62 minutes ago As National Library of Scotland turns 100, we need such places more than ever

Amid the turbulence of the online world, libraries are a haven for calm, reasoned and thoughtful contemplation

Politics

5 hours ago Investigators recover black boxes from doomed American Airlines Flight 5342 as they hunt for answers: Live updates

LIVE UPDATES: Sixty passengers, four crew, and three US Army personnel are believed to be dead after the collision 400ft over the Potomac River in Washington DC.

Society

2 hours ago What to know about the NTSB and the investigation into the DC plane cash

A deadly midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter near the nation's capital is bringing renewed focus on the federal agency charged with investigating aviation disasters

Economics

13 hours ago Kieran Tierney sees instant Celtic return 'BLOCKED by Arsenal' as Gunners play transfer hardball

The Hoops have secured a pre-contract but hopes of an arrival six months prior to the deal kicking in are fading.

Sport

36 minutes ago DC crash investigators recover cockpit voice recorder and flight data from doomed American Airlines plane: Live updates

LIVE UPDATES: Sixty passengers, four crew, and three US Army personnel are believed to be dead after the collision 400ft over the Potomac River in Washington DC.

Events

20 hours ago BBC Am I Being Unreasonable? series 2 plot, cast, trailer as hit comedy returns

Am I Being Unreasonable? series two will see the return of Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli in the comedy series as we learn the truth about Alex's death

Culture

18 hours ago Symptoms of tuberculosis as cases rise in England amid massive US outbreak

A US state is facing its largest tuberculosis outbreak in the nation’s history

Science

62 minutes ago Hamilton Accies Women will 'keep feet on ground' after marching clear of title rivals Kilmarnock

Robert Watson's side are now eight points in front of Kilmarnock with a game in hand at the top of SWPL2

Politics

16 hours ago American Airlines CEO blames army for collision as transport secretary calls it 'preventable': Live updates

LIVE UPDATES: Hopes are beginning to fade for 64 people on board the doomed American Airlines flight which crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday night.

Society

5 hours ago Nationwide customers could soon see £900 bonus drop in their bank accounts

Strict savers could soon reap the benefit of their 1 Year Fixed Rate ISA maturing if they opened the account with the max £20,000 allowance.

Economics

15 hours ago Chelsea to battle Manchester United in race for Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel

The Swiss shot-stopper could be in demand this summer, with both Premier League clubs keen to strength between the sticks amid growing pressure on Robert Sanchez and Andre Onana

Sport

2 hours ago ‘Everybody is tired. The mood has changed’: the Ukrainian army’s desertion crisis

Some of those abandoning the frontline say the longer the war goes on, ‘the more people like me there will be’When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Viktor* was ready to die for his country. He volunteered to defend Kyiv as enemy tanks appeared and joined Ukraine’s armed forces. In the spring of 2023 he was fighting in the village of Tonenke, near the eastern city of Avdiivka. “When I arrived I was super-motivated. If necessary I would give my life,” he recalled.Gradually, however, he became disillusioned. The battle was furious. “The Russians would smash our positions to the ground,” he said. Senior Ukrainian commanders gave unrealistic orders. Then, while he was defending a ruined building, a panel fell on his shoulder. After receiving injections to reduce the pain, he was told to return to the front. “I realised I’m nobody. Just a number,” he said. Continue reading...

Events

25 hours ago Video shows horrifying moment plane explodes in midair collision near Washington DC

A plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members crashed into the Potomac River in the US shortly after 9pm local time at the Ronald Reagan National Airport

Culture

21 hours ago Health nominee RFK Jr to face further grilling at Senate confirmation hearing

Trump’s pick endured tough questions from Bernie Sanders on Wednesday and was accused of ‘peddling half-truths’After Robert F Kennedy’s bruising performance in a heated three-and-a-half-hour Senate confirmation hearing to become America’s top health official on Wednesday, he’s off to the health committee on Thursday morning for round two.The 71-year-old faces another grueling day of questioning from a more health-minded crowd, with Republican chair Bill Cassidy – a physician who caught Kennedy confusing basic facts about Medicare and Medicaid in Wednesday’s session – likely to press further on his grasp of America’s healthcare system. Continue reading...

