leash your dang dogs!

If you loved The Unexpected Party sequence from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey then our friends from Weta Workshop have something for you. You can now buy a board game version of this sequence in the film. The purpose of this game is to be the first person to complete all 15 lines of the […]

One virus; 18 ways of seeing the world. Covid Latam is a collective project documenting the coronavirus pandemic as it unfolds across Latin America. Photographers – 9 men and 9 women – are working in 13 countries: Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Cuba and Mexico to document the unfolding story of the pandemic through the Covid Latam instagram account

The wildly popular game gives players a place to socialize with others or simply escape while on lockdown for coronavirus

As shelter in place orders around the world have left many people trapped at home indefinitely, some have found a new place to meet up: inside the digital world of wildly popular Nintendo game Animal Crossing.

Released in late March, Animal Crossing: New Horizons quickly became the top game in the US. In it, users explore a carefree pastel environment, growing fruits and flowers, catching bugs or fish to sell, and making friends with other characters in an open-ended simulation.

American Revolution 2.0, which presents itself as bipartisan, has been assisted by far-right individuals – some with extremist links

Leaked audio recordings and online materials obtained by the Guardian reveal that one of the most prominent anti-lockdown protest groups, American Revolution 2.0 (AR2), has received extensive assistance from well-established far-right actors, some with extremist connections.

Related: Armed protesters demonstrate against Covid-19 lockdown at Michigan capitol

Unemployment rate rose to 14.7% from just 4.4% in March as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the global economy

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More than 20 million people in the US lost their jobs in April and the unemployment rate more than trebled as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the world’s largest economy, triggering a financial crisis unseen since the Great Depression.

The Department of Labor announced Friday that the US unemployment rate rose to 14.7% from just 4.4% in March and a near 50-year low of 3.5% in February before the US was hit by the virus.

NHS staff from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds may be given roles away from the frontline under plans to reduce their disproportionately high death rate from Covid-19.

The Guardian revealed last week that minority groups were over-represented by as much as 27% in the overall Covid-19 death toll. Additionally, 63% of the first 106 health and social care staff known to have died from the virus were black or Asian, according to the Health Service Journal.

Senior reporter Haroon Siddique looks at the figures and explains why BAME people may be more at risk.

• British BAME Covid-19 death rate 'more than twice that of whites'
  
• ‘So much living to do’: stories of UK's coronavirus victims

Despite rising coronavirus case numbers, the US state of Mississippi is moving out of lockdown and reopening parks, restaurants and other non-essential shops. Oliver Laughland went to the resort of Biloxi to see how residents were responding

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The US southern state of Mississippi is the country’s poorest. It went into the coronavirus crisis with high levels of poverty and poor health outcomes. But following the period of lockdown and orders for residents to stay at home, the state’s governor Tate Reeves has eased restrictions - despite evidence that the rate of infections has not yet hit its peak.

The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland travelled to the Mississippi coastal resort of Biloxi where he tells Mythili Rao he found the lockdown has hit hardest those working in low paid jobs in the tourism industry. One restaurant worker describes how the loss of work meant he has had to rely on the charity of his neighbours and local food banks. But despite growing numbers of cases, people are flocking back to the beach and increasingly breaching recommendations of minimum social distancing. The state is reopening, but at what cost?

• GoFundMe page for Navajo and Hopi aid lists many Irish names
• Choctaw Nation sent donation in 1847 for potato famine victims

The list of recent donors reads like an Irish phone book. Aisling Ní Chuimín, Shane Ó Leary, Sean Gibbons, Kevin Boyle, Kevin Keane, Clare Quinn, Eamonn McDonald, on and on down a GoFundMe page that by Friday had raised $3.15m of a $5m goal.

The individual amounts are not remarkable – $10, $20, $30, some exceeding $100 – but the story behind the donations stretches back two centuries and encompasses a singular act of generosity that forged a bond between Native Americans and Ireland, a bond now renewed in the coronavirus era.

With states opening even as Covid-19 rages on, the president is rolling the dice on his career – and tens of thousands of lives

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On Monday the Republican governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, a close ally of Donald Trump and frequent visitor to the White House, opened his daily coronavirus briefing with a big announcement. “Today is May 4,” he said, “the first day of loosened restrictions statewide.”

With his declaration, Ricketts placed Nebraska at the vanguard of America’s reopening. Churches can now open their doors to worshippers, wedding bells and funeral dirges will be heard once more, hospitals can reschedule elective surgeries, and most Nebraskans will be able to resumehaving their hair cut, nails manicured, bodies massaged and skin tattooed.

