65 minutes ago 2024 was a year of triumphs and setbacks for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Here's how it unfolded

The year 2024 saw President Vladimir Putin further cement his power as he sought to counter Russia's isolation over the war in Ukraine

Politics

6 hours ago All I want for Christmas is $1.22bn: Mega Millions ticket matches all six numbers

Circle K in Cottonwood, California, where ticket was sold celebrates $1m bonus as winner remains unknownThe new year will ring in brightly for a lucky Mega Millions winner in California: after three months of the top lottery prize rolling over, a ticket worth $1.22bn matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing, according to the lottery’s website.The winning ticket was sold at the Circle K in Cottonwood, a rural town of about 6,000 people roughly 145 miles (233km) north of Sacramento just off Interstate 5 in Shasta county. The winning numbers, including the Mega, were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and 6. Continue reading...

Economics

12 hours ago Forget Risk, play Fantasy Football for Fascists: grudge matches, foul play and violent conduct guaranteed | Simon Tisdall

Leading FFF teams include Donald Trump’s Mad Angry Geezers Athletic (Maga) and Vladimir Putin’s Greater Russia United (GRU)It’s been a gloomy old year, often reflected in this space – so maybe it’s time to inject some festive cheer with an exciting new Swiftian parlour game: Fantasy Football for Fascists (FFF). Ideal for dictators, autocrats, strongmen, neo-Stalinists, far-right nationalist-populists or just students of geopolitics, it’s fanatical fun for all the family!Under conventional fantasy football rules, imaginary teams are composed of real-life players from the Premier League. In FFF, the principal players are typically politicians and public figures who exhibit extreme totalitarian tendencies. Leading FFF teams include Donald Trump’s Mad Angry Geezers Athletic (Maga) and Vladimir Putin’s Greater Russia United (GRU). China has the Xi XI. Continue reading...

Sport

2 hours ago Ukraine war briefing: Russia must give clearer explanation of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, Zelenskyy says

Moscow has confirmed its air defences were repelling Ukrainian drones at the time of plane’s flight but has not admitted it shot it down. What we know on day 1,040Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called on Russia to provide a clearer explanation of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash as he expressed condolences to his Azeri counterpart. “The key priority now is a thorough investigation to provide answers to all questions about what really happened. Russia must provide clear explanations and stop spreading disinformation,” Zelenskyy said on X after the call with Ilham Aliyev. On Friday, the White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US had seen “early indications” that Russia might have been responsible for the crash that killed 38 people. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday apologised to Azerbaijan’s leader for what the Kremlin called a “tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace”. Although the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down t...

Events

10 hours ago Alien life beyond our planet will be proven within two years, claims intergalactic entity

An alleged extra terrestrial living on earth, Bashar, who connected to his human host through meditation, feels a duty to 'service' our world with knowledge about life beyond our stars

Science

4 hours ago A 1st class career! Longest serving Royal Mail postman finishes final shift after 60 years of working for the delivery service

Robert Hudson, from Leyton, east London , started his career in December 1964 - aged 16 - as a messenger in the Whitechapel Delivery Office distributing telegrams.

Politics

2 hours ago At least 62 people killed as plane veers off runway and catches fire at South Korean airport

Jeju Air’s Boeing 737 passenger plane with 180 people on it caught fire at the airport in the South Korean city of Muan

Events

16 hours ago 'Godfather of AI' shortens odds that new technology will wipe out human race over the next 30 years

British-Canadian computer scientist Professor Geoffrey Hinton has shortened the odds of AI wiping out humans over the next 30 years, warning the technology could one day 'take control'.

Science

11 hours ago Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko pardons 20 people jailed for ‘extremism’

Putin apologises over Azerbaijan plane crash; Russia’s Gazprom announces it will halt gas supplies to MoldovaReport: Putin apologises for Azerbaijan plane crash without admitting Russia at faultItalian police said on Saturday that they were investigating cyberattacks claimed by a pro-Russian group targeting several websites including Milan’s airports and the foreign ministry.The websites of the ministry, Malpensa and Milan-Linate airport, and the transport systems in Siena and Turin were hit, according to national cybersecurity police spokesman Marco Valerio Cervellini, Reuters reports. Continue reading...

