Directing a new Black Mirror film gives Jodie Foster the chance to look back at her own upbringing. The Hollywood titan talks to Tim Adams

Last week Charlie Brooker was recalling for me the moment he learned Jodie Foster would direct an episode of Black Mirror, his inspired series of one-off dramas about the ways our gadgets are colonising the idea of “human”. Brooker had written a script for the new series in which a neurotic single mother uses technology to spy on her young daughter and keep her safe from the world. The Netflix people suggested they tried the script out on the two-time Oscar-winning actor.

Brooker has had considerable global success with Black Mirror but still, the thought of working with Foster, “an actual icon”, made him come over, he says, “all British and starstruck”. He turned to his co-showrunner for the series, Annabel Jones. “We were like: ‘You’re kidding, right? You are going to try Jodie bloody Foster? Yeah right, of course you are.’”

Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn, whose collaboration with Siegfried Fischbacher created the well-known animal training and magic duo Siegfried & Roy, died of complications from COVID-19 Friday in Las Vegas. He was 75. Horn had revealed on April 28 that he had tested positive for coronavirus. “Today, the world has lost one of the greats of […]

Andre Harrell, a veteran music executive best known as the founder of Uptown Records, where Sean “Puffy” Combs got his start in the business, who later went on to head Motown Records, has died. He was 59. The cause of death is as yet unclear. DJ D-Nice revealed the sad news while spinning on Instagram […]

How long will work-from-home last? Most Google and Facebook employees likely will not be going back to the office full time until 2021. The tech industry’s two biggest internet companies have told employees to settle into home-office routines through the end of the year amid the COVID-19 crisis. Both Google and Facebook this week said […]

Flamboyant singer-instrumentalist Little Richard, whose high-voltage, keyboard-shattering R&B singles supplied lift-off for the ’50s rock ‘n’ roll revolution, has died. The musician, whose birth name was Richard Penniman, was 87, although some sources say he was older. His death was confirmed by his son, Danny Jones Penniman, who told the New York Times the cause […]

From Berlin to Bogotá there are new footpaths and bike lanes – but not in London

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A growing number of cities around the world are temporarily reallocating road space from cars to people on foot and on cycles to keep key workers moving and residents in coronavirus lockdown healthy and active while socially distancing.

Limited urban park space and leisure trails are under increasing pressure, with many closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, further limiting urban dwellers’ access to outdoor space. While traffic has dropped around the world, and with it nitrogen dioxide levels, there are widespread concerns over a rise in speeding drivers endangering those walking and cycling.

The Rooms is eager to document how people are coping with the current pandemic to build a record for the future.

A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against the estate of the perpetrator of Canada’s worst mass shooting, which left 22 people dead in several Nova Scotia communities last month.

Move over, Martha Stewart and Gwyneth Paltrow. There's a new feud brewing between two leaders in the lifestyle industry. Best-selling cookbook author Alison Roman has caught the...

Health authorities at all levels of government have cautioned against visits to cottage country to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in more rural areas.

Coping with iffy audio quality, occasional feedback loops, new technology and MPs who speak too quickly has resulted in a steep increase in interpreters reporting workplace injuries, according to the union that represents some 70 accredited interpreters who translate English into French and vice versa.

Jeremy Corbyn's allies have been accused of using a report to "smear whistleblowers" and "discredit allegations" of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party during his tenure.

Labour was embroiled in recriminations today over the leak of an internal report that apparently exonerated Jeremy Corbyn's team of failing to crack down on anti-Semitism and instead blamed his opponents for stoking up controversy to damage him.

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We were too slow to implement lockdown and make sure it was policed, Labour leader tells Tories Follow our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: the symptoms

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Some 138 prison staff have also contracted the virus in 49 prisons as well as seven prisoner escort and custody services staff.

The Speaker is presiding over his first virtual PMQs. Susannah Butter meets him (on FaceTime)

Celebrities have backed calls for Home Secretary Priti Patel to end restrictions that prevent thousands of migrants in the UK from accessing financial support during the coronavirus crisis.

Sir Keir Starmer has urged the Government to publish an exit strategy for the coronavirus lockdown amid warnings the country could "fall behind" without one.

The French are facing social disparities in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. With long bread lines and tensions with police, the Paris suburbs are faring poorly under the lockdown.

The Trump administration has issued an intelligence analysis claiming China purposely delayed notifying the World Health Organization about the spread of the coronavirus.

The tech giants shared details Monday about the tools they’ve been developing to help governments and public health authorities trace the spread of the coronavirus.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied on Wednesday that the Trump administration had blocked Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying before a House committee.

Figuring out how to stage the nation’s largest and most important political gatherings will be tricky in the COVID-19 era. And while officials in both parties say they’re still planning for in-person conventions, pulling that off will be a lot easier said than done. 

As the NHL looks for ways to salvage its regular season that was suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic, one option on the table is for a select group of so-called hub cities to host all the games. Three Canadian cities have expressed interest in the role.

The Ontario government paved the way Friday, easing restrictions on pro sports teams by allowing them to open their training facilities providing they follow their league's "established health and safety protocols" in response to COVID-19.

Tracing out the shape of a galaxy may offer clues to the size of its supermassive black hole. And a new study shows citizen scientists are actually better at it than computer algorithms.

It’s chilly out there this morning. The temperature at 7 a.m. Saturday morning sat at -3 C. Making it feel more like March than May. Clouds shouldroll in later this morning, bringing a 40 per cent chance of flurries, the high reaching only 4 C. Yep, more like March than May. The wind kicks up […]

Microsoft plans to release its new Xbox Series X video game console for the 2020 holiday season. On May 7, we will get a look at games in the works.

A St. John’s genetics specialist has found DNA connections that link the long-vanished Beothuk people to contemporary people, almost two centuries after the last known Beothuk died. 

Quebec provincial police are investigating whether at least two cellphone tower fires north of Montreal could be linked to conspiracy theories that 5G wireless technology caused the coronavirus pandemic.

The adaptation of a Colombian telenovela, starring America Ferrera as braces-wearing fashion industry wannabe Betty Suarez, reversed the trend that everyone in television has to be glamorous, says Isobel Lewis, and it was a great show too

Actor returns with his beloved dog for kids channel's 'Tom Hardy week'

While this drama set in a shadowy San Francisco tech start-up is wonderful to look at, its plot and character development are a little shaky

Fans had speculated that Lowe could be Baskin's first husband Michael Murdock in disguise

The series will give a first behind-the-scenes look at the making of 'The Mandalorian'

'Overlook' is reported to be a 10-part series

Esteemed actor of stage and screen died on Wednesday of natural causes

Actors will be responsible for filming themselves, with directors giving instruction remotely, in accordance with official lockdown rules

Actor starred in both Bollywood films and US dramas

According to Paddy Power, the dating show has a 2/1 chance of beating Love Island's ratings

Lenny Henry and Miriam Margolyes are among the first guests

The series will consist of four 15-minute episodes

The heavily tattooed comedian was spotlighted in a segment on the BBC current affairs programme because of his volunteering work

The beloved presenting duo will film the series, called Keep Reading and Carry On, in their own homes

Report suggests the series takes place in a whole new part of the Star Wars timeline

'I know everyone at home will be willing it to go on because it's such a great show'