88 minutes ago Trump lobs threats at Greenland, Panama and Canada – should we take him seriously?

It all seems like political theatre of the absurd – but the disrupter-in-chief has a habit of making the unthinkable inevitable“Merry Christmas,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day with a photo of himself and his wife, Melania. So far, so traditional. But the US president-elect was just getting started.In another post, Trump wished merry Christmas to all “including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama canal”. He poked fun at the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and claimed the US could annex Canada as its 51st state. For good measure, he addressed “the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the US to be there, and we will!” Continue reading...

Politics

29 hours ago Cheesy anchovy straws and chocolate meringue kisses: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for party nibbles

Bite-sized treats that are big on flavour and will see out the year in styleHappy 2025 everyone, and may the New Year bring with it the positive changes we all so yearn for. Personally, I will be embracing change in a big way, because, after seven years, this is my final column for the Guardian’s Feast. From March, I will be writing a new, long-form quarterly column packed with recipes, personal experiences and general observations about the food world, so stay tuned. The Feast community is the most engaged and greedy I know, so thank you! And I hope you welcome the New Year with these party nibbles I have lined up for this weekend. Here’s to new beginnings! Continue reading...

Society

7 hours ago Scotland’s green freeports will bring in billions of pounds in new investment

Green freeports will maintain high environmental standards and apply fair work principles, while helping Scotland play a leading role in the green energy revolution, writes Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes

Economics

19 hours ago Transfer news LIVE! Arsenal plot Cunha bid; Chelsea want Kolo Muani; Man Utd make Mendes move

The January transfer window is just days away

Sport

91 minutes ago New Year's Day snow warning hits Greater Manchester as Met Office issues NINE alerts

January will begin with wintry conditions

Events

8 hours ago From climate denial to gothic movies to ‘treat culture’ what to expect in 2025

The new US president will almost certainly bring unpredictability but several themes will dominate the year ahead. Observer writers offer their guide on what lies ahead in politics, film, fashion, sport and moreThe only thing that can be predicted with absolute certainty about Donald Trump’s second term as US president is that it will be unpredictable. Trump does not really know what he wants to do on a range of issues. He talks a good game, which is how he got re-elected. But he often seems to decide policy on the basis of what the last person he spoke to told him. Is he serious about mobilising the military to carry out mass deportations of “illegal” migrants? Will he use the justice department to hunt down political enemies and media critics? Will he impose sweeping tariffs on foreign imports and trigger a global trade war? Or will he act with greater circumspection, using these threats as bargaining tools? Who knows? He doesn’t yet. Continue reading...

Culture

23 hours ago Sir Chris Hoy issues positive health update after terminal cancer diagnosis

Sir Chris Hoy was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer earlier this year and the six-time Olympic gold-medallist has offered an update on his condition as 2024 comes to an end

Science

28 hours ago 'Nightmare' fog sparks cancellations at UK's busiest airports to 'maintain safety'

The UK's main air traffic control provider explained the essential cancellations were caused by the country's misty conditions, sparking festive chaos as disruptions continue

Transport

1 hour ago Liam Lawson reveals what’s frustrating him since joining Red Bull promotion

Liam Lawson was announced as Max Verstappen's new team-mate at Red Bull for the 2025 F1 season after impressing during reserve stints with the team in 2023 and 2024, but there's one thing which has troubled him by the move

Politics

13 hours ago Starmer hails £1.7bn boost for state schools before VAT raid on private school fees comes into force

Despite warnings from private schools over the impact of the policy, the prime minister is ploughing ahead and will charge 20 per cent VAT on independent school fees from the start of 2025

Economics

1 hour ago At least 10 Taliban fighters killed in Kabul ministry attack as tensions with Pakistan escalate

Attack comes just days after Taliban minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul

Events

19 hours ago Young Outnumbered stars hope show returns after filming Christmas special reunion

Daniel Roche, Tyger Drew-Honey and Ramona Marquez loved reuniting to make this year’s Christmas special, so they’re keen to do more episodes - now they are hoping people power can make it happen

Culture

23 hours ago Sir Chris Hoy addresses 'unimaginable year' after terminal cancer diagnosis

Sir Chris Hoy has spoken about the year since being diagnosed with terminal cancer and how he is responding to treatment

Science

2 hours ago Envy, ego, pride and pain: what I learned from publishing my first book | Hamilton Nolan

Years torturing yourself before a blank page are followed by months of scrambling for publicity, followed by oblivionThere are only two types of people who make the mistake of writing a book: non-writers, who don’t know any better; and writers, who can never be happy and therefore must always seek out pain in order to feel alive. Either way, every book is the product of suffering. The best thing a new author can hope for is to discover that he is a masochist.After two decades as a journalist, I published my first book in 2024. This does not make me special. In the same way that people in relationships often wake up one day married with kids due purely to peer pressure, all professional writers bear the burden of the expectation that they will write a book. With each passing year, those who haven’t done so are regarded with increasing suspicion. Typing all those words, but not a single book? Why, don’t you have anything to say?Hamilton Nolan is the author of The Hammer: Power, Inequa...

