71 minutes ago Wataru Endo opens up on Liverpool snubs as Arne Slot invites new opportunity

Wataru Endo has found minutes hard to come by at Liverpool but was back involved in the FA Cup as Arne Slot considers using the Japan midfielder as a makeshift defender

Politics

2 hours ago Legendary comedian Eric Morecambe's trademark glasses fetch £20,000 at auction

The trademark glasses were synonymous with his comedic persona - and he would quirkily raise and lower them on stage, usually in response to his comic partner Ernie Wise.

Economics

75 minutes ago Badenoch has ‘clear direction’ for Tories but policy takes time – Stride

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride defended his party leader Kemi Badenoch after criticism of her lack of policy decisions.

Events

4 hours ago What will my descendants make of my photo 100 years from now? | Seamas O'Reilly

Looking at a sepia-tinged picture of my grandmother, she has the kind of face you don’t see any more The photo shows my grandmother. She’s among the adults at the back, fourth from right, peeping out from a row of old-timey faces. The kind of faces you don’t see any more, faces that could only come from the past. Even without the sepia tint and the period clothing, you know you’d have a hard time showing them an iPhone or talking to them about AI. Frankly, you’d have a hard time explaining ITV4.But it is sepia-tinted, this photo, almost artificially so; its stock-still adults and fidgety kids captured in eerie permanence, so perfectly composed as to recall the cover of a stirring Irish childhood memoir. Judging by the boys and girls in their little suits and sparkling white dresses, it’s from a first holy communion ceremony, presumably one with pupils from the small primary school in Mulleek, Fermanagh, where she taught for 30 years. Continue reading...

Culture

18 hours ago Dog left in freezing car boot overnight after driver smashed into parked car

The pet was abandoned in icy conditions following the crash in the West Midlands, with the driver nowhere to be seen

Transport

2 hours ago Chad’s ruling party wins majority in parliamentary election boycotted by main opposition

Chad’s ruling party took the majority of votes in last month’s parliamentary election that the main opposition party boycotted

Politics

15 hours ago Crippling five months of rail strikes set to begin today will cost us £1billion and 'paralyse' UK economy, say hospitality chiefs

Train managers at Avanti West Coast will walk out every Sunday until May 25 in an ongoing row over rest-day shifts, bringing another blow to venues which have already lost billions in previous strikes

Economics

95 minutes ago Star wars threat to the West: How doomsday EMP space nukes could cripple US and allies by 'frying' critical infrastructure and killing vital satellites

A space-based nuclear warhead would destroy or disable thousands of vital satellites - but if detonated at the right altitude and yield, it could deliver a punishing EMP strike on infrastructure below

Events

32 hours ago 'Cinematic classic' based on book 'you must read before you die' is on TV today

The 2005 drama is one of almost 20 adaptations of a beloved literary classic and boasts an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Culture

20 hours ago Freezing dog left abandoned in boot overnight after driver smashes into parked car

West Midlands Police and Fire Service confirmed a freezing dog was found abandoned in the boot of a Volkswagen Passat in Dulverton in the early hours of this morning (January 11)

Transport

3 hours ago The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf review – charming portrait of an artist in her own world

Kraf’s charming and challenging fourth and final novel, now published in the UK, is narrated by a New Yorker who experiences psychotic episodes“I am glad I have the radiance. This time I am wiser,” begins Elaine Kraf’s 1979 novel – now published for the first time in the UK – in irresistibly intriguing style. The narrator is Ellen, an artist living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where she regularly experiences periods of what she calls radiance, or what the rest of us would call psychosis, mental illness, or detachment from reality.And what “the rest of us” think is part of the problem for Ellen, because the radiances make her happy and she is no threat to anybody. “Fools! No one likes anyone for what they really are.” So she becomes Esmeralda, self-styled princess of 72nd Street. “I am not one of those rulers who is never seen on the streets mingling with the common people.” Continue reading...

Politics

24 hours ago White House working on hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel, says CIA director

Donald Trump hopes agreement will take place before his inauguration amid renewed optimismThe White House is working to reach a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas before president-elect Trump’s inauguration, William Burns, the director of the CIA, has suggested.“Negotiations going on right now are quite serious and do offer the possibility, at least, of getting this done in the next couple of weeks,” Burns said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday. “This administration worked very hard at that right up until 20 January. I think the coordination with the new administration on this issue has been good. President-elect Trump has made clear his interest in trying to get a deal, you know, before his inauguration.” Continue reading...

