75 m. ago Israel and Iran both threaten escalation as Trump says they must ‘make a deal’ – live updates

Death toll mounts in Israel and Iran as both countries threaten further response after trading strikes overnightIsraeli forces have opened fire on people at several aid distribution sites in Gaza, killing at least five civilians, according to Palestinian media.The news agency Wafa reports three people were killed and others injured at the former Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, according to medical sources and eyewitnesses. Continue reading...

Politics

85 m. ago Couple fed up of being stared at in pubs 'because we are lesbians' open Merthyr's first gay bar

Freya Curtis and Kate Bailey knew what it was like not to have a safe space as LGBTQ+ people growing up in a small town, so they created their own

Politics

91 m. ago How a Pentagon account on X became Pete Hegseth’s personal cheerleader

Department’s rapid response team is weaponizing the social platform to champion defense secretary and attack rivalsWhile it’s true no president or political leader has ever used social media quite as prolifically as Donald Trump, no recent secretary of defense has ever weaponized X or any other platform, quite like former Fox & Friends weekend host, Pete Hegseth.Hegseth is actively reshaping the Pentagon in his own image since taking over, prompting a social media policy that has taken a dramatic turn towards supporting Hegseth’s every move and public appearance. Continue reading...

Politics

91 m. ago I ditched the gym and you can too – here are six ways to get fit without it

Whether you enjoy ‘rucking’, walking, running or making your own sandbags, life after winding up your monthly membership can be your healthiest and happiest everAfter almost two decades of regular gym-going, I’ve finally cancelled my membership. The reasons for this are many and varied – I’m trying to save money, gym music is terrible these days, everyone seems to have forgotten how to share the equipment – but the main one is, I think it may actually make me fitter.Working for Men’s Fitness magazine for almost 10 years, I got to try out every trend, workout style and fitness event I wanted, and I noticed something interesting: quite frequently, the people with the fewest resources were in the best shape. I’m not including Hollywood actors in this, but otherwise, it’s often true: powerlifters working out in unheated concrete sheds get the strongest, runners who stay off treadmills get the fastest, and people exercising in basements have a focus rarely seen in palatial upmarket gyms....

Politics

91 m. ago Black dads go public with support for their kids with autism

A growing number of Black fathers with autistic children are looking to be more visible in the national autism conversation through podcasts, nonprofits and summits that specifically address their experience

Politics

92 m. ago Crime thriller fan shares seven TV series people 'need' to watch now

One streaming fan has shared seven gripping TV crime thrillers that are a must watch for all fans of the genre - and they are all on Netflix and Disney Plus

Events

97 m. ago West Lothian charity benefits from recent round of funding awards made by People’s Postcode Trust

The West Lothian 50+ Network supports some 700 members aged 50 to 90 through a wide range of social, learning and wellbeing activities held throughout the week.

Events

2 h. ago Whereabouts of Jay Slater's friends revealed after witness appeal during inquest

Several of the 19-year-old's friends failed to turn up for proceedings.

Politics

2 h. ago How Mexico became the ‘gateway to hell’ for Egyptians chasing the American Dream

Engy Magdy uncovers a transnational smuggling network facilitating the illegal migration of people from Egypt through Central America

Politics

2 h. ago Ridiculous reasons people have ended up behind bars from sausage roll drama to golden loo theft

From gold toilets to stolen sausage rolls, here's an absurd round up of real-life crimes that prove you really can go to jail for the downright ridiculous - and the court will never be amused

Events

2 h. ago Right back at ya! Trump’s crude but effective rhetorical standby | Chris Taylor

The president has spent the past decade employing a familiar tactic. Accusing protesters of ‘insurrection’ is just the latest exampleDonald Trump and his allies wasted little time in branding the people protesting against immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles as “insurrectionists”. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy – particularly the vindictive kind – spoke darkly of a “violent insurrection”. JD Vance, the vice-president, inveighed against “insurrectionists carrying foreign flags” on the streets of the nation’s second-biggest city.It didn’t escape notice that an insurrection was exactly what the president was accused of instigating on 6 January 2021, when the flag being paraded through the Capitol was that of the Confederate secessionists. And that Trump hadn’t shown quite the same enthusiasm for sending in the troops then.Chris Taylor is a subeditor at the Guardian US and author of The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the ...