Politics

14 hours ago Owners of rental homes across the country face huge bills to meet Labour's strict new eco targets... meaning even Keir Starmer will be hit with £28,000 home improvements charge

Since moving into his grace-and-favour apartment in Downing Street , the Prime Minister has been letting his £2 million family home on which he no longer pays a mortgage.

Economics

2 hours ago Jeremy Clarkson to pull off last ditch move to claw back profits at pub after revealing its first few months have been a 'total disaster'

Unearthed licensing documents reveal for the first time today that the former Top Gear host inherited the generous opening hours from a former restaurant on the site of The Farmer's Dog.

Events

31 hours ago Multiple Oscar winning film that 'lives up to the term masterpiece' is on TV tonight

The Godfather is still a highly regarded piece of cinematic history and fans of the movie can watch it for free this weekend

Culture

3 hours ago Netanyahu is getting his prostate removed as he faces crises on multiple fronts

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to have his prostate removed, according to his office

Politics

18 hours ago Outcry over Labour's plans for free weight loss jabs on the NHS as majority of Brits believe people should pay for treatment privately

Health secretary Wes Streeting has backed the prescribing of the drugs to obese patients in the hope it can tackle the nation's bulging waistlines.

Economics

2 hours ago Iconic Carry On star revealed as World War Two hero who helped plan Great Escape

Carry On star Peter Butterworth has been revealed as a World War Two hero after helping to free 76 airmen from a Polish prison by secretly passing messages to British Intelligence

Events

3 hours ago Liverpool handed chance to complete blockbuster Marc Guehi swap transfer

Crystal Palace resisted offers for Marc Guehi in the summer but a move to Liverpool could be on the cards with the Eagles already lining up a Reds youngster they want in return

Politics

21 hours ago Barcelona hope to finally register Dani Olmo after agreeing VIP seating deal

Sale of boxes at Camp Nou likely to secure player’s futureBarça had to find way to comply with FFP by 31 DecemberFC Barcelona have reportedly closed a last-minute €100m (£82.9m) deal to sell VIP boxes at the newly renovated Camp Nou to Middle Eastern investors. The club are hopeful the sale will allow them to meet financial fair play rules and finally extend Dani Olmo’s registration.With the deadline for registration just three days away and Barcelona facing the prospect of Olmo leaving as a free agent just six months after joining on a a €55m (£45.6m) transfer, club president Joan Laporta exercised a sale option on Saturday which the club believe will see the first payment made before 31 December. Continue reading...

Economics

3 hours ago Thick fog continues to blanket the UK as travel chaos and flight disruption continue and blustery and wet conditions are set to hit the north next week

It comes as blustery and wet conditions are set to hit the north next week and alerts remain in place warning of 'significant disruption'.

Events

3 hours ago Are you happy with Starmer’s performance this year? Take our poll and have your say

Since taking over in the summer, the Prime Minister's leadership has been a curious mix of bold policy initiatives offset by contentious cost-saving decisions which saw his approval rating plummet. How do you feel about his time at the top so far?

Politics

26 hours ago People smugglers offer migrants ‘package deals’ to UK as Channel crossings top 150,000 since 2018

Sir Keir Starmer has put international co-operation with law enforcement agencies in Europe at the heart of his bid to cut the number of arrivals

Economics

3 hours ago Welcome to the femosphere, the latest dark, toxic corner of the internet for women

‘Femcel’ influencers urge their followers to give up on gender equality and use men for financial gain – in the name of feminismThe manosphere, the misogynist internet world populated by influencers such as Andrew Tate, is widely recognised as a toxic space where young men are at risk of radicalisation. Now, say researchers, women and girls are being sucked into potentially dangerous online spaces of their own: the femosphere.It is a term used by Dr Jilly Kay, an expert in feminist media and cultural studies at Loughborough University, in a paper published earlier this year. Kay has been researching a reactionary turn among young women, and how a backlash against mainstream feminism has created new spaces online. In the femosphere, instead of “incels” – male involuntary celibates – there are “femcels”, and instead of pickup artists there are female dating strategists and so-called “dark feminine” influencers who encourage women to find men to support them financially. Continue readi...

