42 h. ago Take away our language and we will forget who we are: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the language of conquest

The late Kenyan novelist and activist believed erasing language was the most lasting weapon of oppression. Here, Aminatta Forna recalls the man and introduces his essay on decolonisationIn the 1930s, it was common for British missionaries to change the names of African school pupils to biblical names. The change wasn’t “just for school” – it was intended to be for ever. So Ngũgĩ became James and my father, Mohamed, became Moses. While many students retained their new names throughout their lives, Ngũgĩ and my father changed theirs back, though you can still find early editions of Ngũgĩ’s first book, Weep Not, Child, under the name of “James Ngugi”. With the novel, Ngũgĩ established himself as a writer and later, by reclaiming his Kikuyu identity as an activist, began a process of decolonisation that he would explore in one of his most famous nonfiction works, Decolonising the Mind (1986), which challenged the dominance of European languages in African education and literature. Ngũgĩ...

Politics

45 h. ago Death of Prince William's businessman pal who 'collapsed after swallowing a bee' sparks a £3billion inheritance row

Sunjay Kapur, 53, collapsed in front of horrified teammates during the game at Guards Polo Club in Windsor.

Economics

4 d. ago The Tennessee execution that ‘went horribly wrong’: how Byron Black’s killing unfolded

Witnesses say disabled death-row man was in distress upon gurney, while lawyer calls execution ‘100% botched’For attorney Kelley Henry, the visible blood was the first indication that the execution of her client was going wrong.At 10.15am on Tuesday inside the Riverbend maximum security prison in Nashville, the longtime Tennessee death row lawyer watched as staff attempted to place an IV into the right arm of Byron Black. Black was locked on to a gurney with crisscrossing black straps over his chest, stomach and legs, and Henry saw blood ooze from the injection site. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Son battered frail father, 78, to death with dumbbell in row over £40

Aston Lambert was found guilty of murdering his father by a jury at Southwark Crown Court

Economics

7 d. ago Death row inmate screams out in pain during execution after state refused to remove heart device

Byron Black, 69, was killed by lethal injection for the deaths of Angela Clay, 29, and her daughters, Latoya, nine, and Lakeisha, six, on Tuesday.

Events

7 d. ago Child murderer's five last words after injection on death row amid defibrillator row

Byron Black, who was convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two young daughters in the 1980s, was given a lethal injection at a jail in Nashville, Tennessee

Events

8 d. ago Death row inmates challenge new Arkansas law allowing executions by nitrogen gas

Several Arkansas death row inmates have sued the state to block a new law allowing executions by nitrogen gas

Society

9 d. ago Grim photo shows nightmarish conditions Bryan Kohberger faces after being moved to notorious J

The quadruple killer, 30, was moved to long-term isolation in a notoriously restrictive block of the Idaho prison where he will spend the rest of his life.

Culture

3 w. ago 34 men who ended up on Death Row have one thing in common – they all went to same school

Michael Bell is the latest Florida inmate to be executed - the convicted murderer was one of 34 former students of the notorious Dozier School for Boys known for systematic abuse

Events

3 w. ago Nike fans are just learning creepy meaning behind 'Just Do It' slogan after 37 years

One of the world's most successful and most famous marketing slogans, Nike's 'Just Do It' is hiding a much more sinister past with ties to a convicted Death Row murderer

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Our silence didn’t protect him’: daughter pleads for father on death row in Iran

Arrested in 2023 after helping those injured during Women, Life, Freedom protests, Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri has been subjected to torture and a forced confession, say family and campaignersIn late October 2022, as protests over 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody swept across Iran, Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri, a father of three, was racing through alleyways in the city of Bukan, in western Iran, carrying medical supplies to secret clinics where doctors treated injured demonstrators in defiance of the state.Many of the wounded were too afraid to seek hospital care after reports of secret police patrolling wards, interrogating patients and detaining injured protesters. By helping, Babamiri, a 47-year-old fruit and vegetable farmer, did not see himself as a revolutionary but simply as someone doing what was right, says his daughter, Zhino. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Victim’s family refuses to pardon Indian nurse on death row in Yemen: ‘Blood cannot be bought’

Brother of victim denounces moves to delay execution of Nimisha Priya

Events

3 w. ago Killer inmates on America's harshest death row get rare privileges and incredible new perk

The program allows the selected prisoners to spend several hours a day outside their cells and allows them to enjoy communal meals, TV time, prayer circles and - for the first time in decades - direct human contact

Events

3 w. ago America's harshest death row grants killer inmates incredible new perk

Rodolfo 'Rudy' Alvarez Medrano, 45, a Texas death row inmate, is among a select group of about a dozen prisoners chosen for a groundbreaking program.

Events

4 w. ago Yemen postpones execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya on death row

Postponement of Nimisha Priya’s execution is only a temporary relief as efforts being made to secure pardon from victim’s kin

Events

4 w. ago Murderer's 14 last words as he's given lethal injection on Florida's death row

Michael Bernard Bell, who killed two people outside a bar in Florida more than 30 years ago, became the 26th person to be executed on death row in the US this year

Events

4 w. ago Florida death row killer executed for 1993 double murder in botched revenge shooting

Marking the United States' 26th execution of 2025, murderer Michael Bernard Bell was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke

Events

4 w. ago Brit mum's horrifying final wish as she awaits firing squad on Bali death row

Lindsay Sandiford, 64, was sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2013 after she was caught trying to smuggle £1.6million of cocaine into Bali - and she has spent the last 12 years on death row

Sport

4 w. ago Brit drug smuggling mum facing death by firing squad horrifying final wish

Lindsay Sandiford is the second Briton to face the death penalty in Indonesia after being caught with £1.6million worth of cocaine - she has spent the last 12 years on death row

Events