Science

2 hours ago Stick nation! Why do 3 million people – including me and my kids – love stick reviews?

The internet’s go-to gathering place for those who rate and revere sticks is big and growing fast. The appeal is simple ...The first stick was small, and shaped like a revolver.It was late summer 2023 and two friends, Boone Hogg and Logan Jugler, both 31, were on a late summer hike heading towards Delicate Arch, a 16m red rock formation in Utah’s Arches national park, when Jugler spotted it on the ground. He picked it up and began rating its attributes – colour, shape, flexibility – out of 10, while Hogg filmed. Then they uploaded it to Instagram. Continue reading...

Politics

18 hours ago Six Nations LIVE: Latest news as Sam Prendergast starts for champions Ireland against England

Interim boss Simon Easterby faces a key call at fly half, with Scotland and Italy also set to reveal their line-ups today

Society

15 hours ago UK community worker flying home from US ‘questioned for over an hour’ after eVisa refusal

Marzena Zukowska’s ordeal at Chicago O’Hare airport is the latest in a series of issues facing foreign nationals using their eVisas while travelling back to the UK

Economics

15 hours ago Man City drop huge Rodri return hint as star set for Champions League role

Rodri has been out injured since mid-September following his ACL rupture but the Manchester City and Spain midfielder could be back in action much sooner than expected

Sport

3 hours ago DC crash: All the faces of the American Airlines plane tragedy including Disney performer

All 67 people onboard the American Airlines plane and the Army helicopter, which collided near Reagan National Airport in Washington DC, died, officials confirmed

Events

25 hours ago Footage shows plane with 64 onboard colliding with helicopter near Washington DC

An American Airlines passenger jet collided with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan national airport near Washington DC. Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to conjoin in a fireball. The American Airlines Flight 5342 departed from Wichita, Kansas, according to the FAA. According to American Airlines’ website, the jet has a capacity for up to 65 passengersAmerican Airlines plane and military helicopter collide at airport near Washington DC Continue reading...

Culture

2 hours ago Big knickers, bad decisions and old bats: Renée Zellweger on the return of Bridget Jones

Nearly 25 years after the first film, the actor, her co-stars and the writer Helen Fielding discuss the ultimate singleton, love and loss – and why Bridget Jones is the female James BondMark Darcy is dead. Bridget Jones fans have been grieving since 2013, when Helen Fielding’s third novel, Mad About the Boy, was published sans Bridget’s hot human-rights lawyer husband. The outcry made front page news (as did the copies that were accidentally printed with 40 pages from David Jason’s memoir). People could not believe that romcom’s favourite reindeer-jumper-wearing dish, who proved that – ding dong! – nice men do kiss like that, was no more.“Someone ran out of the pub shouting: ‘You’ve murdered Colin Firth!’” Fielding says over a video call, tulips arranged on a huge wooden table in the background, as well they should in a boho-posh Primrose Hill kitchen. “I just want to point out that he is fictional. Colin Firth is not dead.” Continue reading...

Politics

18 hours ago Three Israelis and five Thai nationals freed in latest hostage release under ceasefire deal with Hamas – live

Israel will reportedly free 110 Palestinian prisoners in exchange Away from Gaza and Israel, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani arrived on Thursday in Damascus, Syria, Al Jazeera reported, the first visit by a foreign head of state since Bashar al-Assad’s fall.The Israeli military said on Thursday that freed Israeli female soldier Agam Berger had been handed over to the army by the Red Cross after her release in Gaza by Hamas. Continue reading...

