13 h. ago CHRIS PLEASANCE: Inside the camp training Ukrainian recruits to survive their 'deadly first weeks' of war

One of my most memorable moments covering the Ukraine war was when I visited a training camp in England last year that hosted dozens of fresh Ukrainian recruits.

Events

50 h. ago At the dark end of a brutal year, I’m grateful to these heroes for showing us the light | Jonathan Freedland

From Palestinians standing up to Hamas to the Bondi beach rescuers, great acts of courage offer hope even in the bleakest timesSome traditions are getting harder to maintain. Among them, my own custom of devoting the last column before Christmas to reasons to be hopeful. In recent years, amid war and bloodshed, that task has been especially challenging – and this week was no exception.It began with the news from Bondi beach, where 15 people were gunned down and dozens more injured, most of them Jews celebrating the festival of Hanukah. That came just two-and-a-half months after the deadly attack on Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. To be a Jew at the end of 2025 is to fear that to gather together, whether at moments of joy or sorrow, is to take a mortal risk. That even to do relatively ordinary things together has become a matter of life and death.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist and the author of The Traitors Circl...

Politics

58 h. ago Gaza PhD student and family evacuated to UK after Foreign Office U

Manar al-Houbi’s family had been denied entry despite a scholarship covering their living costs, but other students remain strandedThe UK government has finally evacuated Manar al-Houbi, the Gaza student who won a fully funded scholarship to pursue her PhD at the University of Glasgow, along with her family from the war-ravaged territory this week.In October, the Guardian highlighted Houbi’s desperate battle to get her family evacuated after they were denied entry to the UK, despite her scholarship and visa permitting her to bring them. Continue reading...

Society

3 d. ago Russian guards cross into NATO territory sparking Estonian 'response' weeks after Putin's war planes entered Baltic nation's airspace

The officers allegedly crossed the control line between Russian and Estonian territory on a breakwater in the Narva River.

Politics

4 d. ago Putin claims speculation of war with the West is ‘hysteria’ – two weeks after threatening Europe

Russian president said Moscow is not seeking war with Europe despite escalation of hybrid attacks

Events

4 d. ago Mum's heartbreaking admission as daughter 'could have survived deadly stabbing'

Aisha Noor Al Kattib wants people to remember how 'strong and confident, kind, loving, caring and compassionate' her daughter was before she was cut down by her ex partner

Events

4 d. ago All the supermarkets dropping Christmas veg prices this week to as little as 8p

The Christmas veg price war is officially about to kick off this week. Find below all the supermarkets that have confirmed price drops for2025.

Economics

5 d. ago Gaza families struggle to recover from days of torrential rains that killed 12 people

Palestinians in Gaza are struggling to recover from torrential rains that have battered the enclave for days, flooding camps for the displaced, collapsing buildings already badly damaged in the two-year war and leaving at least 12 dead, including a two-week-old baby

Events

5 d. ago Two London men charged with attending terrorist training camp as members of Hezbollah

Two London men charged with attending terrorist training camp as members of Hezbollah  My London

Events

5 d. ago Survivors sue Shell in landmark case over deadly typhoon in Philippines: ‘We swam for our lives’

More than 100 Filipinos affected by Super Typhoon Rai are suing the British company in a case that will likely test whether fossil fuel companies can be held liable for specific climate disasters

Events

5 d. ago Filipino survivors sue Shell in landmark case over deadly typhoon: ‘We swam for our lives’

More than 100 Filipinos affected by Super Typhoon Rai are suing the British company in a case that will likely test whether fossil fuel companies can be held liable for specific climate disasters

Events

6 d. ago Bondi beach mass shooting: what we know so far about the terrorist attack

Australia suffered one of its deadliest massacres in its history on Sunday when two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish celebrationBondi beach shooting live updatesFull reportVictims named so farAustralia experienced one of its deadliest mass shootings in its history on Sunday when two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish celebration at Bondi in Sydney. At least 16 people are dead, including one of the alleged killers.Here is what we know so far:On Sunday at 6.47pm local time, police and emergency services were called to Archer Park next to Sydney’s Bondi beach after reports of gunshots.Footage shared on social media showed two gunman firing continuously at a large group who had gathered to celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukah.At least 16 people are dead, including one of the alleged shooters. Among the dead are holocaust survivor Alexander Kleytman, London-born rabbi Eli Schlanger, French national Dan Elkayam, businessman Reuven Morrison, retired police officer Peter Meagher and a 10-year...

