The governing body of swimming says it will set up an “open category” that will include transgender competitors

SAVE 49%: ExpressVPN is the best service for unblocking SBS On Demand. A one-year subscription

In the battle of the AI chatbots, Google Bard hasn't yet caught on the way

Google is using AI to create a somewhat unique approach to reading articles online. As

If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you've come to the right place for

Max Verstappen extended his championship lead with a convincing victory – and sixth win on the spin – at the British Grand Prix on a day of triumph for McLaren too. Verstappen, starting on pole, lost the lead to driver of the day Lando Norris at the start but soon took back first place on lap five – and maintained position despite a safety car just over halfway through the race. McLaren star Norris finished second for his joint-best result in Formula 1 with eight-time winner at Silverstone Lewis Hamilton completing the podium in third. George Russell finished fifth with Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri unluckily missing out on a first podium in F1 with a nonetheless highly-respectable fourth place. “We had a good race. Last stint was difficult with these tyres but overall pace was good,” said Verstappen after picking up Red Bull’s 11th victory in a row. More to follow... Read More Kevin Magnussen’s car catches fire in scary flashpoint at British Grand Prix Hamilton demands ‘so slow’ Mercedes take British GP qualifying as a ‘wake-up call’ F1 British Grand Prix LIVE: Race updates and times at Silverstone

An advocacy group for journalists wants to get involved with Disney’s free speech lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis

As a plus-size fashion expert who focuses on fit and style — and who absolutely loves being in the water — swimwear is a favorite of mine. But I know firsthand that it is also a category that inspires a lot of shopping anxiety, especially when the best plus-size swim options are online only, meaning you never know what you are going to get.

Friday’s first practice session in Abu Dhabi was an intriguing watch. On a weekend which is alarmingly lacking much intrigue, exactly half the grid were absent. Substituted in their place were 10 “rookie” drivers, as part of F1’s mandatory young drivers programme introduced last year. One driver, and more so how they performed, amplified one of the sport’s most peculiar issues – and one where a solution could amp up the closing races of the season. It is one of the FIA’s – the sport’s governing body – most peculiar rules that the Formula 2 champion can’t compete in the series again. Such a regulation would imply that there is a ready-made pathway to F1 for the winner, but this is not the case. For 2022 champion Felipe Drugovich, a second year in a row begrudgingly watching from the sidelines beckons next season. A shame because (who’d have thought it), he’s actually pretty fast. In FP1 on Friday, Drugovich recorded the second-quickest lap on the timesheet. Most notably, the Brazilian was almost three-tenths quicker than Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin car. While it was indeed practice – with drivers and teams generally on different run plans throughout the weekend – the pace was still notably significant. Yet while F1 remains a 10-team-20-driver sport, the obstructions for junior drivers with much promise but no established route to the top table will remain. But what if there was a very genuine incentive to win Formula 2? What if those grappling for points at the bottom of the F1 standings had their future on the line? Because title-runaways happen, in all sports. Manchester City have won five of the last six Premier League titles; two of those have been at a canter. Just ask German football fans about the simplistic boredom of the Bundesliga title race; Bayern Munich have won 10 in a row. But the end-of-season battles in football rarely stop at the top. The top six spots are incentivised with European football, while those down at the bottom frantically try to escape the clutches of relegation. F1 is, of course, a different beast. All 10 teams are entities in their own right with the two driver spots their most prized assets. As such, team principals understandably want full reign on who to pick and how long to pick them for. And this simple model is not about to change anytime soon. But, just for a moment, have a bit of fun and consider the extra spice of an alternative reality this weekend. Ignoring Nyck de Vries who was dropped from AlphaTauri after 10 races in July, Logan Sargeant is currently bottom of the charts with one point. Liam Lawson, who raced five times due to Daniel Ricciardo’s injury, has two points. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen is on three points, with Zhou Guanyu and Ricciardo ahead of him on six. Meanwhile, the Formula 2 season also concludes this weekend. Alfa Romeo reserve Theo Pouchaire leads by 25 points to Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti. Aside from your motorsport die-hards, the sport’s main support series rarely entices viewers on television. Does it really matter, especially when you’re unintentionally punished by claiming the title with, most likely, a year to follow without racing? It happened to Oscar Piastri in 2022; he had to play the game behind-the-scenes to land a seat at McLaren this year, with his impressive performances indicative of the talent coming up from the higher echelons of Formula 2. It’s happening now to Drugovich – and is set to happen to Pourchaire next year. Yet imagine if a guaranteed spot in F1 was the carrot. Imagine if Sargeant had to somehow land a top-10 finish in the 22nd and final race at the Yas Marina Circuit to keep his seat at Williams. There could be ramifications for Magnussen’s poor year at Haas but, suitably scarred by the years of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, Guenther Steiner said in the summer: “I don’t want to take any risk in this moment. You can take a risk if the risk is worthwhile to take. And in this moment, we want stability.” Of course, it’s not realistic. Such a procedure would open up F1 to all sorts of issues. For example, George Russell finished bottom in 2019, simply handicapped with the worst car on the grid at Williams despite his obvious talent. The junior programmes most drivers are in would suddenly be negated. Teams would bend the rules, on and off track, in order to carve their route to the chosen driver. But boy would the basic relegation-promotion principle make the season finale spectacle engrossing. While the teams can keep motivation high with financial rewards for higher spots in the championship, the generic sporting fan is not bothered about that. In the last six Abu Dhabi race meets (including this year’s), only one has had a title riding on it with Verstappen’s controversial and thrilling win over Hamilton in 2021. For a sport with peak popularity in the Drive to Survive era, the end-of-season no-contest is a shortcoming. Read More Christian Horner reveals talks with Lewis Hamilton’s father over Red Bull seat F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix LIVE: Practice updates and times at Yas Marina F1 to trial AI at season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix What time is qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday? Lewis Hamilton says Red Bull chief is ‘stirring things’ over team move claim Toto Wolff and Fred Vasseur receive warnings over ‘swearing’ in Las Vegas

