98 m. ago ‘What reconciliation? What forgiveness?’: Syria’s deadly reckoning

Over a few brutal days in March, as sectarian violence and revenge killings tore through parts of Syria, two friends from different communities tried to find a way to surviveOn the night of 6 March, Munir, his wife and their two sons, both in their 20s, got no sleep. They huddled together in a small bedroom in their apartment as government troops and militiamen entered their neighbourhood of Qusour in the coastal city of Baniyas and went from house to house. The fighters seemed to be moving through the streets with little coordination. One house might get raided by five separate groups, while others were left untouched. “There was no plan,” Munir said, “just violence and looting.”The first question the fighters were asking when they stormed into an apartment was: “Are you a Sunni or an Alawite?” The answer decided the fate of the residents. Sunnis were spared – although in some cases their apartments were looted. When the raiders found an Alawite home, some stole what they...

Events

3 h. ago Sudan landslide kills at least 1,000 people, rebel group says

The landslide destroyed a village in the Marra Mountains area of western Sudan and left only one survivorMore than 1,000 people were killed in a landslide in western Sudan on Sunday, according to a rebel group that controls the area.The landslide destroyed a village in the Marra Mountains area of western Sudan and left only one survivor, said the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army. Continue reading...

Events

3 h. ago Saving the world’s fattest parrot: can New Zealand vaccinate its rare species before bird flu gets to them?

In the last continent to remain untouched by the virus, hopes are being pinned on immunisation as migration season approachesIt is easy to imagine how it could happen. A petrel, flying east from the Indian Ocean at the end of the Austral winter, makes landfall at New Zealand’s southern Codfish Island/Whenua Hou. Tired from its long journey, the petrel seeks refuge in the burrow of a green kākāpō: a critically endangered flightless species that is the world’s fattest parrot.If the seabird intrudes when the kākāpō is primed to breed, the male parrot may attempt to mate with the smaller petrel, accidentally smothering it in the process. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago Madeleine McCann expert intervenes in America's 'most disturbing disappearance'

Amy Bradley went missing during a cruise with her family 27 years ago, and her disappearance was brought back to the spotlight thanks to a new Netflix documentary that came out this summer

Events

6 h. ago 'Tinder rapist' survived on berries after faking his own death and fleeing to Spain

James Clacher, 57, who accused of raping two women, told police he survived on berries and puddle water after staging his own death - then fled to Spain where he was arrested on a beach

Events

7 h. ago Trump says he’d consider reopening ‘insane asylums’ to help clean up some of the nation’s biggest cities

The President claimed that America’s streets would be safer if more people are forced into long-term psychiatric care — although he admitted it would be ‘massively expensive’

Politics

8 h. ago Rudy Giuliani leaves hospital days after serious wreck left him with a broken vertebra

‘This is a man who survived 9/11—so a little car accident won’t be slowing him down,’ his spokesperson said

Politics

8 h. ago Dad's emotional bid to move family to childhood home refused by council

"We have endured a lot of issues over the past few years, and all we want to do is move to my mother's house and start afresh."

Society

9 h. ago Liverpool sign Alexander Isak in British transfer record £125m deal from Newcastle

Isak signs six-year deal and ‘wants to create history’Deal for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi falls throughLiverpool broke the British transfer record to sign Alexander Isak for £125m from Newcastle on deadline day but were foiled in an attempt to end a stunning window with a deal for Marc Guéhi.On a contrasting day for the Premier League champions, Isak underwent a medical on Merseyside before signing a six-year contract worth around £300,000 a week. Liverpool also stepped up efforts to sign the Crystal Palace captain, Guéhi, who had a medical in London in anticipation of joining Arne Slot’s side after Steve Parish, the Palace chair, accepted £35m plus £5m in add-ons for the defender. Continue reading...

