OKStart - Your All-in-one Start Page

Tens of thousands gather in Tbilisi to demand snap elections in Georgia

About 20,000 people rallied in the center of the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Sunday to protest against the government and to demand an early parliamentary election.

UK PM sets out immigration plans as Conservatives hit two-year poll high

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out plans on Sunday to end preferential treatment for European Union migrants, as opinion polls showed his Conservative Party has the highest level of support since 2017 ahead of next month's election.

US election 2020: Democrats respond to Obama's warning

Some call for party unity while others defend their policies as Barack Obama's remarks fuel debate.

Hong Kong campus protesters fire arrows as anti-government unrest spreads

Hong Kong protesters shot arrows and hurled petrol bombs from a barricaded university on Sunday at police who fired tear gas and water cannon in some of the worst violence in the Chinese-ruled city since anti-government unrest erupted five months ago.

Three lions on a beach: a sculpture for the age of Brexit

What are three decrepit beasts doing washed up on Dover sands? Sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor reveals why The Pride of Brexit protests the ‘most unpatriotic events’ Britain has ever seen

British lions aren’t supposed to look like this. They’re meant to be fierce, mighty and indomitable, lords of all they survey. But the three creatures here on Dover Beach look sick, emaciated and exhausted. They seem to be crawling to their deaths.

These sculptures were recently installed beneath the White Cliffs by Jason deCaires Taylor, who calls them The Pride of Brexit. “They convey,” says the British artist, “the sense of profound loss many of us remainers feel.” His installation is meant to be “a monument to one of the most unpatriotic events Britain has ever seen”.

Egypt officials: 3 security forces killed in Sinai blast

Egyptian officials say a roadside bomb has killed at least three members of the security forces in the restive northern Sinai province

Business

Ethiopian Airlines undecided whether to take more Boeing 737 MAX jets

Ethiopian Airlines has not decided yet whether to take more deliveries of the 737 MAX, the jet grounded worldwide in the wake of crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia, the airline's CEO said on Sunday, as Boeing completes revisions to the aircraft's design.

France's Le Maire favors car industry professional as next Renault CEO

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday that the search for a new CEO for Renault was still on and that he favored selecting a professional from the automobile sector.

'Crown jewel' Aramco stirs loyal Saudi demand for giant IPO

From taxi drivers to clerics, Saudis clamoring to own part of state oil giant Aramco went online and to local banks on Sunday at the start of a long-delayed share sale for what could be the world's biggest initial public offering.

The Week in Business: Google Is Coming for Your Health Records

Why is UK unemployment still low? We are working longer hours

Pay hasn’t recovered from the 2008 crisis so staff work longer to fill the gap, boosting labour supply and limiting wage rises

Turn the clock back a decade. The economy is just about to emerge from its worst recession in living memory. Since the start of 2008, output has contracted sharply quarter after quarter. The banks have been saved but the official unemployment rate has hit 8%, a 12-year high.

Now imagine that you had a crystal ball which could foresee what would happen over the next 10 years. Hard though it is to believe, your crystal ball tells you that there will be no real recovery from the slump. Productivity growth – which had been averaging 2% a year up until 2008 – will collapse. The economy in 2019 will be at least 15% smaller than it would otherwise have been had the financial crisis never happened.

Finance

Uncertainty, inequality, fragility: why France is a country at war with itself | Andrew Hussey

The gilets jaunes erupted exactly a year ago. To understand them, we need to see the movement in the context of 2015’s tumultuous events

The year 2015 was without doubt one of the worst in living memory in France. It began on 7 January with the massacre at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Two days later, four people were killed in an Islamist attack on a Jewish supermarket in Montrouge, just south of Paris. The year ended with mass slaughter on 13 November when Islamist gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the Bataclan concert hall, killing 130 people and injuring many more. By the end of 2015, France appeared to have slipped into a deep trauma that is not yet over.

Four years on, quiet commemorations of the 13 November attacks were held once again across Paris, led by the city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, and the interior minister, Christophe Castaner. But official ceremonies can never tell the real story of how people feel. Certainly, the atmosphere last week in my neighbourhood of Pernety, a mile or so from Montrouge, was muted.

Shelf mythology: 100 years of Shakespeare and Company

A century after the Paris bookshop opened as a haven for modernist pioneers, it has become a tourist must-see. How did that happen?

There are currently 4,000 reviews of Shakespeare and Company on TripAdvisor. Many of them describe the shop as “magical” or “a dream”. Some mention its pedigree – the famous writers including F Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway who went there, the films and TV programmes shot there. Even those that don’t rate the shop – who think the stock isn’t good enough or complain that it’s too crowded – recommend visiting, talking of its history and its proximity to Notre Dame. As a Paris landmark, which turns 100 this month, it is ranked below the Eiffel Tower and above the crumbling angels of Père-Lachaise cemetery. But how does a bookshop become a place of pilgrimage, a tourist trap and an emblem for a city, all at once?

There are no Shakespeare and Company equivalents in any other city. Britain’s capital has the London Review Bookshop, its tote bags beloved by fashionable kids in Seoul, but the clientele just want to visit a well-stocked bookshop. None of the bookshops in London are so deeply stitched into the mythos of the city that they have become part of any presumed sightseeing tour, alongside Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. None have become an attraction for those otherwise uninterested in the literary landscape of their holiday destination.

