3 hours ago Christmas Eve and Boxing Day 2024 opening hours for Home Bargains, B&M, Primark and more

Here is a handy guide on when all your favourite high street retailers will be operating at during the Christmas period this year.

Politics

11 hours ago Victoria bushfire fight continues in Grampians as flood warnings persist in parts of Queensland

Firefighters battle to contain out-of-control blaze ahead of hotter conditions on Boxing DayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFirefighters battled to contain an out-of-control bushfire in Victoria’s west on Sunday before temperatures spike in the region on Boxing Day.The fire in Grampians National park, about three hours west of Melbourne, grew to 34,000 hectares on Sunday after it was ignited by a series of lightning strikes almost a week ago.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Events

15 hours ago What does the Winter Solstice mean for your star sign? From 'party animal' Geminis to 'secretive' Scorpios

As the sun in the UK creeps up bit by bit, it signals changes to come in the cosmos - but what does that mean for your star sign?

Society

23 hours ago Thousands greet dawn with cheers at Stonehenge to mark winter solstice

The neolithic monument in Wiltshire is built on the alignment of the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset.

Politics

23 hours ago Winter Solstice: Pagans, druids and tourists descend on Stonehenge to mark the shortest day of the year

Revellers cheered and beat drums as the sun rose at 8:09 am over the giant standing stones on the winter solstice - the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere

Politics

26 hours ago Country diary: A needle of solstice sunlight reaches into my deep past | Mary Montague

County Meath, Ireland: The very existence of this 5,000-year-old monument, called Newgrange, is remarkable enough. On the shortest day it has truly magical qualitiesThe darkness was tomb-black. Through all of our breathing, the spell thickened as a needle of light stole across the chamber’s floor. The mind is a strange thing, hovering between past and future, aware of its own ability to draw meaning from an occurrence. As the glow lit our shadowy faces, we smiled and murmured with pleasure, but it was stronger emotion that brimmed my eyes.We were inside Newgrange, a neolithic monument built about 5,000 years ago by people who studied the sun’s movement with sufficient attention to pinpoint the moment when the season changed. To catch that brief occurrence, they built a cantilevered stone chamber and covered it with a mound of earth. Above the entrance to the passage from the outside world, they fixed a narrow aperture aligned to the winter solstice. On that day, a clear dawn floods ...

Politics