Economics

16 hours ago Acclaimed BBC murder mystery starring Lesley Manville to return for final instalment

The series was one of BBC's most watched acquired scripted series in 2024.

Sport

3 hours ago Washington DC plane crash live: flight data and cockpit voice recorders recovered, officials say

National Transportation Safety Board announces recorders are now at a lab for evaluation; operation to recover bodies continuesFull report: cockpit voice and flight data recorders recoveredVictims: world champion Russian pair and US skaters were onboard crashed planeVisual guide – how did the DC plane crash unfold?What caused this tragic aviation disaster is not yet known, but the National Transportation Safety Board investigators has said it will have a preliminary report within 30 days.Despite the lack of clarity, newly inaugurated US president Donald Trump has accused his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden of lowering hiring standards and suggested the Federal Aviation Administration’s diversity push could have weakened its capabilities. Continue reading...

Events

2 hours ago Samoa’s prime minister criticises RFK Jr’s vaccine views after deadly measles outbreak

In an exclusive interview, Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa tells the Guardian she is surprised at Trump’s pick for health secretary and criticised anti-vaxxers for their part in 2019 measles crisisSamoa’s prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa, has criticised Robert F Kennedy Jr’s views and the spread of vaccine misinformation related to the deadly 2019 measles outbreak that claimed the lives of at least 83 people, mostly babies in her country.It comes as Kennedy, who is president Donald Trump’s pick to lead the top US health agency, faced attacks in Senate confirmation hearings this week with Democratic lawmakers accusing him of covering up his anti-vaccine views. Continue reading...

Politics

19 hours ago Police record almost half a million shoplifting offences in England and Wales

The Office for National Statistics published the latest crime figures on Thursday.

Economics

19 hours ago Top Six Nations Points Scorers: The 10 players to have scored most points in the tournament

The tournament in its current format has been played since 2000.

Sport

4 hours ago Man says 'I narrowly escaped death' on delayed flight behind American Airlines 5432

The man described himself as being "two minutes away from death", and gave an insight into what happened at Washington's Reagan National Airport as news filtered through

Events

5 hours ago Liverpool transfer briefing: Money is no object and two positions need strengthening, but Reds are still waiting for opportunities to present themselves

LEWIS STEELE: As most of the nation was getting spruced up for New Year's Eve, news started to emerge that Real Madrid had made an approach to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in January.

Politics

19 hours ago First Nations to fight for billions in treaty payments in Canadian court

Group in northern Ontario argues crown failed to honour agreement and capped annual payments in 1874 at $4A group of First Nations in Canada is turning to the courts in the hope of securing billions of dollars in compensation, after accusing the government of failing to engage in “meaningful negotiations” for money owed under a 175-year-old treaty.“The governments’ refusal to come to grips with their treaty obligations has continued 175 years of broken promises, lies and neglect,” Wilfred King, chief of Gull Bay First Nation, said in a statement announcing plans to seek compensation that is “just, liberal, generous and honourable”. Continue reading...

Economics

4 hours ago Washington DC plane crash latest: flight data and cockpit voice recorders recovered, officials say

National Transporation Safety Board announces recorders recovered, which are now reportedly at lab for evaluationOfficials say no survivors expected in DC plane crashFirst known victims include figure-skating championsVisual guide – how did the DC plane crash unfold?Multiple media including the New York Times, Reuters and CNN are saying the Black Hawk helicopter was carrying three soldiers. No senior army officials were onboard, they reported, citing US defence officials.Multiple sources are now saying that about 60 people were onboard the American Airlines plane that collided with the helicopter. Continue reading...

Events

5 hours ago The Crown Princess of swinging London whose tumultuous affair with Mick Jagger nearly destroyed her: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS on the turbulent life of Marianne Faithfull

A unique chanteuse, a chronicler of her era and once proclaimed the most beautiful woman of her generation, Marianne Faithfull was the Crown Princess of Swinging London.

