Our photographer selects his favourite images of the opera productions he has shot in 2024; from Rossini in a deli to an athletic rake• All pictures: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian Continue reading...

Politics

Nato’s warning reached me as I braced for a missile attack in Kyiv – where we’ve learned how to survive in the era of Russian hybrid warfareDay 1,024 of the invasion. Kyiv, 7am. Friday the 13th. In a former life, someone would have observed that this is a day that portends bad luck. But in a country where shelling is a daily occurrence, it has become irrelevant. I wake up to the sound of an app on my phone warning me of an increased missile threat. While my partner and I are hiding in the corridor, I read the news that the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, has called on members of the US-led transatlantic alliance to “shift to a wartime mindset”.With the first bang of the air defence system, a thought strikes me: for those who have not already been living with it for nearly three years, how would you explain this mindset? What is this wartime thinking? Continue reading...

Events

She'll get hit by a shock return thanks to her nephew Bobby Crawford as her health takes a turn for the worse

Politics

One of the teens will be elft fighting for life in the ITV soap following a shocking attack

Politics

Roy Quaden, 55, and Nick Smith, 65, dead after being struck by booms on yachts Flying Fish Arctos and BowlineGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTwo sailors on separate Sydney to Hobart yachts, Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline, have died at sea on the first night of the race. They were fatally struck by booms – a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail – on their respective boats amid wild weather conditions that forced line honours favourite Master Lock Comanche to withdraw, among mass retirements.The incident aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred about 30 nautical miles east-south-east of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast, with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) receiving a mayday call just before midnight.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Events

Considerable progress on animal welfare was made in 2024 but there is still much to do

Politics

Both Tony Blair and Keir Starmer adopted a ‘Ming Vase Strategy’ to win their first elections but, unlike his predecessor, the latter appears to have continued this overly cautious approach in government

Events

We cooked ragu and listened to records while lying on chaises longues. Then the M11 link road was built – and everything changedIn our end of year series, writers and public figures remember the place or time when they felt most at homeIn the mid-1980s, I was in my early 20s and was reading for the Bar in London. I was living in a mouldy Balham bedsit and returning regularly to the comfort zone of my native York, when a friend told me a room was going in a shared house in Leytonstone.I wasn’t expecting much of E11. I wasn’t expecting trees, for example, but my walk from the attractive art deco tube station took me along roads better described as avenues. The house itself seemed almost the last one in London, an illusion created by the proximity of Wanstead Flats. It was a rangy, detached 1920s house, white with a red roof, and it had a name, but I’ll just call it the villa.Andrew Martin is an English novelist; his latest book is The Night in Venice Continue reading...

Society

Secondhand tumble dryer and roast beef for vegetarian also in ‘worst present ever received’ pollA burial plot and a toilet seat top the list of the nation’s all-time worst Christmas gifts, according to research that suggests one in five Britons receive an unwanted present in their annual haul.More than 2,000 members of the public were polled by Which? about what they were given at Christmas last year, with 21% saying they had received an unwanted or unsuitable gift. Continue reading...

Politics

As reports of battlefield casualties emerge, Russian locals say presence of soldiers sent by Pyongyang is barely noticedAt dusk one afternoon last week, two dozen wounded North Korean soldiers were brought to one of the main hospitals in the Russian city of Kursk.They were ushered into a specially designated floor, guarded by police, with access limited to translators and medical personnel. Continue reading...

Politics

Starring an Oscar-tipped Timothée Chalamet, James Mangold’s biopic retells Dylan’s electric early career, but it resonates with today’s toxic fame and politics. The creative team explain their process – and what Dylan makes of itBob Dylan is notoriously averse to others poking around in his past – he once suggested the legions of self-styled “Dylanologists” who examine his career in forensic detail should “get a life, please you’re wasting your life”. So when he summoned the director James Mangold to meet him and discuss the Dylan biopic Mangold was making, it had the potential to go badly.The film, A Complete Unknown, was already well under way. A script based on the folk musician and writer Elijah Wald’s acclaimed 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! had been written by Jay Cocks, best known as the screenwriter of Gangs of New York. Timothée Chalamet was slated to star as Dylan: perfect for the role, Mangold suggests, because “he’s thin and wiry and mercurial and super smart and restles...

Politics

Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it.From July: In 2024, libraries are unofficial creches, homeless shelters, language schools and asylum support providers – filling the gaps left by a state that has reneged on its responsibilities. By Aida Edemariam Continue reading...

Politics

The US president-elect’s ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and boxing, as well as World Wrestling Entertainment, might tell us about the kinds of sport he appreciates. But then there’s golf As the US prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympics during Trump’s presidency, Jonathan Freedland and Karim Zidan walk through his history with sport to see if it explains more about himArchive: BBC, WWE, Fox 9 Minneapolis, NBC 10 Philadelphia, PBS Newshour, TMZ, MSNBC Continue reading...

Sport

Analysis shows fossil fuels are supercharging heatwaves, leaving millions prone to deadly temperaturesThe climate crisis caused an additional six weeks of dangerously hot days in 2024 for the average person, supercharging the fatal impact of heatwaves around the world.The effects of human-caused global heating were far worse for some people, an analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central has shown. Those in Caribbean and Pacific island states were the hardest hit. Many endured about 150 more days of dangerous heat than they would have done without global heating, almost half the year. Continue reading...

Society

It is impossible to replicate the shock of the first season, and writer Hwang Dong Hyuk does well not to try

Events

One sailor each on yachts Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline died after being struck by booms, a large pole at bottom of the sailGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDetails have emerged of a “terrifying” incident in which a crew member fell from yacht Porco Rosso and drifted for more than a kilometre before being rescued on a deadly night of racing, during which two sailors on other yachts were killed.Two sailors on separate yachts, Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline, died at sea amid wild weather conditions that forced line honours favourite Master Lock Comanche to withdraw, among mass retirements.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Events

About 24 hours after his ugly incident with the teenage debutant, Kohli was caught up in another concerning scene at the MCG as Australia looked to take the game away from India.

Events

Yoon’s legal team will attend the first hearing in impeachment review on Friday, the same day that the acting president also faces an impeachment voteSouth Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s legal team are set to attend court on Friday as the constitutional court begins hearings into his impeachment by parliament over his short-lived imposition of martial law,The court has 180 days to decide whether to reinstate Yoon or remove him. In the latter scenario, a new presidential election would be held within 60 days. Continue reading...

Events

China’s leader Xi Jinping wants the recent spree of mass killings that shocked the country not to happen again

Events

Nato chief Mark Rutte criticises all attacks on critical infrastructure; Putin says Slovakia has offered to be ‘platform’ for any peace talks. What we know on day 1,038See all our Ukraine war coverage Continue reading...

Events