Chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi has launched a new online store which sells essential pantry items, wines, cookbooks and gourmet gifts (webstore.ottolenghi.co.uk).

French air traffic controllers walked off the job at the start of a three-day strike today, grounding hundreds of flights across the country in a protest against plans to liberalise civil airspace.

The actor picks his cultural highlights, from the Rolling Stones to Japanese outsider art

Actor Dominic Cooper landed the role of Dakin in Alan Bennett's The History Boys at the National Theatre in 2004. He later toured the world with the acclaimed production and featured in the radio and film adaptations. Cooper's films since then include The Duchess, Mamma Mia! and My Week with Marilyn. His latest roles are Darcy in Dead Man Down 14 Juneand AJ Munnings in an adaptation of Jonathan Smith's novel Summer in February which is out on Friday.

Music: The Rolling Stones

I saw them at Echoplex, a tiny venue in LA. The relationship Mick Jagger had with the audience was just magical, you really felt like he was experiencing the emotions he was singing about. I met Ronnie Wood afterwards, got very nervous and gave him a ridiculous hug where I managed to almost dislocate his shoulder.

Exhibition: Souzou – Outsider Art from Japan

It's on at the Wellcome Collection and features art made by residents at social welfare institutions. Souzou means creation and imagination. It was really touching to see how others perceive the world, through their grief or pain or the hardships in their life.

Book: Just Kids by Patti Smith

It's about her pursuit and belief in her craft and her art and her poetry. It's a very spirited read. It makes you remember why you're pursuing what you're pursuing and how worthwhile it is for your soul. Each chapter has something you can learn about yourself and the world. That was very beautiful.

Television: The Up series

It follows several kids from when they're seven years old and then every seven years of their lives (the latest instalment met them at 56). You got to know them as children, you saw what their dreams were as kids, and then you see where they've got to. It's beautiful.

City: Budapest

I was filming there for a few months in hard winter. It needed to look like Germany, France and London and managed all of that. It has been occupied for most of its life by outsiders – it's only in the last 20 years it's been free. There is this feeling of moving forward at last.

Radio: This American Life

This is a show with down-to-earth stories about real people living across America. Really creative, unusual stories about local environments and the complications of being alive, but they are always fascinating. On the outside, life can seem mundane but actually everyone has a story.

The experts:

Shepton Mallet, Somerset: From the stars of the livestock rings to the maypole on the green, the Royal Bath & Wells Show has the sense of a great regional carnival

Despite the late cold spring upsetting the rhythms of growth and renewal, the Royal Bath & West Show opened punctually and jubilantly to mark its 150th year as "England's largest celebration of rural life". And seeing the cheerful families funnelling in from the car parks towards the entrance gates, it truly had the sense of a great regional carnival – Somerset's own Derby day.

In the building that housed the pigs, among the proud champions were large whites and British saddlebacks, reclining on beds of straw. Excited children on tiptoe were peering into a pen where a great landrace sow was sprawling on her side, apparently fast asleep while 10 suckling piglets frantically jostled and butted, desperate for her milk.

In the next hall, amid the statuesque, cream-coloured simmental cattle and the great white charolais, it was a massive red ruby bull that caught the eye. His name was Elgar, and his sire was Nimrod. The literature told of the ruby reds' kind temperament and of genetics that produce perfect hybrids, with high fertility, easy calving and quick growth.

You could see every kind of cutting-edge agricultural technology, or get advice on best business practice and accountancy, but only if you could spare time away from the show rings or from spending money on well-cut tweeds or enticing "Best of the West" produce.

And then there was the village green. Muscular farriers sweating in singlets fetched white-hot strips of metal from the fire with their tongs and hammered them into horseshoe shapes on the "beck" or rounded, horn-shaped end of the anvil, the techniques, the heat and the ring of the hammer unchanged through the ages. Horses stood patiently as their hooves were trimmed. On the grass, small children grasped their ribbons anxiously at the maypole, preparing for a first try at the dance.

New evidence published today by the RAC Foundation supports the safety case for speed cameras in the UK. Analysis of data for 551 fixed speed cameras in nine areas shows that on average the number of fatal and serious collisions in their vicinity fell by more than a quarter (27%) after their installation. There was also an average reduction of 15% in personal injury collisions in the ...

Cycle safari

From the city of Arusha in northern Tanzania, cycle through banana and coffee plantations into the Rift Valley and the grasslands used by the Maasai for grazing cattle. Expect about 35 miles of guided cycling per day, with the possibility of spotting zebra and giraffe, as well as time off to explore the wildlife-rich Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. The off-road cycling is mostly hilly and is graded moderately challenging. Nights are spent under the stars in simple but comfortable public campsites. Exodus (0845 863 9601; exodus.co.uk) offers the 15-day group Tanzania Cycle Safari from £2,599pp including flights from London, accommodation and most meals. Bike hire starts at US$170 (£111).