Politics

31 hours ago Investors chose flats and hotels over offices as property deals return

Real estate investment picked up in the second half of 2024, says MSCI, amid hopes of a market recovery

Economics

4 hours ago Sir Clive Woodward's Six Nations ultimate guide: Why it's time for Steve Borthwick and England to deliver, the reason Italy will finish above Scotland ...and who I'm backing to win it all

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: After he missed last year's Six Nations, Antoine Dupont's return for the 2025 Championship is brilliant news not only for France, but for all rugby fans.

Events

7 hours ago Rocky theme Eye of the Tiger has been named the nation’s top commute tune

Eighties hit Eye of the Tiger has been named as the top tune to get people in the mood for work after the movie banger was used as theme to help e for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa

Politics

31 hours ago Investors choose flats and hotels over offices as property deals return

Real estate investment picked up in the second half of 2024, says MSCI, amid hopes of a market recovery

Economics

5 hours ago Inside Wales' Six Nations revival bid: The genius who rebuilds army officers, a cold

ALEX BYWATER: The most important person in Wales's bid to turn around their record slump in this year's Six Nations is arguably not coach Warren Gatland or any of his players.

Events

10 hours ago BBC The Apprentice: What happened to Claude Littner and why was he replaced?

The Apprentice is set to return for its 19th series and fans are questioning the absence of Claude Littner as Lord Alan Sugar's right-hand man in the BBC boardroom

Politics

5 hours ago Washington plane crash: cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder recovered

Recorders from plane are currently at National Transportation Safety Board labs for analysis, agency saysWashington DC plane crash – latest updatesFirst confirmed victims include figure-skating championsInvestigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the plane involved in Wednesday night’s mid-air collision with a US military helicopter that killed all 67 people onboard both aircraft.The recorders are currently at the National Transportation Safety Board labs for analysis, the agency said on Thursday evening, and are expected to shed light on exactly what went wrong. Preliminary reports raised questions over whether understaffing in an air traffic control tower at the Washington DC airport played a role in the United States’ worst aviation disaster in years. Continue reading...

Events

10 hours ago Kash Patel says FBI wouldn’t seek retribution against Trump opponents; at least five senior agency leaders reportedly demoted or moved – live

Trump’s nominee to lead FBI also denied having an ‘enemies list’; Tulsi Gabbard faces sharp criticism over past comments sympathetic to RussiaRFK Jr dodges clear answers on vaccines on second day of hearingsGabbard grilled on Snowden, Hezbollah and Putin in tense Senate hearingHere’s some more reaction to Donald Trump’s executive order instructing the military to prepare to house 30,000 immigrants at the US naval base in Cuba.“Guantánamo is a stain on our nation’s honor,” Jerry Nadler, a Democratic congressman from New York, said.For years, I have advocated for its closure, condemning the abuses and glaring lack of accountability that persist there. This massive expansion into a mass detention camp is morally indefensible & raises significant civil liberties concerns.We cannot allow this level of dehumanization to become normalized. We need to shut down Guantánamo once and for all. Continue reading...

Politics

5 hours ago 2 Navajo men and a business partner are indicted for illegal marijuana grow operations

A federal grand jury has indicted a Navajo man, his father and a business partner on charges that they were running illegal marijuana growing operations in New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation to supply the black market

Events

10 hours ago Natalie Cassidy QUITS EastEnders: Star says goodbye to playing Sonia Fowler after nearly 32 years

The actress, 41, has announced she will be leaving the BBC soap for good following her return last year for its 40th anniversary.

Politics

6 hours ago Ukraine war briefing: elderly couples among nine killed in Russian drone attack

Thirteen people wounded, including eight-year-old girl, in Sumy apartment block attack. Sweden pledges $1.2bn in Ukraine military aid, its biggest pledge yet. What we know on day 1,073See all our Ukraine war coverageA Russian drone attack on a residential block killed nine people including three elderly couples in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials said on Thursday. Images distributed by the emergency services showed a gaping hole in the facade of the long block of flats and rescue workers digging through debris for survivors. “This is a terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime. It is very important that the world does not pause in putting pressure on Russia for this terror,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media. National Police later said the search operation had been completed after 19 hours, with rescuers finding nine bodies in the ruins, while 13 people were wounded. Among the dead were three couples – men and women between the ages of 61 and 74 – Ukr...