Economics

2 hours ago ‘Brother for life’: man injured in New Orleans attack witnessed friend’s death

Ryan Quigley was celebrating the new year with former teammate Martin ‘Tiger’ Bech, one of the 14 victims killedAmong those who were injured but survived the deadly New Year’s Day truck attack on New Orleans’ most famous street was a former Princeton University football player whose ex-teammate was murdered by the assailant.Ryan Quigley, 26, was in New Orleans with Martin “Tiger” Bech – who grew up about a two-hour drive west of the city in Lafayette, Louisiana – to ring in 2025 after both had forged a friendship while playing for Princeton University’s college football team. They had joined other revelers on Bourbon Street when a former US army veteran inspired by the Islamic State (IS) terror group managed to drive a pickup truck into the crowd that had gathered on one of the world’s most festive thoroughfares. Continue reading...

Events

3 hours ago Dream journey: a nostalgic trip aboard the sleeper train from Amsterdam to Berlin

Taking the overnight train between the capital cities and on to Dresden is all about slow travel and the romance of life on the trackOn the evening of our overnight train journey from Amsterdam to Berlin and on to Dresden aboard the European Sleeper, we enjoy a restorative plate of oysters and steak tartare on the decks of Amsterdam’s BrasserieMarie overlooking the Amstel. Then, after a nightcap in the adjoining Freddy’s Bar, a legendary spot in the Hotel De L’Europe, we make the short stroll to Amsterdam Centraal Station for the so-called Good Night Train.At 22.20 we board the train to Berlin, the bunks are swiftly made up and the blinds part pulled down for sleep. You can open the window for fresh air, brush your teeth in your own basin and there is crisp, clean linen. This slow journey is all about the romance of life on the track – and, for me, a lingering nostalgia. Continue reading...

Politics

28 hours ago David Moyes new job confirmed as statement released on former Man United boss

David Moyes has returned to Premier League management after leaving West Ham last summer

Economics

3 hours ago Donald Trump breaks his silence on LA fires after failing to respond to Gavin Newsom's invite to visit wildfire ground zero

Donald Trump has finally broken his silence over the Los Angeles fires that have consumed the west coast city

Events

3 hours ago Heidi Montag thanks fans for providing 'hope and faith in a dark time' by pushing her 15

The couple were forced to flee their Pacific Palisades property with only the clothes on their backs as the devastating inferno razed more than 37,000 acres of residential areas to the ground.

Politics

5 hours ago Football's retired shirt numbers – tragic deaths to youth wonderkids being honoured

Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham and West Ham United legend Bobby Moore are just two of the many big names to have their shirt numbers retired in association football.

Events

3 hours ago Alan Shearer's daughters both have famous boyfriends – including England international

Legendary former Newcastle United and England striker Alan Shearer has been married to his wife Lainya for nearly 34 years and the pair have two daughters and a son

Politics

15 hours ago TALK OF THE TOWN: Sigourney Weaver & Co fume over a kitchen drama that is causing a stink at her new West End play

Sigourney Weaver must have been thrilled to find there was an award-winning chef right by the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, where she's starring in The Tempest.

Events

4 hours ago Cleaning expert shows how to leave filthy radiator gleaming in simple steps

A clean radiator not only keeps your living spaces fresh, it also helps you be more energy efficient as radiators covered in dust will have to work extra hard to heat your home

Politics

15 hours ago 180(000)! Nigel Farage's joy as he channels his inner Luke Littler to celebrate Reform hitting another membership target

In a pointed jibe at the Tory leadership Mr Farage held up a dartboard registering the maximum 180 score, leading to wild cheers at Reform UK's North West England Conference in Chester yesterday.

Events

5 hours ago Humiliation as Brexit bankroller Arron Banks refused US entry to own Donald Trump party

Brexit bankroller and Nigel Farage pal Arron Banks is unable to attend his own £150,000 party celebrating Donald Trump's return to the White House after being denied US entry

Politics

15 hours ago California fires live: governor doubles national guard in LA as firefighters arrive from Mexico and Canada

Palisades and Eaton fires start coming under control as fierce winds ease but forecasters predict another red flag warning for MondayFull report evacuation orders expand as Santa Ana winds set to pick upHow the climate crisis fuels devastating wildfiresLos Angeles fires: the damage in maps, video and imagesThe LA fire department issued a new immediate evacuation order at 7pm local time on Friday for the Palisades fire. It affects the following areas:It covers Sunset Boulevard north to Encino Reservoir and from the 405 Freeway west to Mandeville Canyon.The fires, coupled with strong winds, have severely degraded air quality by releasing hazardous smoke and particulate matter, posing immediate and long-term risks to public health. Continue reading...

Events

5 hours ago Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrison's More loyalty schemes ranked by Which?

From collecting points to dual-pricing, it's hard to not be enticed into the world of supermarket loyalty schemes. But, is it really worth signing up to become a member?