Politics

2 hours ago South Korea plane crash horror: 62 dead after aircraft carrying 175 passengers and six crew crashes off runway and erupts into ball of flames

At least 62 people are dead after a plane carrying 181 people crashed off the runway and smashed into a wall at a South Korean airport.

Events

11 hours ago WHO ‘appalled’ by Israel attack on northern Gaza’s last functioning major hospital

Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahia was partially destroyed and critical patients are at grave risk, the UN body saysThe World Health Organization says it is “appalled” by an Israeli raid which it said had shut down and partly destroyed the last major hospital still functioning in northern Gaza.Israel’s “systematic dismantling of the health system” combined with a siege of the population in the north of the coastal strip over the past 80 days “puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk”, the WHO said. Continue reading...

Politics

3 hours ago South Korea plane crash horror: 29 dead after aircraft carrying 175 passengers and six crew crashes off runway and erupts into ball of flames

At least 28 people are dead after a plane carrying 181 people crashed off the runway and smashed into a wall at a South Korean airport.

Events

12 hours ago Russia's Gazprom says it will halt gas supplies to Moldova starting Jan. 1

Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom says it will halt gas supplies to Moldova starting on Jan. 1, citing alleged unpaid debt by the east European country

Politics

3 hours ago At least 28 people killed as plane veers off runway and catches fire at South Korea airport

Jeju Air’s Boeing 737 passenger plane with 180 people on it caught fire at the airport in the South Korean city of Muan

Events

13 hours ago Heavy snow forecast for parts of the UK as new snow maps reveal January weather patterns

Weather maps show the worst of the snowfall will occur north of the border as chilly flurries dump several cm worth of snow. The HRES model shows between 24cm to 80cm of snow falling in the Highlands and western Scotland on January 6.

Politics

4 hours ago South Korea plane crash: casualties reported after Jeju Air flight veers off runway at Muan airport – live updates

At least 20 casualties reported by Yonhap news agency, after plane with 174 passengers and six crews hits airport fenceReport: South Korea plane with 181 onboard veers off runway and hits fence, local media reportSouth Korean news agency Yonhap is reporting that a bird strike may have affected the plane’s landing gear.Footage circulating online appears to show a Jeju Air plane attempting to land without its landing gear down. The footage has not yet been verified. Continue reading...

Events

14 hours ago How will AI reshape the world? Well, it could be the spreadsheet of the 21st century | John Naughton

Large language models have changed how big corporations function, and the arrival of AI ‘agents’ – essentially automated Moneypennys – could prove irresistibleIf 2024 was the year of large language models (LLMs), then 2025 looks like the year of AI “agents”. These are quasi-intelligent systems that harness LLMs to go beyond their usual tricks of generating plausible text or responding to prompts. The idea is that an agent can be given a high-level – possibly even vague – goal and break it down into a series of actionable steps. Once it “understands” the goal, it can devise a plan to achieve it, much as a human would.OpenAI’s chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, recently explained it thus to the Financial Times: “It could be a researcher, a helpful assistant for everyday people, working moms like me. In 2025, we will see the first very successful agents deployed that help people in their day to day.” Or it’s like having a digital assistant “that doesn’t just respond to your instruct...

Politics

8 hours ago At least 1 person has died as several tornadoes touch down around Houston

At least one person has died after several tornadoes touched down in the Houston area, damaging homes and flipping vehicles

Events

14 hours ago Flight attendant's haunting final act on plane 'shot down by Russia' on Christmas Day

Hokuma Aliyeva was working onboard doomed Azerbaijan Airlines flight that may have been shot down by a Russian missile.

Politics

9 hours ago Pictured: Hero parents who 'saved their daughter's life' before they were killed in Boxing Day 'hit

Anthony Hogg, 40, and Georgina Hogg-Moore, 39, died after the incident on Blanchardstown Road North in West Dublin while they walked with their daughter for an evening meal.

Events

14 hours ago Snails on ‘edge of extinction’ released into wild after UK breeding success

More than 1,300 pea-sized Desertas Island land snails have been released after a successful breeding programme by Chester Zoo.

Politics

13 hours ago PETER HITCHENS: A British video blogger has lost his human rights for criticising Ukraine. Will I be next?

I do not ask you to like Graham Phillips, or even to sympathise with him. But you shouldn't approve of what our Government is doing to him. He is living in a bombed-out, unheated block of flats in Mariupol.