Events

11 hours ago Tulsi Gabbard’s hopes of becoming Trump's director of national intelligence rest in the hands of two Republican senators

Analysis: Democrats grandstanded, but it might be the questioning of two Republican hawks that sinks Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, Eric Garcia reports

Politics

6 hours ago DC plane crash widow reveals fateful choice that killed husband and saved her life

Natalya Gudin and her husband Alexandr Kirsanov coached two young figure skaters and had to decide who would accompany them to the National Development Camp for figure skating.

Events

11 hours ago Tulsi Gabbard grilled on Snowden, Assad and Putin in tense Senate hearing

Skeptical senators ruthlessly questioned Trump’s national intelligence director nominee ahead of confirmation voteUS politics live – latest updatesTulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, refused to call the whistleblower Edward Snowden a “traitor” but sought to rein in her unorthodox views on foreign dictators and opposition to electronic surveillance during a tense confirmation hearing that could sink her nomination to oversee the country’s sprawling intelligence community.In a three-hour hearing before the Senate intelligence committee, Gabbard, a former congresswoman and member of the Hawaii army national guard, partially recanted her views that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, said she had “no love” for the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and denied meeting with Hezbollah representatives during a trip to Lebanon in 2017. Continue reading...

Politics

7 hours ago Damning report shows how years of Tory failure impacted violence against women

The National Audit Office says it 'cannot be confident' that Government departments have done the best they can, pointing to delays actioning a 2021 strategy tackling violence against women and girls

Events

11 hours ago Kash Patel says FBI wouldn’t seek retribution against Trump’s opponents; Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr face questions from senators – live

Trump’s nominee to lead FBI also denied having an ‘enemies list’; Tulsi Gabbard faces sharp criticism over past comments sympathetic to RussiaRFK Jr dodges clear answers on vaccines on second day of hearingsHere’s some more reaction to Donald Trump’s executive order instructing the military to prepare to house 30,000 immigrants at the US naval base in Cuba.“Guantánamo is a stain on our nation’s honor,” Jerry Nadler, a Democratic congressman from New York, said.For years, I have advocated for its closure, condemning the abuses and glaring lack of accountability that persist there. This massive expansion into a mass detention camp is morally indefensible & raises significant civil liberties concerns.We cannot allow this level of dehumanization to become normalized. We need to shut down Guantánamo once and for all. Continue reading...

Politics

7 hours ago ‘Epidemic’ of violence against women and girls in UK is getting worse – report

National Audit Office says government attempts to tackle misogynistic violence are hampered by poor coordinationAn “epidemic of violence against women and girls” in the UK is getting worse despite years of government promises and strategies, a highly critical report from Whitehall’s spending watchdog has said.The National Audit Office report comes four years after a major government response to violence against women and girls (VAWG) was launched after the murders of Sabina Nessa and Sarah Everard.The Home Office did not have “centrally coordinated funding” for VAWG, unlike that for the 2021 illegal drugs strategy, and had underspent on its own VAWG budget by an average of 15% between 2021-22 and 2023-24.There was no consistent definition for VAWG – the Home Office includes all victims, while police forces only include women and girls – which “made it difficult to measure progress in a consistent way”.While 78% of the commitments in the strategy had been met by July 2024, several we...