Street food in Singapore is not actually on the streets – traders operate from designated 'hawker centres'. Would this model work in Britain?

If there is one thing I take from the works of Anthony Bourdain, it's that you only live once – so eat out of your comfort zone. If you're in the Philippines and want to try a slab of congealed pig's blood, head for the street markets. And if you want to try balut – incubated duck eggs complete with embryo – it's the streets where you'll get lucky. If "lucky" is the word … That's why Bourdain was invited to speak at last week's World Street Food Congress in Singapore. There's just one problem – Singapore doesn't have street food.

Singapore took street food off its streets 20 years ago. Because of health and safety concerns, the traders (or hawkers) were moved to warehouses with electricity and running water. And now, if you want wee nam kee – poached chicken on top of rice glistening with chicken fat – you'll have to visit one of the country's 107 "hawker centres". Odd, then, for Singapore to host a congress of world street food, and to invite a man who is all about life off the beaten track to make the keynote address.

Bourdain took the opportunity to bemoan the state of fine dining in London, New York or Paris, where he said the food was unlikely to have a sense of place. "But on the streets of Mexico," he said, "you know where you are." He raved about pho on the streets of Vietnam, and how it tasted better on a low plastic stool amid the durian and diesel fumes. But he didn't rubbish the hawker centres. Even a food hedonist like Bourdain can see that they have a lot to recommend them.

The 107 centres – with 10 more planned in the next five years – are similar to western food courts, lined with avenues of uniform little boxes serving food. In the middle are plastic tables and wipe-clean seating. Each stall is given a government cleanliness rating, which is displayed at eye level – the difference between an A and a B can be a month's salary. All of the food is good. Some of it is great. But something is missing – the individuality that we prize so highly in British street food.

To see the lunchtime queues at Maxwell Road, a hawker centre in Singapore's central business district, you wonder if that really matters. Business types queue for their chilli crab or fish-head curry next to schoolchildren and taxi drivers – street food in Singapore seems democratic in a way that British traders can only dream of. It's not just for the cool kids. Is this the way forward for Britain? Should we copy the model that has being adopted in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong?

The Nationwide Caterers Association – the trade association for street food catering in Britain – is ambivalent. "Traders in this country find it so hard to get permission to trade anywhere, I'm sure many would jump at the chance to trade from a subsidised food court," says Mark Laurie, the director of NCASS. "But they would miss the opportunity to express themselves on the streets. Street food is about quality, affordable food, and choice – our traders just want the chance to offer that."

Airport staff stage walkout amid concerns over EU plans to liberalise civil airspace

French air-traffic controllers have begun a three-day strike, grounding hundreds of flights in protest over plans to liberalise civil airspace.

One in two flights to Paris, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux have been cancelled, the country's DGAC civil aviation authority said.

The industrial action is part of a Europe-wide action that mainly involves a go-slow. Workers say EU plans for a "single European sky" will undermine working conditions.

Marseille airport, in the south of France, said it had been less affected, with a third of flights scrapped, about100. More than 70 flights were cancelled at Nice airport.

Air France said it was halting an unspecified number of short- and medium-haul flights. EasyJet, in the UK, said it was cancelling 10-11 daily flights to Toulouse on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Wednesday would publish its schedule for Thursday.

Preparations for the Airbus A350's debut flight have also been affected, French transport sources said.

ATHENS >>> SAMOS

Ada Yfanti, Managing Director, Fresh Hotel (freshhotel.gr)

"The one place in Greece that always feeds my soul and suits all my moods is the island of Samos. Since I was a teenager, Samos has never ceased to charm me. Kokkari, a small village with pebble beaches and crystal waters, is where I stay with my family. I never miss visits to Seitani beach or walks through the little streets at Ano Vathi. When I really want to clear my mind, I take a drive just before sunset through a magnificent forest that leads to Manolates village. This is a place forgotten in time that offers a genuine taste of Greek culture, with craft shops for handmade jewellery and ceramics. The Loukas Taverna is the ideal way to end the day enjoying delicious stuffed lamb, while admiring the view."

Careless drivers who put other road users at risk face on-the-spot penalties under new measures announced today by Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond. The changes will give the police powers to issue fixed penalty notices for careless driving, giving them greater flexibility in dealing with less serious careless driving offences – such as tailgating or middle lane hogging – an...