Events

4 hours ago 'She should be suffering in a cell, NOT painting': Mother's outrage after her daughter

A British woman who murdered her husband has recieved praise for her prison artwork, causing her furious mother-in-law to say she 'should be suffering'.

Politics

27 hours ago Sir Chris Hoy opens up on his 'unimaginable' year after his terminal cancer diagnosis and reveals how he has dealt with coming to terms with stage 4 disease in public

Hoy, 48, was given between two to four years to live by doctors after being diagnosed with primary cancer in his prostate which then spread to his bones.

Economics

4 hours ago Experts issue peace lily warning to anyone using their central heating this winter

House plants might be struggling in your home this winter if you use your central heating. Here's what to do to make sure your peace lillies thrive in dry conditions

Events

4 hours ago With a new year ahead there’s no better time for Keir Starmer to start playing good cop | Isabel Hardman

The prime minister should resolve in 2025 to enthuse about his vision, and leave moaning about the Tories and fiscal hardship to his chancellorWho is dreading the new year more: Keir Starmer or Rachel Reeves? Most people look forward to the turn of the year as a chance that better things might be on the way, but it’s hard for the prime minister and chancellor to glance ahead to the next few months and expect 2025 to be any more fun than the latter half of 2024. Reeves has a spending review where she is expecting ministers to find 5% efficiencies in their departments, so is nailed on for another 12 months of being the least popular person at the cabinet table. For Starmer, though, the misery isn’t inevitable. Or at least, it might not be if he changed the way he operates, as most people try to at this time of year.One of the reasons Labour has managed to make governing look quite so hard is that both Starmer and Reeves are playing the bad cop at the moment. Good c...

Politics

6 hours ago Man City's transfer disasters before takeover glory – £42m wasted to player now in prison

Manchester City are among the biggest spenders in world football since Sheikh Mansour's takeover in 2008, but their transfer history proves that money does not always bring results

Events

5 hours ago American living in UK shares surprising reasons why she wouldn't move back to US

An American woman who moved to the UK has shared reasons why she probably wouldn't move back to the US. She listed some ways living in the UK is 'better' than living in America

Politics

8 hours ago Claire Inglis' parents want domestic abusers 'held to account' to protect victims

“We are sickened that sex offenders must register their details, movements and tell the authorities if they begin a new relationship but it’s not the same for domestic abusers."

Events

6 hours ago The big picture: Colleen Kenyon’s new year portrait of her twin sister, 1977

The late feminist artists explored ideas of doubling and twinship, as well as helping to redefine notions of craft skillsThe photographer Colleen Kenyon made this new year portrait of her identical twin sister Kathleen in 1977. At the time the two of them were embarking on a shared artistic journey that put them at the forefront of feminist artists interested in reclaiming and redefining “craft” skills, using photomontage and hand-colouring techniques to celebrate and ironise traditionally “domestic” artistic expression, such as scrapbooking. Over the subsequent 25 years the twins, born in 1951, pursued this practice at the Center for Photography at Woodstock in upstate New York, where Colleen became executive director in 1981 and her sister joined her as associate director. Together they developed the exhibition space and a programme of workshops to make the institution a prime mover in the advancement of women in the arts, and for artists of colour.Their own distinctive photograph...

Politics

8 hours ago Family of Scot murdered abroad get fresh hope as cops identify 13 potential new witnesses

Private investigators have identified 13 French nationals who they believe may hold crucial information about the death of Craig Mallon in Lloret de Mar on May 19, 2012.

Events

7 hours ago I played with Celtic hero in Australia and he sold me on Premiership switch – now I'm gunning for Rangers revenge

The 25-year-old followed in the footsteps of a compatriot and ex Motherwell favourite when he moved to Fir Park

Politics

8 hours ago Family of murder victim Claire Inglis want domestic abusers to be forced to reveal dark pasts

“We are sickened that sex offenders must register their details, movements and tell the authorities if they begin a new relationship but it’s not the same for domestic abusers."

