AP PHOTOS: A look at May's most compelling images from around the world
This gallery was curated by Ricardo Mazalan, deputy news director for photography and storytelling in Latin America and Caribbean, and global photo editor Leslie Mazoch.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
11 minutes ago
- The Sun
Nathan Aspinall skips major darts tournament to get slimed on Nickelodeon family holiday in Caribbean
NATHAN ASPINALL skipped the Australian Darts Masters last week to enjoy a family holiday in the Dominican Republic. The 34-year-old has spent the last week in the Caribbean with his wife and two daughters. 2 2 They have been staying at the Nickelodeon Resort in Punta Cana. And darts ace Aspinall shared a video of them getting slimed by staff members at the hotel. The family were guided over to a sheltered bench by a member of staff, where they were then covered in green slime. The Asp also shared a series of photographs on his Instagram. Fans took to the comments to react, with one person writing: "That's some way to spend you holiday is getting slimed." While a third joked: "Mr Slimeside," in reference to his walk-out song, 'Mr. Brightside'. New Zealand Darts Masters in Auckland this weekend. The Premier League Darts star missed out on the Australian Darts Masters last week. The event was won by reigning world champion Luke Littler.
Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The British flat pack washing machines transforming lives
Like the Hoover, the washing machine has done much to ease the grind of housework in the West. Now, a hand-powered version aims to change lives across the developing world. Today at least five billion people, or 60 per cent of the world's population, still wash their clothes by hand: a chore that takes up on average 20 hours every week, and falls overwhelmingly on the shoulders of women and girls. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, owning or even having access to a washing machine, which requires both electricity and plumbing, remains rare. A British charity is trying to change that. Navjot Sawhney, a former Dyson engineer, founded The Washing Machine Project in 2019 with the aim of revolutionising housework in the developing world. The idea was born in a small South Indian village, where Sawhney volunteered for a year. He often watched his neighbour, a young mother called Divya, hunched over a bucket, scrubbing clothes for her family – an exhausting and arduous process that took up hours of her day. 'Every woman and girl in the village was doing the same thing,' he told The Telegraph. 'Hours and hours of hand washing denied them opportunities to work, study, and rest, it's physically exhausting. It's time consuming. It causes skin irritation, chronic back pain and other health problems,' Mr Sawhney said. 'The current solutions don't work – electric washing machines are for people who have frequent and non disruptive access to electricity and water.' His solution: a light-weight, flat-pack washing machine that can be shipped anywhere in the world, is manually powered, and requires no electricity or running water whatsoever to operate. The machine, named Divya after the woman whose labour inspired it, is designed to be assembled rapidly and by anyone – in true Ikea form – with just the included spanner and Allen key. It's set up on rubber wheels, meaning it can be moved around a village, refugee camp, or hospital easily and shared between families that need it. Costing less than $200 to build, each machine is given free to its users and funded through corporate donations and grants from the British government. Crucially, it's been designed to use around 20 litres of water per load – roughly half of what is used to wash the same quantity of clothes. Cutting down the amount of water required has two important benefits. Firstly, women need to carry less of it from lakes or rivers or communal taps, and the water saved in the more efficient process can instead be used for other purposes like cooking, drinking or bathing. The Washing Machine Project has now shipped the Divya to more than 50,000 people in 15 countries – from rural villages in India and Pakistan to refugee camps and hospitals in Gaza, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It works much like a normal washing machine. First, the user adds water, clothes and detergent into the steel drum and closes the lid. Using a manual hand-crank, they then rotate the drum for around two minutes. After that, they wait 15 minutes to let the clothes soak before repeating the process again. If any stubborn stains remain, the lid can be opened and the clothes rubbed against the built-in scrubbing board attached to the top of the drum. The water is then drained off and replaced with fresh water for rinsing, followed by another two minutes of gentle rotation. Finally, the water is released through a small drainage tap at the front of the machine and the clean clothes removed to hang and dry. Hans Rosling, the Swedish statistician and champion of development, once called washing machines 'the greatest invention of the industrial revolution'. It is hard to overstate the transformative role played by the washing machine and other devices designed to make housework easier, and there is a strong correlation between the uptake of these technologies and the proportion of women in the workforce. Mr Sawhney says his machines are now having a similar effect in communities around the world. Women using the Divya report spending 75 per cent less time on laundry each week, and the charity estimates they've saved women a total of 17 million hours over the last five years. ''We visited a woman called Anjali, who runs a tea shop in South India and was given a Divya,' he said. 'She used to walk to the local pond every two days – the same pond where people bathe, defecate, and wash their clothes – because she didn't have enough clean water at home. Each trip meant about three hours of scrubbing laundry in contaminated water. 'Now, with her machine, she can wash her clothes at home using the limited water she has because she needs so much less. She's regained hours each week, which she now spends running and growing her business,' he said. In areas where security is poor and women are at heightened risk, the benefits have been felt even more acutely. 'For example in the DRC, gender based violence as women travel and from a water source is a big worry. So if we can cut that time down spent at the water source, then we are hearing it helps to decrease rates of [sexual violence],' said Mr Sawhney. Plans are currently underway to set up a factory in India to build 10,000 washing machines a year for distribution across South Asia. Mr Sawhney also hopes to expand the charity's offerings, and develop more products that tackle overlooked household burdens. 'Whether it's cooking, cleaning, lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration, we see there's a big gap in how people live in developing countries and how they can access these items,' he said. 'It's about dignity, time, and opportunity. It frees women and girls up to pursue activities that they want to do, whether it's education, work, studying, learning, reading, writing, or just simply resting and making choices over their own lives.'
