3 d. ago Bruno Fernandes' Man Utd exit plan in doubt as secret release clause details come to light

Bruno Fernandes opted to stay at Manchester United this season despite interest from the Saudi Pro League but his longer term future remains a topic of speculation

Politics

4 d. ago Ukraine drones fly 1,250 miles to punch holes in Putin's air defences and target oil sites deep inside Russia

Kyiv is launching air raids deep into Russia with a small number of drones seeking to find holes in Putin's air defences

Events

5 d. ago Chelsea feel transfer vindication as Estevao stars on 'special' night

Blues get glimpse into future as young stars show exciting potential in Champions League rout

Sport

2 w. ago A lasting peace between Israel and Palestine? We’ve heard that before – the result was more bloodshed | Jason Burke

In 1982, Ronald Reagan picked up the phone to Menachem Begin to tell him to end a war. There are lessons from history and we need to learn themSo, which year are we in? A US president, after months of tacit encouragement, has finally intervened to end an Israeli military offensive that has reduced swaths of a Middle Eastern city to rubble, leaving thousands dead and prompting global outrage. For months, the UN has looked on, impotent, as Israeli air raids and artillery shelling has pummelled apartment blocks and refugee camps beside the Mediterranean. The Israeli offensive’s target, according to its architect, is a “kingdom of terror”.The offensive has come after a series of attacks on Israel. Now, under pressure from the White House, the Israeli prime minister, a rightwinger with a gift for populist rhetoric and an intense sense of historic Zionist mission, has agreed to a ceasefire. So too have the Palestinian armed factions, which have faced the massive firepower of the Israeli m...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘After the reading, the poets hold each other’: what happens when Ukraine’s largest literary festival comes under Russian attack

Fiona Benson was invited to Lviv’s BookForum by Ukrainian poet-soldier Artur Dron’. She recounts falling in love with the city and its thriving literary culture, before an air raid siren soundsI had been working on Exeter University’s Ukrainian Wartime Poetry project for two years when the invitation came to travel to the country’s largest literary festival. I didn’t exactly relish the prospect of a journey to a war zone, but I was assured that visiting BookForum in Lviv, a city so far west it’s practically in Poland, would be safe. I had been leading poetry workshops with exiles and editing translations of Ukrainian poetry, including soldier Artur Dron‘’s collection We Were Here, published last November. So, when Artur and his translator – the incredible poet Yuliya Musakovska – asked me and language professor Hugh Roberts to attend, I couldn’t say no.What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with the city: its gorgeous architecture, its cafes, its parks full of trees, and its write...

Events

2 w. ago Ruben Amorim sack stance as Sir Jim Ratcliffe gives strong response to Glazers intervening

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been speaking about Ruben Amorim following a mixed start to the new Premier League season, which has seen the head coach's future come into question

Politics

2 w. ago Senior rugby figures believe rebel R360 league all but dead after unions’ statement

Players who sign up would be ineligible for national sidesProposed event yet to be sanctioned by World RugbySenior global rugby figures believe the rebel R360 venture is all but dead unless it can find a way to appease the world’s top nations. In a dramatic move the leading unions collectively made clear this week that players involved in the R360 competition would be ineligible for their national sides and have warned them to treat offers with “extreme caution”.Privately there is a widespread view that those pushing the R360 concept, fronted by the England World Cup winner Mike Tindall, now face a struggle to get the project off the ground if the world’s top male and female players are required to forfeit their international futures to join the rebel league. Continue reading...

Sport

3 w. ago Air raids are the new trend as Premier League goes back to the future

Set pieces, long throws and generally getting it launched are back with a vengeance amid a notable tactical shiftTo see a world in a grain of Wayne Rooney, an eternity in a robot‑voiced YouTube tactics clip. To find yourself submerged in a vast rolling wave of information in the course of only seven rounds of Premier League games.As English football enters its latest international break it is a little startling to think we have had only 70 Premier League matches to this point, with 310 more still to go through the slog of autumn into spring. Seven rounds of games? Really? Is that all? Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Uefa’s ‘reluctant’ agreement to league games abroad has blown the future of football wide open

The governing body has agreed to two ‘exceptional’ requests and warned they will not set a precedent - but ripping up the rulebook opens the door to every disruptor to come

Sport