The hunt for an effective treatment for COVID-19 has led one team of researchers to find an improbable ally for their work: According to US and Belgian scientists, a four-year-old llama named Winter who lives in a secret location in Belgium could hold the key to a cure and help scientists find a treatment for COVID-19. The team — from The University of Texas at Austin, the National Institutes of Health and Ghent University in Belgium — reports their findings of a potential avenue for a coronavirus treatment involving llamas on May 5 in the journal Cell.

Also debuts for PSVR, Oculus Rift, SteamVR in early 2021

Trailer previews sci-fi action game from Tales of Vesperia team

7th game in Yakuza series debuted in Japan for PS4 on January 16

Remake of Monolith Software's Wii game launches on May 29

DLC character debuts for game on May 13

Convention considers online replacement of September event

RPG to also launch on Xbox Series X, Xbox One

Game launched in October 2019

"Near-future science fiction drama" premieres in early 2021

This video is an oldie but goldie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns the tables on the paparazzi that were bombarding him with cameras and questions. It's a curious thing to see how the paparazzi react when being fed a ration of their own medicine. It's almost as if they don't like it, like really don't like it. 

Can't think of a better way to keep oneself entertained while on a road trip, with a buddy. This is just a great portrayal of the friendship between Richard Hammond and James May. 

The big draw this week is our fourth Microfiction, but there’s plenty more to get excited about! We’ve got the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game’s debut on switch, an upcoming Trailer Rewatch event, a $1.99 ebook deal on Death Masks, and more. It’s also the last week to submit your costumes for our contest. Read [...]

Even if we find drugs that are effective against the coronavirus, that doesn't necessarily mean they will change the wider situation and help end lockdowns

The interstellar comet Borisov, which flew past Earth in December, is full of carbon monoxide ice that implies its home star is smaller and colder than our sun

The membership of the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies has so far been kept secret, but a list of names will soon be published, the UK's chief scientific adviser has said

The remains of three slaves found in Mexico contain the earliest signs of the hepatitis B virus and yaws bacteria in the Americas, suggesting transatlantic slavery introduced these diseases

The governor's order names the Dallas hairdresser who was jailed on Tuesday for staying open.

Former director of national intelligence James Clapper in 2018 said that he hadn't seen evidence that the Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 general election.Clapper was responding to a query from then-representative Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, during an interview before the House Intelligence Committee. The transcript of the interview was released on Thursday."I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting [or] conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election," Clapper said."That's not to say that there weren't concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence…[redacted]," Clapper added. "But I do not recall any instance when I had direct evidence of the content of these meetings. It's just the frequency and prevalence of them was of concern."Rooney then asked Clapper, "At what time is collusion collusion, and at what time is it just people that may have an affiliation with the campaign meeting or talking with… the Russian ambassador or somebody that's of Russian origin, and when should that be taken as something that rises to the level of an Intelligence Community concern?""I really can't answer it other than the sort of visceral reaction to why all these meetings with the Russians," Clapper responded. Clapper admitted that it would be "legitimate" for incoming Trump administration officials to meet with representatives of Russia, "but I think there is a line…between that and violating the principle that in this country we traditionally have one President and one administration at a time."The interview was part of a set of 53 transcripts of interviews held by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the Russia investigation. Current committee chairman Adam Schiff had called for the release of the transcripts in 2018.However, after 43 transcripts had been reviewed and redacted by intelligence agencies as of June 2019, Schiff refused to relase the completed transcripts to the public. Current acting DNI head Richard Grenell informed Schiff on Wednesday that all the transcripts were ready for publication.

Permanently blocking middle seats and limiting the number of passengers per flight is a costly move for airlines and would increase ticket prices.

As of 6 May, the name of Assembly Members will change to Members of the Senedd.

As his great grandson launches a competition to "inspire like Churchill", we look at the PM's wartime words.

How are the communities that rely so heavily on the US airbases coping under lockdown?

How closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on during the past seven days?

The 25-year-old was jogging in Georgia when he was shot dead, in a video the president described as disturbing.

The Xbox team shows off new footage of the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.

Dax was one of YouTube's first stars, but 13 years later, few people remember his name. Can a vlogging legend seize glory again?

Joe Allington was persuaded to dance on TikTok for the first time in January. Now he's got 1.5 million followers.