Events

8 hours ago Defiant and unwavering: Georgia’s president Salome Zourabichvili is focus for hope

Refusal to leave palace for successor backed by autocratic Georgian Dream party on day of departure stirs protestersIn Georgia’s turbulent political standoff, President Salome Zourabichvili has emerged as a defiant figure.Zourabichvili’s role in Georgia is ceremonial, but far from fading into irrelevance in the twilight of her presidency, she has become a rallying figure for those opposed to the erosion of democracy and the abandonment of Georgia’s European aspirations. On Sunday, she is supposed to step down and hand the Orbeliani Palace to her successor, Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football player backed by the ruling party, Georgian Dream, but she has said she will refuse. Continue reading...

Politics

11 hours ago University chiefs issue trigger warning for undergraduates studying Greek mythology warning they may find it 'uncomfortable and challenging'

Critics have accused the University of Exeter of 'losing the plot' after it issued a trigger warning for undergraduates studying the Ancient Greek poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Events

8 hours ago Fishing industry chief facing accusations of breaching Scottish Parliament lobbying rules

SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE: Former government minister Tavish Scott is to be the centre of a formal complaint due to his work with Salmon Scotland.

Politics

14 hours ago Venezuelan opposition members holed up in Argentine embassy call it ‘prison’

Government cut power to diplomatic residence where María Corina Machado took refuge in March to avoid arrestFive Venezuelan opposition members taking refuge in the Argentine embassy in Caracas to avoid arrest say it has become a “prison”.The residence has been without power for more than a month, Magalli Meda, adviser to opposition leader María Corina Machado, said on X. Continue reading...

Events

12 hours ago Landlord Treasury minister could face £10,000 fine after failing to get energy certificate for her rental flat

Tulip Siddiq (pictured), may have broken the law and be facing a minimum £10,000 fine for failing to get an energy certificate for her rental flat, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Politics

16 hours ago Robert Brooks: Shocking footage reveals moment prison officers beat handcuffed man before his death

New York Governor ‘outraged and horrified’ by footage

Events

12 hours ago Labour councillor brands Keir Starmer a 'liar' and says Prime Minister's 'attack on working class and grandparents is unjustifiable' after candidate was trounced in local by

Steve Edwards, who sits on Dudley Council in the West Midlands, posted on Facebook saying his party leader had peddled lies to win the General Election.

Politics

15 hours ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to undergo major surgery in matter of hours after health scare

The 75-year-old, who had surgery for a hernia this year, was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement.

Politics

18 hours ago Pub chain opens mock boozers at two jails to get convicts pulling pints and cooking roasts

EXCLUSIVE: Greene King pubs have put training pubs inside two UK jails under a scheme that helps cons increase their employability on the outside and decrease the likelihood of reoffending

Events

16 hours ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to undergo major surgery in matter of hours after health scare

The 75-year-old, who had surgery for a hernia this year, was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement.

Politics

19 hours ago People smugglers take advantage of the fog to slip more migrants across Channel two days after total topped 150,000 since records began in 2018

People smugglers appear to have taken advantage of the UK's dreary weather with small boat crossings across the English Channel continuing today despite foggy conditions.

Events

16 hours ago We’ve moved onto an ISLAND in middle of London with no bridge – pals say we’re ‘bonkers’ but we’re pocketin...

We’ve moved onto an ISLAND in middle of London with no bridge – pals say we’re ‘bonkers’ but we’re pocketin...  The Sun

Politics

20 hours ago Two people dead and baby injured in 'unimaginable tragedy' days after Christmas

Four others, including a baby, have been taken to hospital for treatment and one woman remains in a critical condition.

Events

16 hours ago Two Arsenal stars risk imminent Premier League ban but two others escape for Mikel Arteta

Arsenal will hope to avoid further blows when they face Brentford with Bukayo Saka set for months out injured as the Gunners attempt to launch a Premier League title charge

Politics

20 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

17 hours ago BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Vito Coppola 'so excited' as next move uncovered after 'waiting so long'

It comes as the dancer has recently been enjoying Christmas with his family in Italy having had a busy end to the year

Politics

21 hours ago River Plate women’s players released from prison after arrest for alleged racism

Four players were detained after game in São PauloMatch was called off after apparent monkey gestureA Brazilian judge has ordered the release from prison of four players from River Plate’s women’s football team, all of whom were arrested over an alleged racial slur during a match against Grêmio.Judge Fernando Oliveira Camargo decided to free the Argentinian club’s quartet of Candela Díaz, Camila Duarte, Juana Cángaro and Milagros Díaz, on condition they remain in Brazil and show up at court in São Paulo every month until the case is concluded. Continue reading...

Events