Politics

17 hours ago Former Labour MP Ivor Caplin arrested after 'paedophile hunter' Facebook live stream sting

Sussex Police have arrested ex-Labour defence minister Ivor Caplin, MP for Hove between 1997 and 2005, in Brighton on suspicion of engaging in sexual communication with a child

Events

6 hours ago The 10 rules of friendship: show up, go beyond banter, learn the boring details

Writers, therapists and academics give advice on how to make, and strengthen, meaningful bonds with mates and friendsEmma Reed Turrell, psychotherapist, author and host of the podcast Friendship TherapyYou can keep balance in friendship by showing your working out, rather than making assumptions and mind-reading. This might sound like: “I’d like to invite you to a party but I’m wondering if it might not be your thing and I want you to know that you can absolutely say no, or just come for an hour.” That way you get to express your wish and your friend gets to be honest in their choices, rather than people-please you or dodge the question. Look for the ‘both/and’ of a balanced friendship, rather than an ‘either/or’ situation, and negotiate how to both get what you need from your communication styles or time together, rather than create a one-way street in which one of you is always keeping the other happy. Not everyone wants a two-way street in friendship and you might find you get pu...

Politics

18 hours ago Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford divorce update addressed by 'shocked' pal Amanda Holden

Amanda Holden has shared her sadness over Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford's divorce, after it was reported that the latter plans to throw a party when the split is finalised

Events

6 hours ago Méribel: how to stay, ski and party in France's prettiest Alpine resort

Offering excellent skiing, eating and a plethora of 5-star hotels, Méribel is the perfect destination for a winter break

Politics

19 hours ago Santa Anita postpones weekend racing as track is staging area for fire relief efforts

A flareup of the wildfire on the west side of Los Angeles that prompted new evacuations has caused Santa Anita to cancel horse racing this weekend

Events

6 hours ago Prince Harry left 'so ashamed' after making mistake dubbed the 'biggest of his life'

It is exactly 20 years ago since Prince Harry caused outrage after wearing a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party - and he later admitted the incident was one of the 'biggest mistakes' of his life

Politics

20 hours ago Joan Didion and Mike Davis understood LA through its fires. Even they didn’t predict this week

Fire is an inextricable part of the region’s identity, as the writers knew. But the way this divided city burns has been transformedTalking about fire and Los Angeles is an exercise in repetition. Southern California does have seasons, Joan Didion once noted in Blue Nights, among them “the season when the fire comes”.Fire in Los Angeles has a singular ability to shock, with its destruction that takes “grimly familiar pathways” down the canyons and into the subdivisions. The phrase comes from Mike Davis’s 1995 essay The Case for Letting Malibu Burn, and it is as true for the fires as for our talk of the fires. Even our reflections take on that grim familiarity: we cite Joan Didion citing Nathanael West. We fall in with the great writers of this great city who are always so ready to judge it. Continue reading...

Events

7 hours ago What are we paying senior royals for, if not to show up at presidential funerals? | Catherine Bennett

Perhaps grandma’s grudge against Jimmy Carter explains why Edward, 14th in line, was sentThat legendary boozer the late queen mother liked to entertain her guests with an “anti-toast”, in which she drank to people she disliked. One day the names ill-wished were “Tony Benn, Idi Amin and Jimmy Carter”. The benign US president featured in the same list as a mass murderer because, she explained, “he is the only man, since my dear husband died, to have had the effrontery to kiss me on the lips”.This alleged offence was enough for the queen mother to want it remembered, and not as an innocent accident. She believed it was her misfortune, her biographer William Shawcross wrote, to remind middle-aged men of their mothers; she recognised “the glazed look that came over their faces”, and thought this had made Carter reach in for his kiss. “I took a sharp step backwards. Not quite far enough.” So Carter could hardly help becoming aware of the accusation, which “distressed” him. Continue readin...

Politics

20 hours ago Joan Didion and Mike Davis understood LA through its fires. Even they couldn’t predict this week

Fire is an inextricable part of the region’s identity, as the writers knew. But the way this divided city burns has been transformedTalking about fire and Los Angeles is an exercise in repetition. Southern California does have seasons, Joan Didion once noted in Blue Nights, among them “the season when the fire comes”.Fire in Los Angeles has a singular ability to shock, with its destruction that takes “grimly familiar pathways” down the canyons and into the subdivisions. The phrase comes from the writer and activist Mike Davis’s 1995 essay The Case for Letting Malibu Burn, and it is as true for the fires as for our talk of the fires. Even our reflections take on that grim familiarity: we cite Didion citing Nathanael West. We fall in with the great writers of this great city who are always so ready to judge it. Continue reading...

