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Technology and innovationGuardian sustainable businessSupporters believe fully automated luxury communism is an opportunity to realise a post-work society, where machines do the heavy lifting and employment as we know it is a thing of the past At a time when robots crowd factory lines, algorithms steer cars and smart screens litter the checkout aisles, automation is the new spectre. The robots, they say, are coming for our jobs. Let them, reply the luxury communists.
The company also announced it would deprecate 17 ‘underutilized’ features of Google Assistant. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesThe company also announced it would deprecate 17 ‘underutilized’ features of Google Assistant. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesTechnologyGoogle lays off 1,000 workers, union saysTech giant among others – including Amazon and Meta – to cut workforce as business predictions slowed down in the past year Google has laid off a thousand workers in its hardware, voice-assistance and engineering teams as part of cost-cutting measures, according to the Alphabet Workers Union.
TheatreReviewThe Depot, Liverpool Staged in a hangar-like venue strewn with the charred remnants of battle, Simon Godwin’s intelligent production puts violent conflict to the fore At first, it looks like Macbeth retooled as a history play about the corrupting effects of war. The drama of murderous ambition, power and guilt is all there in Simon Godwin’s intelligent production but with violent conflict at the fore. Shakespeare’s 11th-century battleground is turned into a modern-day war zone and Ralph Fiennes’ Macbeth emerges in army fatigues.
Ukraine This article is more than 4 months oldUkraine drone strike reportedly destroys Russian supersonic bomberThis article is more than 4 months oldTU-22M3 – used extensively in missile strikes on Ukraine – seen burning in images shared on social media Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates A drone appears to have destroyed a supersonic Russian bomber on an airfield hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine, British military intelligence has said, the latest in a string of successful assaults on prestige infrastructure and military hardware.
Shining star: Jiah Khan in a studio shot. ‘We know she couldn’t have done it,’ says her sister Kavita. Photograph: Hindustan Times/Getty ImagesShining star: Jiah Khan in a studio shot. ‘We know she couldn’t have done it,’ says her sister Kavita. Photograph: Hindustan Times/Getty ImagesThe ObserverBollywoodJiah Khan was one of India’s rising film stars. But at just 25 she was found dead in her family’s apartment. The question of whether it was suicide or murder has now pitted two of Bollywood’s leading families against each other
US prisons This article is more than 2 years oldMan who spent 22 years in solitary urges Illinois to curb ‘psychological torture’ This article is more than 2 years oldAnthony Gay, who calls solitary confinement ‘wrong, despicable and horrible’, hopes bill passed by lower house will become law An inmate who spent 22 years in solitary confinement in an Illinois prison after being arrested for stealing a hat and a dollar bill is campaigning for legislation to end a practice that he says drove him to self-mutilation and a suicide attempt.
ObituaryPeter SladeThe first British dramatherapistPeter Slade, who has died aged 91, pioneered dramatherapy and, from 1947 to 1977, was Birmingham education committee's first adviser on drama. He brought sessions on the subject into schools and established relevant courses in education colleges. With that work, and through his Rea Street Centre, he won international recognition. The centre and its team of teacher-actors offered evenings of drama with children; theatre for children by adult actors; intimate experimental theatre; and courses for teachers, including a one-year child drama certificate under the auspices of Birmingham's education department.
The ObserverNeuroscience This article is more than 10 years oldSexiest parts of the body revealed by neuroscientistsThis article is more than 10 years oldSurvey asks men and women to rank parts of the body by pleasure – and some of the results prove surprisingThe mind, said Raquel Welch, is an erogenous zone. And it is the brain, and how it organises our erogenous zones, that has intrigued scientists for decades. Why is a nuzzled neck sexy when few would be turned on by a nuzzled nose?
The film quizAction and adventure filmsThe toughest summer blockbuster quiz everWe're crash bang in the middle of this year's summer blockbuster season – already a record-breaker for Hollywood. But as much money as genetically-modified dinosaurs and Ultron-bashing superheroes might have made, they're no match for the classics. Take a particularly stressful holiday through previous summers with our tough blockbuster quizncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJ6ZobpwvdSisWhqYGaCcLbUp2Zra1%2BqubW1zJqrnmWjqrqusdFmmaWnk6Cvtr%2FTnqlmqaWexw%3D%3D