Politics

3 h. ago Rachel Reeves clashes with Sky News presenter over calls for grooming gangs apology

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the priority was helping victims of systematic sexual exploitation 'not people’s hurt feelings about how they’ve been spoken about'

Events

3 h. ago One person dead as major bridge at tourist hotspot collapses and several swept away

The Pune bridge serves as a major hotspot for tourists in India, but following its sudden collapse on Sunday, authorities are now trying to locate several missing people

Events

4 h. ago New footage shows IDF striking Iran's 'nuclear programme HQ' as Israeli death toll rises to 13 amid escalating tit

New footage shows the IDF striking Iran's 'nuclear programme headquarters', as it was revealed that children are among the 13 people who have died in Israel following escalating strikes 

Events

4 h. ago Israel urges US to join bombing as Iran sends HUGE missile shower: Tower block turns to rubble with at least 13 dead and hundreds more injured amid retaliation strikes that leave Tehran 'burning'

Children are among the at least 13 people who have died in Israel following Iran's barrage of missiles it sent in the latest round of escalating strikes between the two nations. 

Events

4 h. ago Seven people, including toddler, killed in horror India helicopter disaster

The tragedy comes just three days after an Air India plane bound for London crashed in the city of Ahmedabad.

Events

4 h. ago British politics is in a loop and it's Farage's vision that's stuck on repeat | John Harris

Unlike Keir Starmer and his cabinet, Reform UK’s leader actually understands and exploits the rules of engagement in our digital ageAs so often happens, what Nigel Farage said on a recent visit to south Wales deserved endless pejoratives. It was ludicrous, condescending, half-baked, opportunistic and plain stupid. Even he didn’t seem to know exactly what he wanted. At a Reform UK press conference in Port Talbot, he seemed to make the case for reopening the town’s steel-making blast furnaces, before admitting that “it might be easier to build a new one”, though he also acknowledged that it would “cost in the low billions” to do so. But he had even more dizzying visions of reopened Welsh mines. “If you offer people well-paying jobs many will take them,” said Farage, “even though you have to accept that mining is dangerous.”The climate crisis, predictably enough, was not worth considering. He also did not offer any opinions about coal-related issues such as slag heaps, land slips, rive...

Politics

4 h. ago Iranian missiles kill at least 10 in Israel as IDF claims to have hit Isfahan nuclear facility – live updates

Scores of people injured after strikes on Tel Aviv and Tamra; Donald Trump warns of ‘full strength’ response if Tehran attacks USIsraeli forces have opened fire on people at several aid distribution sites in Gaza, killing at least five civilians, according to Palestinian media.The news agency Wafa reports three people were killed and others injured at the former Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, according to medical sources and eyewitnesses. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago ‘Odd things happened when she was around’: the unnerving vision of Muriel Spark

From blackmail to burglary, the events of Spark’s life often uncannily echoed those of her novels – no wonder the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie believed she could predict the future“There is a supernatural process going on under the surface and within the substance of all things,” says a priest in Muriel Spark’s 1965 novel The Mandelbaum Gate. Spark believed herself wired into this process. The novelist was aware from the start of “a definite ‘something beyond myself’”, an “access to knowledge that I couldn’t possibly have gained through normal channels”.“Somehow things happened, odd things, when Muriel was around,” recalled her friend Shirley Hazzard. “Everything that happened to Muriel,” according to her American editor Barbara Epler, “had been foreseen”, usually in her books themselves. If Spark wrote about blackmail, she too would be blackmailed; if she wrote about a burglary, she would then be burgled. Thirty years after toying with an idea for The Hoth...

Politics

5 h. ago Israel urges US to join bombing as Iran sends HUGE missile shower: Tower block turns to rubble with at least 10 dead and hundreds more injured amid retaliation strikes that leave Tehran 'burning'

Children are among the at least 10 people who have died in Israel following Iran's barrage of missiles it sent in the latest round of escalating strikes between the two nations. 

Events