Economics

10 h. ago Coronation Street fans 'sob' as Carla Connor moment sparks 'should have been' reaction

After her failed proposal attempt last month, the Underworld factory boss set about popping the question to Lisa Swain

Politics

10 h. ago The Smashing Machine review – Dwayne Johnson only possible casting for crisis

Former pro wrestler Johnson takes on the role of man-mountain Kerr who goes into meltdown when the unthinkable happens – he losesBenny Safdie has written and directed a solid bro drama for the UFC fanbase and maybe a little way beyond. It is about the central crisis in the life of man-mountain Mark Kerr, America’s pioneering MMA and ultimate fighting champ, who in 1997 found himself in the ring, or maybe the cage, with his demons after the unthinkable humiliation of losing for the first time.This feature is in fact developed from a 2002 documentary about Kerr with the same title. He confronted his substance abuse, relationship anxieties and the question of what the heck life is for if you can’t simply win all the time. Kerr is played by Dwayne Johnson, a colossus of muscle topped off with a head the size of Indiana Jones’s boulder, a body on which the only visible fat is rippling at the nape of his neck. Johnson’s appearance is modified by close-cut frizzy hair and facial prosthetic...

Politics

10 h. ago The Smashing Machine review – Dwayne Johnson only possible casting as crisis

Former pro wrestler Johnson takes on the role of man-mountain Kerr who goes into meltdown when the unthinkable happens – he losesBenny Safdie has written and directed a solid bro drama for the UFC fanbase and maybe a little way beyond. It is about the central crisis in the life of man-mountain Mark Kerr, America’s pioneering MMA and ultimate fighting champ, who in 1997 found himself in the ring, or maybe the cage, with his demons after the unthinkable humiliation of losing for the first time.This feature is in fact developed from a 2002 documentary about Kerr with the same title. He confronted his substance abuse, relationship anxieties and the question of what the heck life is for if you can’t simply win all the time. Kerr is played by Dwayne Johnson, a colossus of muscle topped off with a head the size of Indiana Jones’s boulder, a body on which the only visible fat is rippling at the nape of his neck. Johnson’s appearance is modified by close-cut frizzy hair and facial prosthetic...

Politics

10 h. ago Emmerdale fans spot 'missing link' as they 'work out' Mackenzie Boyd's fate

As Mackenzie Boyd finds himself held captive, his attempt to charm John Sugden turned sour

Events

11 h. ago Epstein, America’s health and government shutdown: Congress to return with a full plate of Trump’s agenda

Congress will face a vote on Jeffrey Epstein files, passing spending bills and preventing a spike in health care premiums when it comes back to Washington, Eric Garcia writes

Politics

11 h. ago The Guardian view on Donald Trump and India: the tariff war that boosted China | Editorial

The White House wanted India to bow. Instead, Narendra Modi flew to China, shook Xi Jinping’s hand and left Washington sidelined Donald Trump’s imperial tendencies see the US president wield tariffs and sanctions in the expectation that America will receive tributes. Yet his latest move – punishing India with 50% tariffs for Russian oil purchases once encouraged by the US – has produced not submission but spectacle. It has sent India’s Narendra Modi to China for the first time in seven years as Xi Jinping hosted more than 20 leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. And it is in Tianjin, not Washington, where it looks as if the hinge of history is moving.The SCO is easy to dismiss: the bloc is a bundle of contradictions. India and Pakistan remain adversaries. China and India still stare across a garrisoned Himalayan frontier, though relations have thawed since last October’s border breakthrough. Russia and China vie for influence in Central Asia. Unl...

Politics

12 h. ago Afghanistan earthquake kills more than 800 and injures another 2,500 as rescuers search rubble for survivors

Officials warn death toll could rise as rescue efforts hampered by landslides

Events

12 h. ago The Thursday Murder Club cast on who would survive a real murder mystery

Naomi Ackie and Daniel Mays sit down with us to talk all things The Thursday Murder Club – from what it was like stepping onto set with legendary acting icons like Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley and Pierce Brosnan, to who in the cast would survive (and who wouldn’t) in a real-life murder mystery.

Events

12 h. ago Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing

Prospectus proposes forced displacement of entire population and puts territory into US trusteeshipA plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population.The Washington Post published on Sunday a leaked prospectus for the plan, which would see the forced displacement of Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people, and put the territory into a US trusteeship for at least a decade. Continue reading...

Politics

12 h. ago Judge blasts Trump team’s ‘startling’ attempt to rapidly deport immigrants: ‘Violates due process’

Fast-tracked removal process central to the president’s mass deportation agenda risks illegal deportations, judge says

Events

12 h. ago Starmer’s reshuffle and stories about Rayner reveal trouble at the top of the Labour party

Keir Starmer has attempted to take back control of his government with a mini-reshuffle on MPs return from recess. But tension at the top of the party has not gone away, political editor David Maddox reports

Events