{1} Le Coq Sportif shoes

You won't be missed in these funky cycling shoes inspired by the Tour de France yellow jersey. Pros will say you should be in clip-ins but if that isn't for you, or you don't want them for a short ride, these are ideal. Plus, they are smart enough to keep on once you get off.

£55, schuh.co.uk

A survey of tardigrades on the Faroes has revealed the most species-rich fauna of the family Eohypsibiidae on Earth

The Faroes, located south-east of Iceland in the north-eastern Atlantic, consisting of 18 small islands and a total land area of less than 1,400 sq km, seem unlikely candidates as the centre of biodiversity for anything. Yet a survey of tardigrades has revealed the most species-rich fauna of the family Eohypsibiidae on Earth: all five of them. This may not be an impressively large number, but this family is typically associated with mosses growing on mountaintops, apparent relics of the glacial age, and another reminder of the tenacity of these fascinating creatures. And this new species was among three discovered in the Faroes that were so distinct as to require a new genus, Austeruseus.

The name tardigrade refers to their "slow walking" and a waddle that has reminded some of a bear's movements. Their common names – moss piglets and waterbears – hint at their cute, chubby form, while details of their anatomy hint at their ancestral relationships. They share with insects excretory organs called malpighian tubules, and the claws on their fleshy, stubby legs are reminiscent of certain caterpillars.

These lead to a theory that they are related in some way to arthropods and onycophora, or velvet worms. Some early molecular studies suggested that their affinity was with round worms, or nematodes, instead, but more recently a consensus of morphology and molecular data has confirmed the earlier idea, although the exact sister relationships among the three groups remains controversial. The scientific illustration of the new species offers a quick tour of tardigrade anatomy, with the labels referring to: b, brain; c, cloaca; cg, claw gland; co, coelomocytes or nutrient-storing cells that float around in the body cavity; e, eyespot; mg, midbut; mt, malphigian tubules; sg, salivary gland; and t, testes.

Tardigrades are the picture of perseverance. They are famous for their ability to be revived after years of desiccation. One reportedly showed signs of life after being rehydrated from a moss specimen that had been stored in an herbarium for more than 100 years. The extremes of experimental torture that tardigrades have withstood is amazing. Some have survived brief exposures to temperatures from near absolute zero to 150C, to the vacuum of space, up to six times the atmospheric pressure of the deepest sea trench, and doses of radiation a thousand times higher than that lethal to other animals.

We often describe groups of plants or animals as being worldwide in distribution, but what we normally mean is within the bounds of limited and suitable habitats. Waterbears, on the other hand, are found from the tropics to the poles and from deposits on the ocean floor to the highest mountains. More than 1,000 species are known to date, but there are rather few scientists devoted to their study, with many species yet to be found.

'History has placed our three communities here, and we have to find a spiritual as well as a physical way of coexistence'

A plan for making the Old City of Jerusalem into an "inter-faith municipality" was suggested yesterday by the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, the Most Rev George Appleton, when he spoke to the Council of Christians and Jews in London on "The cost of peacemaking."

He reminded his audience, which included the Chief Rabbi, the Rev Dr Immanuel Jakobovits, that the holy city was only a small area, a little more than one kilometre square, with 26,000 people living inside it. But millions revered it, were moved by it to remember sacred events, and were often better people because of those thoughts.

His suggestion was that Jerusalem should become three municipalities, with the west part as the capital of Israel, the east as an Arab municipality and, perhaps, the capital of King Hussein, and the Old City as an inter-faith municipality governed by representatives of all three religious bodies.

Alternatively, a condominium might meet the situation better, under which the King of Jordan and the President of Israel would be joint protectors of holy places, with three religious councils to preserve and develop the spiritual values of the city.

The Archbishop said that in his visits to the Middle East, he had noticed a number of recent psychological changes in the situation. First, the cry to throw Israel into the sea was no longer heard. "Arab friends Quote UN Resolution 242 as evidence of the tacit recognition of Israel by Egypt and Jordan."

There was also a growing recognition that the problem was not simply one of an inalienable right on the one side, and a grave intrusive injustice on the other, but a case of two rights which had so far defied integration.

Thirdly, the influx of Oriental Jews, who now formed at least half the population of Israel, had helped to make Israel a Middle East Community rather than an "imperialistic" intrusion.

His final impression was that the younger generations of Israelis and of Palestinians were becoming more realistic and hopeful. When freed from the threat of attack or pressure of propaganda, both groups realised that their two countries had to find some way of coexisting.

"One can't help feeling," said the Archbishop, "that Jerusalem means more to the Jew than it does to the Christian or the Moslem. Yet history has placed our three communities here, and we have to find a spiritual as well as a physical way of coexistence."