Events

13 hours ago Putin apologises for ‘tragic’ Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash but does not take responsibility

Azerbaijan says the plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had sustained injuries ‘due to foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight’

Events

15 hours ago ‘They’re stuck’: Cape Cod seeing more whale, turtle and dolphin strandings

Changing tides have led to an increase of beached marine life, whom rescuers scramble to save before they dieWhile Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is known as a popular vacation destination in the north-east US, it has built a reputation for an entirely different reason this year: animal strandings.Dolphins, whales, sea lions and turtles are turning up in large numbers on the beaches of the famous peninsula in a phenomenon that has experts scrambling to execute more rescue operations than ever before. The cause? Changing tides. Continue reading...

Politics

14 hours ago North Korea 'executing wounded soldiers to stop them becoming Ukrainian PoWs'

North Korea is 'executing' its own soldiers to stop wounded servicemen from being captured by Ukrainian forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed while confirming a missile strike on Russia

Events

15 hours ago Better Man review – Robbie Williams monkeys around in a raw and emotional biopic

Replacing Williams with a CGI ape in an otherwise human cast pays off enormously in Michael Gracey’s warts-and-all tale of the pop phenomenonIt was a throwaway comment: Robbie Williams, Take That’s cheeky chappie-turned-tabloid fodder solo phenomenon, described himself as a performing monkey, prancing and preening in front of the cameras and seeking the approval of the audience (or at least a banana or two). But for director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), it was the key to unlocking Williams’s conflicted relationship with his celebrity and his compulsion to perform. In a creative gamble to rival Piece by Piece director Morgan Neville’s decision to tell the Pharell Williams story with Lego animation recently, Gracey replaces Williams in this warts-and-all biopic with a CGI chimpanzee in an otherwise human cast. It’s a gamble that not only pays off – it’s arguably the main reason the film works as well as it does.Narrated by Williams (Jonno Davies delivers a motion-captured pe...

Politics

15 hours ago Sweden embarks on a sober search for more cemetery space in case of war

Burial associations in Sweden are looking to acquire enough land for something they hope they’ll never have to do

Events

17 hours ago Man City XI vs Leicester City: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup, injury latest for Premier League

The champions are counting their wounded

Politics

15 hours ago Putin apologises for Azerbaijan plane crash without admitting Russia at fault

Kremlin says Russian president has spoken to Azerbaijan counterpart after crash in which 38 people diedRussia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesVladimir Putin has apologised for a “tragic incident” in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on Christmas Day, but stopped short of admitting Russia was responsible. The Kremlin said in an official statement that Putin had spoken to Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, on Saturday by phone in his first comments since the crash, which killed 38 of the 67 people onboard. “Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the statement said.Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he had expressed condolences to President Aliyev and called on Russia for a clearer explanation of the crash. Continue reading...

Events

17 hours ago Flight attendant's haunting four words after jet 'shot down by Russia' on Christmas Day

Hokuma Aliyeva, 33, was a flight attendant on board the Azerbaijan Airlines flight who died when it crashed in Kazakhstan after appearing to have been hit by a Russian missile

Politics

15 hours ago Putin apologises after suspected Russian involvement in Azerbaijan Airlines crash that killed 38

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said there are ‘early indications’ of Moscow’s involvement in the downing of the flight

Events

18 hours ago How Nuno transformed Nottingham Forest from circus to contenders | Will Unwin

After a tumultuous fight against the drop last season, the manager has made smart changes and instilled firm bondsIt is just over a year since Nuno Espírito Santo arrived at the City Ground with the task of turning the ship around. The Portuguese found Nottingham Forest in a battle for survival, sitting one place above the relegation zone, which is exactly where they finished the season, confirming their top-flight status only on the final day. It was an effective first few months in charge but did not suggest Forest would become Champions League challengers as 2025 approaches.Forest visit Goodison Park on Sunday, the scene of their lowest moment since returning to the Premier League in 2022 when an emotional social media post from the club’s X account lambasted the officials during Everton’s 2-0 victory in April. At that point Forest looked like a circus and the prospect of reacquainting themselves with the Championship was a serious possibility, but they did just enough by winning...