Ah, yes, it was Hemingway, more a giant than ever

France braces for gilets jaunes anniversary marches

One year on, divisions in the country persist and yellow vest protests are expected to surge

In a kebab shop on the outskirts of Bordeaux, Christine, 48, was planning the next steps of the local gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protest movement.

“We might seem less visible, but we’re still out here,” said the cardiac nurse who left her job after a “burn out” – like “so many” healthcare staff. “Some don’t want to wear a yellow vest anymore because of being targeted by police, but we’re organising meetings, mobilising citizens and we’ve still got public support. We’ve created a new sense of solidarity in France and that won’t go away.”

Baudelaire’s unknown extra verse to erotic poem revealed

New lines to The Jewels, inscribed in a copy of Les Fleurs du Mal, has been unveiled as the volume comes up for auction

More than 150 years ago, Charles Baudelaire scrawled an extra verse of his erotic poem The Jewels into a copy of his landmark collection Les Fleurs du Mal. The stanza has never been made public, with the book’s previous owner wanting to keep it private, but ahead of its auction next week, the lines have been revealed to the world.

The Jewels was one of six Baudelaire poems banned by a French court in 1857, less than two months after Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) was published, and the poet and his publisher prosecuted for offence to public decency. The court ruled that the erotic verses – beginning “La très chère était nue”, or “My darling was naked” – would “necessarily lead to the excitement of the senses by a crude realism offensive to public decency”. The conviction was only overturned in 1949.

How to make the most of a zero-commission world

How interested are people in trading stocks for free?

Entertainment

Terry O'Neill: British photographer to the stars dies aged 81

He photographed The Beatles on his first day on Fleet Street, and his death is described as the "end of an era".

Northampton drag queen Pure finds Norwich Euphoria for her first show

Pure is "so ready" to step on stage for the first time as drag helps her overcome bullying.

Robyn Crawford says relationship with Whitney Houston was 'love - open and honest'

"It was love and it was open and it was honest," the star's former assistant tells the BBC.

Stephen Graham: Actor tells Desert Island Discs 'I didn’t know how to cope'

The Liverpudlian actor tells Desert Island Discs he tried to take his own life in his youth.

'The Crown' still looks regal as Olivia Colman assumes the throne

"The Crown" ushers in a new cast, but the Netflix historical drama's compelling and regal formula -- exploring the obligations and indignities associated with the seemingly sun-drenched life of the British Royal Family -- remains the same, and indeed has only deepened as the principals advance into middle age.

I'm A Celebrity: ITV ends 'bushtucker trials' that include eating live bugs

Contestants such as Caitlyn Jenner and Ian Wright could still be covered in bugs during the ITV show but anything they have to eat will be already dead.

Everything you need to know before watching season three of 'The Crown'

Practice your curtsy. "The Crown" returns to Netflix on Sunday, with Olivia Colman taking her seat on Queen Elizabeth II's throne as the series' new star.

Japanese actress Erika Sawajiri arrested for suspected drug possession: NHK

Japanese actress Erika Sawajiri, famous for her role in 2005 drama "1 Litre of Tears", has been arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs, NHK reported on Saturday citing unnamed sources.

Lifestyle

How Early Is Too Early to Put Up Holiday Decorations?

A Texas couple thought Nov. 1 was as good a time as any for a giant snowman in their front yard. The homeowners’ association poured hot water on the idea.

‘S.N.L.’ Turns Impeachment Inquiry Into a Soap Opera Starring Jon Hamm

“Days of Our Impeachment” opened the episode, and Harry Styles did double duty as the host and musical guest.

What’s on TV Sunday: ‘The Crown’ and ‘Man in the High Castle’

Olivia Colman takes the throne in Season 3 of “The Crown.” And Amazon’s alternative history series comes to an end.

3 Key Impeachment Developments This Week

2 days of public hearings. How did we get here? Allegations of bribery. And more.

They Love Trash

Young rebels take on the unpleasant byproducts of festival culture.

What’s on TV Saturday: ‘Dollface’ and Christmas Under the Stars’

A surrealist series about female friendship hits Hulu, and Jesse Metcalfe and Autumn Reeser star in a Hallmark holiday love story.

Review: ‘The Mandalorian,’ a Gunslinger in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

The highly entertaining new “Star Wars” series, the marquee attraction of the Disney Plus originals, is a test of the limits of franchise extension.

Sports

Pique wants Davis Cup players to have 'week of their lives'

Gerard Pique hopes players and fans have "the week of their lives" when a radically changed Davis Cup takes place in Madrid's La Caja Majica next week.

Davis Cup organizers hoping for magic start in Madrid

Eighteen nations will gather in Madrid's La Caja Magica on Monday as the men's tennis season culminates with a revamped Davis Cup format dreamt up by a man who earns his living playing soccer for Barcelona.

NHL roundup: Isles rally past Flyers to keep streak alive

Mathew Barzal scored in both the third period and the shootout, as the New York Islanders overcame a three-goal deficit and extended their point streak to 14 games with a 4-3 victory over the host Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

NBA roundup: George, Clippers pummel Hawks

Paul George scored 37 points in only 20 minutes, leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 150-101 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night despite playing without Kawhi Leonard.

Stephens eyes Olympics, return to form in 2020

Sloane Stephens said she is ready to turn the page on a disappointing 2019 and shift her focus to climbing the world tennis rankings to qualify for next year's Tokyo Olympics.

Science