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Taylor Swift enters a sexy new era! Star takes inspiration from raunchy collaborator Sabrina Carpenter with wild album covers and opens up in most personal interview ever with 'green flag' boyfriend Travis Kelce
Taylor Swift has arguably forged one of the most successful music careers of all time with her incomparable story telling, clever lyrics and unique ability to capture the imagination of her Swifties with her girl next door image. The Wildest Dreams hitmaker, 35, has noticeably never relied on overly sexualised or racy outfits, performances or lyrics to sell her music. And it has always served her well with the star winning 14 Grammys, becoming the highest-grossing live music artist and a cultural icon of the 21st century. But on Thursday she sent sent shockwaves through the music industry and her fanbase with a huge change in tack as she revealed the sexy cover for her upcoming album The Life of a Showgirl - one of which showed her posing provocatively as she bit her finger. She confirmed that the album will be released on October 3 - just over a year and a half after the release of her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, while appearing on her boyfriend Travis Kelce 's New Heights podcast. The fiercely private star gave an unprecedented look into her relationship in her most personal interview to date as they packed on the PDA while sat next to each other. In the cover Swift flashed the flesh in a skimpy green jeweled bodysuit while submerged in water in what appeared to be a bathtub. Another shot saw her in a very revealing silver outfit with feathers and headgear as she flaunted her gym-honed physique. It is in stark contrast to her some of her previous aesthetics for slow albums like folklore and evermore - as fans are now anticipating the 'next pop album' with her new upcoming offering. Taylor could possibly be taking inspiration from the recent more raunchy pop stars of recent years including her collaborator on the album Sabrina Carpenter. Sabrina, 26, appears on the new album on track 12 and has worked with Taylor on the Eras Tour as her support act. The star has raised eyebrows with her live shows in the past year, performing sex positions on stage and writing very raunchy lyrics. In another unprecedented element of the new album reveal, she spoke in her most open and personal interview ever with Travis on the podcast. She revealed the album's official 12-song track list, confirming the inclusion of the song, Ruin The Friendship, which fans are convinced is a Blake Lively diss track. The album covers were captured by famed photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, who she last worked with on the album artwork for 2017's Reputation. 'I loved what they did with those photos, so I called them up for [this album],' she shared on Kelce's New Heights podcast. 'I am so happy with the way the photos came out with this one.' Swift said she wanted to go 'all out' on the imagery for The Life Of A Showgirl because she is 'so proud' of the music. 'This is a full send. I care about this record more than I can even overstate.' Swift revealed that the album cover is meant to depict what the 'end of [her] night' looks like on tour, 'My day ends with me in a bathtub — not usually in a bedazzled dress — but we try to keep it decent,' Swift joked. 'I wanted to glamorize all the different aspects of how [the Eras Tour] felt and [the The Life Of A Showgirl cover] is how that felt at the end of the night.' Swift said she chose that image because it best represents the album, which centers around the feelings and experiences in her 'offstage' life. As revealed by Swift, the album's song titles are: The Fate Of Ophelia, Elizabeth Taylor, Opalite, Father Figure, Eldest Daughter, Ruin The Friendship, Actually Romantic, Wi$h Li$t, Wood, CANCELLED!, Honey and The Life Of A Showgirl. The podcast episode also provided devout Swift and Kelce fans with a rare look at their nearly two-year romance - with many on X calling him a 'green flag' boyfriend. During the sit-down with Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce, Swift recalled how her boyfriend first got her attention, when he attended one of her Eras Tour concerts in July 2023. Kelce planned to give her a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it, but he was unable to meet her after the show. Later, he talked about it on the podcast, which Swift heard, leading to them finally meeting. 'This dude didn't get a meet and greet, and he's making it everyone's problem,' Swift joked. The Karma hitmaker compared their love story to being in 'an 80's John Hughes movie' adding, 'and he was just like standing outside my window with a boom box just being like 'I wanna date you!'' 