62 m. ago Mum ready for Christmas in AUGUST as she reveals £2k of presents already wrapped

Summer may only just be coming to an end, but the most organised of gift givers are already planning ahead for Christmas, and in doing so, are saving themselves a lot of stress

Economics

1 hour ago Specsavers director is suspended for wrongfully billing £80k on expenses including Secret Santa gift and hotel stays

Mark Edgar, 45, used the multinational optician's money to pay for taxis, car repairs, meals and hotel stays when tensions were high at home with his partner and baby.

Economics

2 h. ago Italy looks at hiding state flight paths after jamming of Von Der Leyen plane

EU member states debate how to make leaders’ flights more secure as Russia blamed for GPS lossEurope live – latest updatesItaly is considering keeping state flights secret after the satellite signal of the aircraft carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was allegedly jammed by Russia, Italian defence ministry sources said.Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Moscow’s war in Ukraine, was flying to Bulgaria on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids, delaying its arrival in Plovdiv, and reportedly forcing it to circle an airport for an hour. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Italy considers hiding state flight paths after jamming of von der Leyen plane

EU member states debate how to make leaders’ flights more secure as Russia blamed for GPS lossEurope live – latest updatesItaly is considering keeping state flights secret after the satellite signal of the aircraft carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was allegedly jammed by Russia, Italian defence ministry sources said.Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Moscow’s war in Ukraine, was flying to Bulgaria on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids, delaying its arrival in Plovdiv, and reportedly forcing it to circle an airport for an hour. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago This eyebrow pencil gives me perfect arches in just 10 seconds

Benefit’s precisely brow pencil is a number one bestseller for good reason

Politics

3 h. ago Putin accuses Europe of spreading 'hysterical horror stories' about a Russian invasion after France and Germany warned of possible attack

Vladimir Putin has today accused Europe of spreading 'hysteria' and 'horror stories', after France and Germany warned of a possible Russian attack.

Events

4 h. ago North Korean soldiers didn't know they were fighting for Putin as last words revealed

Around 4,000 of the 14,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to the front line to fight for Russia are believed to have been killed in combat but many did not know they were being sent to Ukraine

Politics

4 h. ago Kim Jong Un loses 2,000 North Korean troops killed in Putin's Ukraine war

North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un has sent a devastating number of troops to their deaths on the Ukraine 'meat-grinder' frontline, it has emerged, as he arrives by armoured train in Beijing for an 'anti-NATO summit'

Events

4 h. ago Furious business owner cracks down on sneaky shoplifters after releasing CCTV of rubber ducks, bath bombs and chocolate being swiped

A fuming business owner is cracking down on thieves who repeatedly raid his gift shop - to steal rubber ducks.

Economics

4 h. ago Ukraine war latest: Putin claims Russia has no intention of attacking anyone after launching daytime strike on Kyiv

Putin also claimed Moscow has never opposed Ukraine's potential membership of the European Union

Events

5 h. ago Europe live: Putin claims he never opposed EU membership for Ukraine but draws line at Nato

Russian leader, continuing China visit, is joined by Slovakia’s Robert FicoOver in Beijing, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has met with Slovak prime minister Robert Fico, with the pair giving brief statements to the media in the last few minutes.In his remarks, Putin said that that Moscow had never opposed Ukraine’s potential membership of the European Union, and dismissed claims that Moscow was somehow planning to attack Europe. Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Xi hails relationship with Putin despite ‘international changes’ as China hosts Ukraine aggressors

Xi Jinping, flanked by Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, will oversee a major military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Wednesday

Politics

5 h. ago Freddie Mercury's 'secret' daughter unable to prove identity for sad reason

Queen fans have been up in arms over author Lesley-Ann Jones' claims that Freddie Mercury has a secret daughter

Events

5 h. ago Kim Jong Un arrives in China as President Xi challenges Trump with bid to establish new world order at anti

The North Korean leader's rare trip marks his first visit to China in six years and comes as the trio tighten their alliance in a direct challenge to the West.

Politics

6 h. ago Tainted love: how Ukrainians are ridding themselves of Russian

Putin’s invasion has seen Ukrainian book lovers recoil from Russian literary dominance, by a range of meansOne day this summer, the Ukrainian artist Stanislav Turina took two of his books to his garden near Kyiv. One was a volume of poems by Alexander Pushkin.But Turina – a voracious reader, never without a couple of books in his backpack – had no plans to pick it up again. Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago 'My Manchester flight had to make emergency landing due to passenger's selfish act'

A woman travelling abroad said her flight from Manchester was forced to make an emergency landing for a baffling reason. It was all said to be down to a passenger's "selfish act"

Politics

6 h. ago Kim Jong Un rides his trademark green train to China. He also has a plane, limos and white horses

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to arrive in China aboard his trademark green armored train

Events

6 h. ago Xi Jinping accuses West of ‘bullying behaviour’ and ‘Cold War mentality’ at showpiece summit with Putin

The Chinese leader made a thinly veiled swipe at Trump’s tariff policy as he unveiled a new economic vision for non-western countries

Politics

6 h. ago Europe live: US treasury secretary indicates growing frustration with Putin over Ukraine

Scott Bessent says ‘all options on the table’ and condemns ‘despicable’ increase in attacks as Russian leader receives warm welcome in Chinain BrusselsBelgium will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly, adding to the growing number of countries seeking to put pressure on Israel and keep alive a two-state solution to end the conflict.“In view of the humanitarian tragedy playing out in Palestine and particularly in Gaza, and in the face of the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and the Hamas terrorists.” Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago A Short History of Stupidity by Stuart Jeffries review – comfortably dumb?

From Shakespeare’s fools to Donald Trump, this exhilarating read considers stupidity in its many formsStupidity, no question, can be just as rich and subtle as its opposite. Three and a half decades on, I still sometimes meditate on what a school friend of mine said in a here’s-a-profound-thought tone of voice: “I’d rather be stupid than happy”.In this clever book, Stuart Jeffries starts out at a double disadvantage, though. First: he has an excellently snappy title but it’s open to question whether stupidity can be said to have a history in any meaningful sense. The quality of stupidity is just, sort of, there; and there’s lots of it. Could you write a history of happiness, or bad luck, or knees? You’d be on firmer ground, as he recognises, historicising the concept of stupidity: a short history, in other words, of “stupidity” – how successive societies and thinkers have defined and responded to reason’s derr-brained secret sharer. As an intellectual historian w...

Politics