Politics

15 hours ago Putin apologises over Azerbaijan plane crash as Kremlin says Russian air defences were repelling Ukrainian attack – live

Kremlin say Russian air defences were repelling attacks while plane was trying to land – but stops short of admitting Russian forces shot planeItalian police said on Saturday that they were investigating cyberattacks claimed by a pro-Russian group targeting several websites including Milan’s airports and the foreign ministry.The websites of the ministry, Malpensa and Milan-Linate airport, and the transport systems in Siena and Turin were hit, according to national cybersecurity police spokesman Marco Valerio Cervellini, Reuters reports. Continue reading...

Events

19 hours ago A Place In The Sun host Sara Damergi's shares update on 'incredibly stressful' project

A Place In The Sun presenter Sara Damergi is building building 55 flats and 14 shops in war-torn Lebanon, in a bid to finish a oroject started more than 20 years ago by her Lebanese born father, Issam

Politics

16 hours ago How I beat overwhelm: Tracking my heart rate left me feeling like a frustrated failure

Biofeedback devices promised a whole new world of mental and physical harmony. They did change my life, but not in the way I’d hopedI love to run, but ask me about my running times or distances and I will have no idea. For me, running is about squeezing exercise into a busy schedule, clearing my head and being in nature. I don’t need to measure it.But unfortunately I am not immune to the oh-so-pleasing dopamine injection of unboxing a new bit of wearable tech, personalising the app for hours and thinking this might just change my life – the new, calmer, fitter, stronger, smarter me dangling tantalisingly within reach. One such scenario occurred after researching the importance of human connection on mental and physical health: less stress, less inflammation, less illness. Human connection, I learned, can stimulate and be facilitated by the vagus nerve – a primitive part of the nervous system. Continue reading...

Events

20 hours ago Luke Littler's unpredictable style challenges referees at the World Darts Championship

The Nuke has a unique finishing style which has caused a headache for referees during his rise to the top

Politics

16 hours ago Russia warns of severe environmental damage from huge Black Sea oil spill

Two tankers were hit by a storm in the Kerch strait near Crimea on 15 December, causing one to sink and another to run agroundRussia has warned of severe environmental damage from a huge oil spill in the Black Sea caused when two tankers were hit by a storm near Crimea, which has declared a state of emergency.One tanker sank and another ran aground on 15 December in the Kerch strait between Russia and the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula. Continue reading...

Events

20 hours ago North London incinerator debate heats up as campaigners urge government to halt £1.5bn project

North London incinerator debate heats up as campaigners urge government to halt £1.5bn project  Harrow Online

Politics

16 hours ago Vladimir Putin apologises to Azerbaijan over downed plane and admits Russia's air defence systems 'were active' when jet crash killed 38

The Kremlin dictator called Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev to say sorry for Russian air defences firing at the Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft.

Events

21 hours ago Princess Charlotte revealed as world's richest child with incredible net worth

Princess Charlotte has a whopping estimated net worth, making her the richest child in the world and beating the likes of superstar children like Blue Ivy Carter and North West

Politics

16 hours ago Putin apologises over Azerbaijan Airlines crash as Kremlin says Russian forces were repelling Ukrainian attack at the time – live

Kremlin say Russian air defences were repelling attacks while plane was trying to land – but stops short of admitting Russian forces shot planeItalian police said on Saturday that they were investigating cyberattacks claimed by a pro-Russian group targeting several websites including Milan’s airports and the foreign ministry.The websites of the ministry, Malpensa and Milan-Linate airport, and the transport systems in Siena and Turin were hit, according to national cybersecurity police spokesman Marco Valerio Cervellini, Reuters reports. Continue reading...

Events

22 hours ago The Guardian Footballer of the Year Sofie Junge Pedersen: ‘We wanted to send a message’

The Inter and Denmark player wins the award for her climate activism and being behind an open letter to Fifa regarding Saudi Arabia’s human rights issuesThe Guardian Footballer of the Year is an award given to a player who has done something remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty.If the football had not worked out, perhaps Sofie Junge Pedersen could have run away to the circus. When her after-school youth club in Aarhus put on its annual week of performances there was one challenge that struck her in particular: the chance to juggle with fire torches and mock knives. “It was quite serious,” she laughs. “We practised a lot beforehand and I thought it would be fun. I just wanted to be the best.” So it proved and there is no evidence that anyone has beaten the time she set, aged 13, for keeping the two airborne simultaneously. Continue reading...

Politics

16 hours ago Russian air defence may have downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people, US officials say

Russia has downplayed speculation that its military was behind the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan

Events