familiar. There’s even a crowbar! And then, the foreshadowing. “That’s the old passage to Ravenholm,” mutters Alyx Vance during Freeman’s chapter five tour of the Black Mesa East facility. “We don’t go there any more.” You feel a shiver down your spine; you know you will end up going there.

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      Experience: I’ve been to every country in the world

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    There have been many highlights. In a group of islands off Norway, I saw a total solar eclipse, which was surreal

    I’ve always been adventurous. That’s why, in 2013, I set myself a goal to travel to every country in the world. I grew up in Louisiana, and my family went on road trips across the US. When I was 13, I visited relatives in Texas and we went to a town in Mexico. It was so different from what I’d known.

    When I was a student, I didn’t travel a lot. But in my late 20s, I started working in revenue and merchandise for American Airlines and could get free flights if there were empty seats. Once, there were flights from Dallas to Caracas in Venezuela, so I went by myself to go scuba diving on some remote islands.

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      Landsec swings to growth as return to office working gathers pace

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    UK property developer says occupancy across central London portfolio has climbed to almost 98%

    One of Britain’s biggest property developers has reinforced the growing shift to a return to office working , saying that occupancy in its central London offices has grown to an all-time high and the value of its portfolio has returned to growth.

    The improvement in the market helped Landsec, which owns offices and retail locations such as the Bluewater and Trinity Leeds shopping centres, bounce back to a £243m pre-tax profit in the six months to the end of September.

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      No 10 apologises after meat and alcohol served at Diwali celebration

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian • 15 November 2024

    Statement acknowledges ‘mistake’ that prompted complaints from some Hindus, including a Tory MP

    Downing Street has apologised to British Hindus after it served meat and alcohol at its annual Diwali celebration.

    No 10 said on Friday it had made a “mistake” in the organisation of the celebration on 29 October, at which beer, wine and lamb kebabs were reportedly served .

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