Stay in a stylish hotel-hostel in Iceland, take classic afternoon tea in London, and the deals of the week

Take me there: Hlemmur Square, Reykjavik

Is it a hostel? Is it a hotel? It's both! Hlemmur Square is the latest example of a new breed of hybrid accommodation combining the lively communal areas of a hostel with the amenities of a hotel. Depending on your budget you can bed down in a stylish shared dorm or a luxe hotel room with terrace. All guests get to mingle in the bar, Japanese restaurant, cinema and games room. It's the brainchild of Klaus Ortlieb, who's behind hip New York hangouts the Gotham Hotel and Standard East Village. Quirky "extras" include live lobby music and a team of Icelandic horses on standby for carriage tours. Bunks from €16, hotel rooms from €250 (hlemmursquare.com).

It's a good time to... take afternoon tea

Afternoon tea at a posh hotel once consisted of cucumber sandwiches, scones and a pot of tea. This summer the tradition has had a revamp with London's most famous landmarks offering high tea with a twist.

If you like your scones served with a dollop of politics then head to the Houses of Parliament, which is offering afternoon tea as an add-on to its guided tours. Nibble on sandwiches in the elegant surroundings of the Pugin Room in the House of Commons (until 24 August, parliament.uk/visiting).

A rock'n'roll take on this genteel tradition is being served up at the Royal Horseguards hotel, which has created a "Rolling Scones" menu to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of Britain's best-loved bands, complete with Keith's Coconut Maroons and "Brown Sugar" pecan pie (24-30 June, guoman.com).

Everlasting gobstoppers and Wonka bars will make an appearance at the new themed teatimes in the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel to mark the launch of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stage musical this summer (chesterfieldmayfair.com).

And, finally, take the concept of high tea to a whole new level on the 32nd floor restaurant of the Centre Point building (paramount.uk.net).

Give me a break: the week's best deals

Summer hotel Hats off to Four Pillars Hotels. While most places hike prices for the school hols, they are offering great summer deals at six Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire properties, including the family-friendly Cotswold Water Park hotel. The longer you stay, the better value it becomes, with a five-night break costing from £38pp per night for dinner and B&B. Children stay for free (four-summer.co.uk)

Five-star Cyprus Summer may not even have got started yet but Sovereign Luxury Travel is encouraging holidaymakers to plan ahead with some enticing discounts on autumn escapes. Couples save up to £790 and bag a complimentary upgrade to half-board on a five-star break to the Annabelle Hotel in Paphos. A week costs from £849pp including flights (sovereign.com)

Members of the EU Parliament's environment committee have voted in support of the European Commission's proposal to set the average new car CO2 emissions target for 2020 at 95 g/km. Additionally, the committee backed the contentious 'super credits' system for ultra-low-emission vehicles which, if adopted, would allow the greenest cars in a manufacturers' model range to be 'double-counted' w...

Hyundai this week delivered the first fifteen of its assembly line-produced ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles to the City of Copenhagen in Denmark. The 15 ix35 Fuel Cell units are the first hydrogen-powered vehicles manufactured on a production line to be introduced in Europe. The vehicles were handed over by Hyundai Motor Europe’s President, Mr. Byung Kwon Rhim, during the opening ceremo...

Dan Akyroyd diamond estates, Niagara Peninsula, Canada

Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of the strangest vinous areas on earth. Flat as a tabletop, the region is distinctively rural. It seemed like a picture-perfect place to live and raise a family. And yet, it did not seem like a place that would entice a celebrity.

The 4th Annual Green Mobility 2013 conference is scheduled to take place in the Chinese capital Beijing between 9th and 11th October 2013. The conference, organised by CDMC, will be a key opportunity to network with the leading automotive executives, participate in workshops on the latest strategies, share best practice, and establishing partnerships with the most important solution provide...

The latest 1.5-litre dCi diesel engine for the Nissan Juke introduces lower emissions, greater fuel economy, reduced noise and more torque, and is available now for no additional cost. Since its launch in the UK at the end of 2010, more than 19,000 Jukes â€" around a third of all sales â€" have been powered by the 1.5-litre dCi engine. Nissan hope that with improved efficiency, th...

My daughter's medical condition forced us to cancel our travel plans, but the insurance company won't pay up

After full and frank disclosure of our daughter's medical history, we took out a travel insurance policy with Aviva.

Unfortunately, she was taken ill and hospitalised two days before we were due to depart. I called Aviva to notify them that we would not be travelling and, following their instructions, sent the necessary paperwork to make a claim.