Some healthy eating principles apply to just about everyone – drinking enough water and consuming plenty of fresh fruit and veg, for example. But when it comes to hormones, a lot of diet advice neglects to mention the vast difference between women’s and men’s health. “Women are very under-represented in research, mainly because we have a menstrual cycle,” says functional nutritionist and author Pauline Cox. “My passion and mission is to empower women with the information and knowledge that can radically change their immediate health and their long-term health.” Cox, 43, who started her career as a physiotherapist before becoming a nutritionist, now mainly works with groups of women online and has just released her second book, Hungry Woman: Eating for Good Health, Happiness and Hormones. “I felt there was a lot of information that could be shared with women to help them understand their hormones, and understand that we don’t have to get frustrated with ourselves and fight our female physiology.” At the heart of the issue is the balance (or lack thereof) between oestrogen and progesterone levels. “When our progesterone levels are low, our oestrogen can become dominant, and that’s when we start to see things like PMS, heavy periods, painful periods, flooding at the beginning of our periods,” says Cox, who lives in Somerset. “A lot o women accept that as part of their monthly cycle, but when we bring our progesterone levels back up, it helps to balance the effect of oestrogen.” Here, she explains five ways women can tailor their diets to keep their hormones in check… 1. Look after your liver “Oestrogen is a driving-growth hormone,” Cox explains, using the analogy of grass growing on a lawn to explain how the two hormones interact. “Progesterone is like the lawnmower. It comes along and it keeps the grass in check. When we lose progesterone, oestrogen gets out of control.” That’s why it’s important that our bodies are able to clear oestrogen efficiently through the liver, gut and bowels. “How much oestrogen we clear can be influenced by what we eat and how we live,” says Cox. “There’s a lot of cruciferous in the book – cauliflower, broccoli, these are really great vegetables to support liver detoxification.” 2. Add fermented foods To deliver beneficial bacteria to your gut, try including fermented foods like pickled vegetables, kefir, kombucha or natural yoghurt as part of your daily diet. “Our gut diversity declines as we age and microbiome diversity has been linked with longevity and good health,” says Cox, who suggests just a tablespoon of sauerkraut a day can make a difference. “These are easy wins…to maximise our longevity and optimise our gut-brain axis, which is incredibly important.” 3. Avoid ultra-processed foods There’s been a lot of talk recently about how detrimental ultra-processed foods are, and that includes the effect on hormone levels. “When we’re eating high sugar, processed foods, our inflammatory levels go up and our cortisol level goes up, which robs us of progesterone,” Cox says. Plus, filling up with these empty calories – as delicious as they often are – means we have less room for nutritious foods. “They can often be devoid of nutrients, so you’re not getting the nutrients you need for building hormones and supporting hormonal health like magnesium, zinc, B vitamins, and omega three fatty acids.” 4. Create an eating window It’s not just what you eat, it’s when. Cox recommends having an ‘eating window’ during the day that ends around 6pm, so that there’s a gap of a few hours before you go to bed. “When your blood sugars go up at night, your kidneys have to kick in to try and remove this excess blood sugar, which then means you’re up in the night urinating,” she says. “A lot of women associate this with drinking a lot before bed, but actually eating late at night can also be for that reason.” Choosing meals that are nutritious and satisfying is the next step. “Within that window, start becoming a bit more conscious of your carbs and upping your protein,” she continues. “So you’re feeling full, your body’s getting all the amino acids it needs, and you’re maybe not having so much of the grab-and-go food like the sandwiches, the pasta, the crisps.” 5. Monitor your magnesium “Most women are sub-clinically deficient in magnesium,” Cox explains, which can cause insomnia, and the risk increases with age. “As we get to about the age of 40, we absorb less magnesium than we would have in our 20s.” Diet also plays a role: “If we have high blood sugars and levels of inflammation when we’re stressed, we lose magnesium.” She recommends taking a magnesium glycinate or bisglycinate supplement before bed to increase your chance of getting a good night’s sleep. “The glycine part of that helps to reduce your core body temperature, which is what the body wants when it’s going to bed,” she says. “That compound also helps get you into what’s called REM sleep, which is the sleep where you’re consolidating memories and learning.” Hungry Woman by Pauline Cox is published by Ebury Press, priced £27. Photography by Luke Albert. Available Now. Read More From hairdressers to aloe vera: What will Diet Coke join as a ‘possible cancer risk’ Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Sri Lanka is mulling measures to lure back Chinese tourists in a bid to alleviate an unprecedented debt

When you chow down on a banana, you might often see a black bit at the end and it looks a bit gross. But what is it? Some people think it is the seed, but these are found down the middle, if at all, as the Cavendish variety of bananas, which is commonly sold typically doesn’t produce any seeds. It is actually something completely different. Bananas are technically berries and the black bit is the nub of the flower from which the giant banana berry grew. Bananas grow on trees in bunches, and the end is actually the top of the fruit while the hard stalk is the bottom. But given most people eat bananas by snapping off the stalk first, the residual flower nub is left at the end. This black bit is entirely edible but people often throw it away because it has a tough texture and a bitter taste. So now you know, there is nothing stopping you from getting one of your five a day. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.