Events

7 hours ago At home with Simon Rattle: ‘There are still things I feel are beyond me’

The world-famous conductor, now 70, on family life in Berlin, why music keeps you young and the bleak outlook for the arts in BritainThe instruction was straightforward: “10.30am at home. Coffee and croissants.” Since timing, at least in part, is a conductor’s priority, a visitor feels the pressure – especially with the siren call of coffee – to be prompt. Simon Rattle lives on the edge of Grunewald, the expanse of forest and lakes to the west of Berlin, a haven for the prosperous who built villas there at the end of the 19th century, and a green lung for all Berliners today. I arrive a few minutes early – long enough to take issue with Christopher Isherwood who, in his Berlin Stories, complained about the “expensive ugliness” of the properties here, ranging from “the eccentric-rococo folly to the cubist flat-roofed steel-and-glass box”. Gables and turrets turn suburban houses into small castles, a reminder of Germany’s romantic folklore past. Fairy lights – we meet shortly before C...

Politics

22 hours ago Five years ago, a missing Montana teen was found dead and officials ruled there was no foul play. Now, a man has been charged in her death

Sixteen-year-old Selena Not Afraid vanished on the way home from a New Year’s party in 2020. Now a man has been charged in her death, and Selena’s aunt tells Andrea Cavallier that she’s ready to hear the whole story of what happened that day.

Events

8 hours ago From the Beatles to biologics – how Liverpool became a life science hotspot

The city has a long history with tropical medicine and is now home to one of the largest biotech clusters in EuropeTucked away in the village of Leasowe, near Moreton on the Wirral peninsula west of Liverpool, the US pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is building a new £35m glass-clad laboratory building.It is part of a growing life sciences cluster in and around Liverpool, one of the largest in Europe, and a leader in vaccine development and manufacture, as well as infectious disease research projects in the UK. Continue reading...

Politics

23 hours ago Mike Leigh hits out at ‘offensive and racist’ criticisms of latest film

Award-winning drama features a mostly Black cast

Events

8 hours ago UK government to crack down on MPs earning extra cash from media firms

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage are among those who have earned large sums from broadcasters, but a tightening of rules on MPs’ outside interests is being consideredMPs would no longer be able to rake in huge sums that can see them more than double their ­parliamentary ­salaries by signing contracts with media outlets, under plans being ­considered by ministers.The Observer has been told that ­talks on further ­tightening rules on MPs’ ­outside interests, ­including media contracts, will be started by leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, at a hearing of the all-party standards committee on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Politics

23 hours ago LA fires: Terrifying moment weatherman's live forecast interrupted by urgent phone warning

Fox News 11 chief meteorologist Adam Kreuger was left puzzled after alarms from people's phones started blaring with evacuation orders in the broadcaster's west LA studio

Events

25 hours ago Wall Street looks forward to a bonfire of capital and climate rules under Trump

Profits are poised to dominate in a new era shorn of years of hard-won regulatory restrictionsWhen some of the biggest banks on Wall Street reveal their full-year earnings this week, they will have more to celebrate than just rising profits.Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on 20 January – scheduled the Monday after US bank results week – will raise the curtain on a period of looser regulation, lower corporation tax, and weak climate commitments. Continue reading...

Events

8 hours ago 'I chatted with Sir Alex Ferguson but snubbed Man Utd and joined rivals not that good'

The Premier League icon could have ended up at Old Trafford playing under legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson had things turned out differently

Politics

25 hours ago America knows her as the woman set on fire by a migrant on the subway. She was my best friend

Mark Monteyne, 57, who was close friends with Debbie Kawam, said she was a much-loved cheerleader, pancake house waitress and the life and soul of the party before her life took a turn.

Events

9 hours ago Nigel Farage front and centre, 40 Senedd seats and sweeping changes. Reform UK's bold claims to rule Wales

Their Welsh spokesman said they will be a credible party of government in Wales

Politics

25 hours ago Nigel Farage reported to Commons authorities over grooming gang donation claims

The Reform UK leader was accused of a potential breach of the MPs’ code of conduct, after he made comments about fundraising for the party - of which he is the largest shareholder

Events

9 hours ago Al Pacino, 84, and baby mama Noor Alfallah, 31, grab dinner together at Hollywood hotspot

Al Pacino was spotted out with his baby mama Noor Alfallah in West Hollywood this week.

Politics

26 hours ago Russell Howard looks back: ‘Am I peculiar? You’d struggle to find anyone who does standup who isn’t a bit weird’

The comedian on mining his very large family for material, avoiding the celebrity circus, and being an unashamed standup fanboyBorn in Bath in 1980, Russell Howard is one of the UK’s most successful comedians. He started his career on the standup circuit while studying economics at the University of the West of England in Bristol. Television beckoned; he was headhunted for TV show Mock the Week in 2006, and from 2009 to 2015 had his own show on BBC Three. Howard now has a podcast, Five Brilliant Things, and his new standup special, Russell Howard Live, will be available to stream on his website from 15 January. He lives in London with his wife and their baby son.This photo was a happy memory: I was two and outside my nan and grandad’s house in Midsomer Norton – a place filled with magic. I was playing with my grandad’s cigarettes, and afterwards I’d go and play football with him. He’d probably make his amazing toast later – he used really thick slices of bread and we named it Granda...

Events