'I was like, if this guy isn't crazy — which is a big if — this is sort of what I've been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.' The sweet appearance also featured plenty of PDA, including Kelce kissing Swift's hand and gushing that he was 'the luckiest man in the world.' Swift shared how she owed a lot to the New Heights podcast, joking it helped her get a boyfriend because 'Travis decided to use [the podcast] as his personal dating app.' Travis' brother and co-host Jason then inquired, 'Were his friendship bracelets that good? Did you get the friendship bracelet?' 'I've never seen the original,' Swift quipped. Travis then explained that the bracelets 'didn't leave the stadium because he was 'butthurt' that he didn't get to meet Swift. 'He threw a tantrum. He threw a man tantrum,' Taylor joked. 'It was such a wild, romantic gesture, to just be like, 'I wanna date you!'' the singer gushed. 'Sweetie, that's what it does when you're on stage, you performed in Arrowhead, that's what it did to me,' Kelce said. 'You come to Arrowhead, I get to meet you. That's the perk of playing for the Chiefs,' the NFL star added. Taylor then humorously recalled how Travis 'didn't even reach out' to her management. 'He thought that 'cause he knows the elevator lady, that he could talk to her about just getting down.' 'And I got denied,' Travis chimed in. 'He really was just like, 'I know a guy, I can figure this out.'' She then compared Travis to a John Hughes movie character, joking he was outside her window with a boombox yelling 'I wanna date you! Do you wanna go on a date with me? I made you a friendship bracelet. Do you wanna date me?' Travis then added with a pleading voice, 'Just come outside and meet me. Just meet me once. Just give me a chance.' Travis also jokingly said he was listening to all of Taylor's songs and knew she wanted him to come to her concert. Taylor then imitated Travis' voice, stating, 'I'm upset that you didn't meet me, even though you didn't know I wanted to meet you because I didn't do any proper logistical planning.' 'Who plans nowadays?' Travis quipped. 'It was wild, but it worked,' Taylor said. Travis then kissed Taylor's hand, and said he was 'the luckiest man in the world.' Jason then asked Taylor, 'How did you know he wasn't crazy?' to which the singer humorously replied, 'He is crazy, Jason' before adding, 'He's the good kind of crazy.' She then recalled how Travis went about getting to know her better in a was that was 'very natural, very pure, very normal.' The Grammy winner praised Travis for 'the way he could make me laugh so immediately about normal things. He's just a vibe booster in everyone's life that he's in. He's a human exclamation point.' She also gushed about the athlete being 'so non-judgmental about people' adding that he didn't mind that she lacked knowledge about football when they met. 'Jason, on our first date, I legitimately asked him what it was like when the Chiefs played the Eagles in the Super Bowl (in February 2023) and he looked across the field, across the line of scrimmage, and saw his brother standing 5ft in front of him on the field,' she shared. 'It didn't happen' Jason chimed in, as both Travis and Taylor laughed. 'And he didn't even look at me... I now know what an insane question that was. He was like: 'Actually I'm on the offense and my brother is the offense and I'm only on the field at the same time as the defense.' I thought everyone was out there at the same time,' Taylor shared. 'Well that's how you played on the playground growing up, so I understand...' Travis said. 'I thought it was like Jared Goff is here and Josh Allen is here and they're going to blow a whistle and they go at each other... and who's going to win?' 'I didn't know what a first down was, I didn't know what the chains were, I didn't know what a tight end was,' Taylor said. Travis then thanked her, stating, 'I'm forever thankful for you diving into the football world wholeheartedly.' 'I fell in love with it, I became obsessed with it, I became like a person who was running through the halls of my house screaming 'WE DRAFTED XAVIER WORTHY!' and my friends are like 'Who body snatched you? What do you mean?'' Travis then revealed she was the first person who told him the news. 'I couldn't believe it either. I was like 'Is she right?' I have to look this up. Did she get the wrong information here?' Elsewhere on the podcast Taylor broke down in tears as she opened up on how she fought for years to reclaim the masters of her music. With over a million fans tuning in for the live stream, she explained how Kelce was playing video games when she found out she had bought the rights back but the NFL star even started weeping when he was told the news. Swift had sent her mother and brother to Los Angeles to negotiate with Shamrock Capital, the owners, on her behalf. 'He was playing video games, and he put his headset down. I was like 'I got my music back!' And I was heaving crying. This changed my life.'