Events

7 d. ago Horror unveils with Holocaust survivor confirmed as one of 12 dead in Bondi Beach shooting

Alex Kleytman had been enjoying the summer sun on Bondi Beach as part of his Hannukah celebrations but was gunned down in the horrific antisemitic shooting on Sunday

Events

8 d. ago The Katie Miller Podcast: an aggressively vibeless curriculum for the Maga mom

The wife of the Trump adviser aims to entice conservative women into Maga – but like much of the rest of the movement, her sales pitch is fundamentally lackingWhen Katie Miller, the wife of Donald Trump’s powerful adviser Stephen Miller, interviewed Pete Hegseth on her podcast last week, she didn’t ask him about whether the war secretary had ordered the US military to kill the shipwrecked survivors of an airstrike. She didn’t ask him about the settlement he paid a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. Nor did she ask about allegations of alcohol abuse, or the accusation that he had made his ex-wife so terrified that she hid in a closet.Instead, when Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, appeared on the Katie Miller Podcast, the titular host asked questions like: “If you could write one Hegseth family rule on that whiteboard, what is that?” Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Caitlin Clark says CBA negotiations are ‘biggest moment in the history of the WNBA’

Clark makes senior Team USA debut at Duke campWNBA CBA talks loom as players seek revenue shareClark calls negotiations league’s biggest momentWNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is making her debut with the senior US women’s national team this weekend, taking part in a training camp at Duke under first-time Team USA head coach Kara Lawson.And while much of the attention on Friday was focused on how the American squad might evolve before the 2026 Fiba World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics – Clark is one of 10 newcomers – a topic of conversation looming over the first day of practice were the collective bargaining negotiations happening now between the WNBA and its players. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago ‘If we build it, they will come’: Skövde, the tiny town powering up Sweden’s video game boom

It started with a goat. Now – via a degree for developers and an incubator for startups – the tiny city is churning out world-famous video game hits. What is the secret of its success?On 26 March 2014, a trailer for a video game appeared on YouTube. The first thing the viewer sees is a closeup of a goat lying on the ground, its tongue out, its eyes open. Behind it is a man on fire, running backwards in slow motion towards a house. Interspersed with these images is footage of the goat being repeatedly run over by a car. In the main shot, the goat, now appearing backwards as well, flies up into the first-floor window of a house, repairing the glass it smashed on its way down. It hurtles through another window and back to an exploding petrol station, where we assume its journey must have started.This wordless, strangely moving video – a knowing parody of the trailer for a zombie survival game called Dead Island – was for a curious game called Goat Simulator. The game was, unsurprisingl...

Sport

1 week ago Can a nepo baby be an underdog? The remarkable rise of Shedeur Sanders

The quarterback was seen as living off his father’s name when he entered the NFL. But he has slowly started to prove himself at the Cleveland BrownsIt seems the goalposts are always moving on Shedeur Sanders, the Cleveland Browns’ rookie quarterback who keeps throwing people off.He excelled at two colleges to establish himself as a top NFL prospect, only to wind up getting picked in the fifth round of this year’s NFL draft in one of the most dramatic stock crashes in league history. He then distinguished himself in training camp, only to wind up as the back-up to the back-up. When Sanders was finally pressed into injury relief duty last month and led the Browns to just their third win of the season, the caveat was that his breakthrough had come at the expense of the even-worse Las Vegas Raiders. Last week against the struggling Tennessee Titans, Sanders became the first Browns quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns and rush for another score in the same ga...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Not in our village’: asylum camp rumours prompt fear and night vigils in East Sussex

Crowborough on edge as unconfirmed plan to house asylum seekers in training camp spurs street patrols and pre-emptive protestsAmong the crowded shelves of Sacred Heart hardware store in Crowborough, there is a gap on the wall where the kitchen knives used to be displayed.As the local rumour of recent days goes, that space is linked to the news story of the moment in the East Sussex town: the imminent arrival of hundreds of asylum seekers at a nearby military training camp. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago England scout for World Cup camps amid fears of losing preferred base to Netherlands

Initial Kansas plan for US training base thrown into doubtFA exploring alternative options on the east coast The Football Association has sent operational staff to the US this week to scout for World Cup training camps amid concerns that England may lose their preferred site to the Netherlands.Thomas Tuchel had cleared an FA plan for England to be based in Kansas after a pre-tournament training camp in Fort Lauderdale, but after last week’s draw there are concerns that the Netherlands will be allocated their chosen facility at Sporting Kansas City, a high-performance centre used by US Soccer. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Nicolas Sarkozy's prison hell: Disgraced former French president to publish memoir about brief spell in jail

The 70-year-old became the first French head of state to be jailed since the end of the Second World War , spending three weeks locked inside the walls of Paris's La Sante prison.

Events