Events

11 hours ago ‘Did they learn nothing?’: Auschwitz survivor to return German honour over AfD vote role

Albrecht Weinberg ‘horrified’ that MPs relied on far-right party to pass anti-immigration motionA 99-year-old Holocaust survivor has said he will return his federal order of merit to the German president in protest over MPs passing an anti-immigration motion in parliament with the support of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.Albrecht Weinberg, whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz, told the Guardian he was “horrified” on learning that a proposal submitted by the conservative parties had relied on the anti-immigrant, xenophobic AfD to get it over the line. Continue reading...

Politics

7 hours ago Watch: NTSB holds press conference after Washington DC plane crash kills 67

Watch again as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a press conference on Thursday (30 January) after 67 people were killed in a collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.

Events

12 hours ago He prowled schoolgirls on the streets beneath Mancunian Way for years, now he's been caged

Robert Emmerson targeted lone women and "was so brazen that he attacked them in the daytime"

Politics

8 hours ago American Airlines CEO under fire for 'lack of respect' with outfit during briefing about DC plane crash

Robert Isom issued a heartfelt message to family members whose loved ones were onboard the passenger flight that crashed with a military helicopter at Reagan International Airport.

Events

12 hours ago Patrick Dorgu Man United transfer verdict given as academy graduate claim made

The versatile wing-back is closing in on a move - but some want to see an old face return

Politics

9 hours ago We must reform the post or nationwide service cannot survive, says Royal Mail chief exec EMMA GILTHORPE

We want to protect what makes Royal Mail unique and continue to serve 32m addresses across the UK for the same price, however remote they may be.

Events

12 hours ago French rugby needs some Dupont magic to blow away clouds of scandal | Andy Bull

Return of inspirational captain will make a difference on the pitch, but taint of player misconduct is hard to eraseAntoine Dupont doesn’t do many interviews. “I don’t necessarily like to talk about myself,” he has said, “to do yet another interview where I talk about what I’ve done, how I’ve played, and how my game has evolved; honestly, it tires me more than anything else these days.” But after France’s last grand slam, he did sit down to record a podcast with the entrepreneur Alexandre Mars, which ended with a game of word association. “Rugby?” Mars says. “Ball,” Dupont replies. “Toulouse?” “Rugby”; “Galthié?” “Glasses”; “Travel?” “Family”; “Idol?” “Michalak”; “France 2023?” “Victory”; “Paris 2024?” “Victory.”Three years later, Dupont has notched up one of those last two achievements. Last summer he led the French sevens team to victory in the Paris Olympics in – shut your eyes and picture it – one of the great seven-minute stretches of sport, with two tries and an assist as they...

Politics

9 hours ago First contestant fired as The Apprentice kicks off in the Austrian Alps

The show will return at 9pm next Thursday on BBC One.

Events

12 hours ago Why Gregor Townsend ended 34y/o's Scotland exile with Six Nations surprise pick

Gray also returns for Scotland’s opening game against Italy

Politics

9 hours ago Washington plane crash: questions arise over understaffing at control tower

One controller reportedly handled arrivals and departures, and also helicopter traffic – a job usually done by two peopleWashington DC plane crash – latest updatesFirst confirmed victims include figure-skating championsA collision on Wednesday between an American Airlines jet and a US military helicopter near Washington DC killed all 67 people onboard both aircraft and sparked questions over whether understaffing in an air traffic control tower played a role in the United States’ worst aviation disaster in years.As it approached Reagan National airport around 9pm, American Eagle flight 5342 collided with a US army Black Hawk helicopter, plunging wreckage of the two aircraft into the icy Potomac River and killing all 64 passengers and crew on the plane, along with three soldiers on the helicopter. Continue reading...

Events

13 hours ago PlayStation's PS Plus service cuts off free games for 49 million subscribers

PlayStation has revealed that PS4 games will be deprioritized by PS Plus updates starting next year, marking a new, quieter era for the console.

Politics

9 hours ago Door appeared ajar on a kit plane in California crash that killed 2 and injured 19

A door was apparently not fully closed on a homebuilt airplane that crashed in Southern California earlier this month

Events