Our claim was rejected on the basis that, as our policy was due to start on 27 November, our call on 25 November was not a valid claim.

Even if Aviva is correct on the wording of the policy, this does appear to be a really nasty loophole and one which I cannot believe would be deemed fair. JO, Twickenham

Like many other people, you quite reasonably started your insurance policy from the date of your intended travel. However, Aviva rejected your claim on the basis that your trip had already been cancelled before the insurance policy had come into force, which meant there was no cover for cancellation in place.

We asked the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about this as, surely, it must be something that catches out lots of other holidaymakers.

Indeed, the FOS says this is a relatively common cause for disputes – and we can see why. The FOS says that whether a claim is valid comes down to how clearly the consequences of the policyholder not having an earlier start were explained at the time the policy was taken out.

This is the case, it says, whether you bought over the phone or online. If the insurer can show that the consequences of not taking out the policy earlier were explained to you, and that you were, or ought to have been, aware of these, it would be unlikely that the claim would succeed.

Aviva has listened to the phone calls you had with it when you took out the policy. It says you were asked when you wanted the insurance cover to start and you said 27 November. You hadn't yet booked the trip but that was when you expected to fly. You then went on to ask if you could start the policy earlier if you changed your departure date – and you also mentioned earlier cancellation.

You were told you could start it earlier but at that time you decided to stick with the date until you were sure of your date of departure.

You claim Aviva did not make it clear enough to you the consequences of not changing your policy date to reflect possible cancellation because of illness. But, because you discussed this idea with its operator and decided not to change your policy start date, even after your flights were confirmed, we don't think you have a valid case against Aviva.

One advantage of buying an annual travel policy is it removes this problem. You intend to take your case to the FOS to get its conclusions.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@guardian.co.uk or write to Bachelor & Brignall, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number

Nissan has announced that it will be expanding the warranty of the over 10,000 European owners who purchased the original Nissan LEAF since its introduction, so that they benefit from the same guarantee as buyers of the new 2013 LEAF model. With this expansion, Nissan warrants that the Lithium-ion battery will retain a capacity of at least 9 out of the 12 bars as displayed on the dashboard ...

Buyers of cars with CO2 emissions of under 100 g/km can still take advantage of up to three years’ free Congestion Charge driving if they register their Euro 5, sub-100g/km CO2 model with the scheme before June 28. From 1 July 2013, the CO2 emissions level required for free entry into the London Congestion Charge zone will drop from 100g/km to 75g/km, removing the majority of interna...

Q. We are flying to San Diego via Chicago O'Hare with American Airlines, with a two-and-quarter-hour window between flights. Have you any idea about the current waiting time for immigration control at O'Hare airport? Marion Blanchard

Computer software and training being provided to pro-Washington countries in the Persian Gulf, according to report

The US is assisting Middle East allies in building up cyber defences to counter growing attacks from Iran, it was reported on Sunday.

The New York Times, citing senior American officials, said computer software, hardware and training was being provided to pro-Washington countries in the Persian Gulf to diffuse the growing threat from Tehran.

Plans to bolster the computer defences of US allies will be extended to parts of Asia in a bid to blunt the perceived threat of network attacks from North Korea.

The Obama administration has long been believed to have been involved in cyberwarfare against Tehran, with earlier reports suggesting the president ordered a series of sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run the country's nuclear programme.

On Friday, the Guardian further revealed that Obama had set up a list of potential overseas targets for US cyber-attacks. The leaked directive authorises the use of cyber-attacks on foreign nations whenever "US nationals interests and equities" are at stake, and specifies that cyber warfare can be used as "anticipatory action" against "imminent threats".

The New York Times article suggests that accompanying a more aggressive approach to conducting cyberwarfare, Washington is looking to thwart attacks from regimes hostile to the US.

The catalyst to boosting the defences of allies seems to have been two recent high-profile attacks – one against Saudi Arabia's oil industry, thought have been conducted from Iran, and an alleged North Korean hack of banks and media companies in South Korea.

A US official told the New York Times that the Iranian attack was "a real wake-up call" which prompted the Pentagon to draw up proposals to provide allies with better computer defences.

It comes as Iran attempts to hire computer programmers associated with illegal hacking, some from Russia.

The US is not the only country to express concern over Tehran's apparent increased attack on cyber security.

On Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of carrying out "non-stop" attacks on its computer systems.

"In the past few months, we have identified a significant increase in the scope of cyber-attacks on Israel by Iran. These attacks are carried out directly by Iran and through its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah," he told a conference in Tel Aviv.

He added that "vital national systems" had been targeted and that water, power and banking sites were under threat from the attacks.