7 h. ago Putin persists, Trump dithers – and a just peace for Ukraine still seems a long way off | Olga Chyzh

The US president could embrace the role of peacemaker, or become the patsy who restored Russia’s imperial standingThe past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity billed as progress in the Russia-Ukraine peace process. Yet for Ukrainians, the reality remains unchanged: airstrikes still thunder across their cities, homes still burn, lives are still lost. Against this grim backdrop, the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, has seemed more than content to bask in the literal red-carpet treatment afforded by the president of the United States.Donald Trump, who has anointed himself mediator of this war, has nearly exhausted the lexicon of contradiction. Some days he proclaims that he alone can end this war. Then he insists that peace talks should be left to the two parties. At times he boasts that Putin “respects” him; at others, he castigates Putin for “going absolutely crazy”. This month, Trump vacillated between putting US troops on the table and ruling it out. Now he is reportedly consid...

Politics

8 h. ago The Guardian view on the killing of Gaza’s journalists: Israel wants to stop the world from seeing what it’s doing | Editorial

This is the most lethal war for the media in recent times. A generation of journalists is being wiped outDay by day, the death toll rises, the war crimes mount, and the outrage grows. Last Wednesday, the pope demanded that Israel stop its “collective punishment” of Gaza’s population. A day later, António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, warned that “the levels of death and destruction are without parallel in recent times”. More than 500 UN staff have pressed the human rights chief, Volker Türk, to call it genocide. Half of registered voters in the US have already concluded that that is what Israel is doing in Gaza.The agony is deepening. On Friday, the Israeli military declared famine-hit Gaza City to be a combat zone, intensifying its assault and ending “tactical pauses” that allowed limited – if utterly inadequate – food delivery. Many inhabitants are physically incapable of fleeing again, and fear that they would be no s...

Events

12 h. ago Disabled child, eight, is barred from summer camp after mother's gender

She had applied for her son, who has several severe physical defects, to go to charity Over The Wall's trip from July 6 to 8 at Strathallan School in Perthshire, Scotland.

Politics

13 h. ago I went to an adult summer camp for women who want to make friends — and it’s worth the $900 price tag

With adult summer camps on the rise, Brittany Miller recounts her experience at Camp Social — the viral, women-only retreat founded by influencer Liv Schreiber

Economics

19 h. ago Days without war: Ukrainian children enjoy time at summer camp – photo essay

While missiles and drones are exploding in Kyiv during the bloodiest attack of the year, a mountain retreat provides a brief, peaceful escape from the chaosOn the last day of July, Russia launched an attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, the bloodiest one this year: 300 drones and eight missiles killed 31 people. On the same day, 700km (435 miles) away in a camp near the city of Svalyava in the Carpathian mountains, 30 children are roasting marshmallows. Most of the children live in Kyiv, but for now, they are at the Zefir summer camp.Sofia, 15, from Uzhhorod, dresses up for a theatre performance. Continue reading...

Events

33 h. ago Below the Clouds review – a ghostly yet luminous cinematic mosaic of Naples crowns a superb trio

Venice film festivalThere is a real end-of-days quality to Gianfranco Rosi’s utterly distinctive documentary of war, violence, cynicism and the climate crisis in an uneasy cityGianfranco Rosi has made a movie that could be thought of as the last of a conceptual trilogy about normal life and spiritual life in Italy: the first was his Sacro GRA from 2013 about Rome, for which Rosi won the Venice Golden Lion; the next was Fire at Sea about the migration crisis as experienced in Lampedusa in Sicily. Now there is Below the Clouds, in luminous black-and-white. It’s another of his brilliantly composed docu-mosaic assemblages of scenes and tableaux, shot from fixed camera positions without any camera narration.The title is taken from Jean Cocteau: “Vesuvius makes all the clouds in the world.” Rosi reports from Naples, a city uneasily preoccupied with the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions for which it is famed, and with the great catastrophe of AD79 that buried nearby Pompeii. We see the ar...

Politics

34 h. ago 'Brilliant' radio legend refused I'm A Celeb stint despite huge £200,000 offer

EXCLUSIVE: Radio heavyweight Nick Ferrari has turned down an eye-watering deal to take part in I'm a Celebrity, according to a show insider, wanting to 'enjoy time with family'

Economics

40 h. ago Six times pop culture eerily predicted WW3 – from The Simpsons to Star Trek

World War 3 is in the headlines more and more these days – here are six of the most prominent pop culture examples, whether that's fighting ourselves or aliens

Politics

45 h. ago ‘Far more dangerous than war’: Iranians brace for prospect of UN sanctions

Some Tehran residents are bullish about withstanding the hardship sanctions would cause but others say the regime should relentAs the worshippers streamed into the vast Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran to hear a call to prayer, the mood was one of determination, and some trepidation, as they faced the real prospect of UN sanctions in 30 days and even a rerun of the 12-day war with Israel.With guards watching, a worshipper giving his name simply as Mousavi said: “The reality is that many countries have nuclear power and are not subject to these rules but Iran is singled out for controls because we oppose Israel. We are dealt with in a different way because of our foreign policy. Continue reading...

Events

46 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: US says strikes ‘cast doubt’ on Russia’s ‘desire for peace’ as Dnipropetrovsk attacked

US diplomat John Kelley tells UN security council Washington could impose sanctions on Moscow if war continues. What we know on day 1,283Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region came under a “massive attack” early on Saturday, the region’s governor said, reporting strikes in Dnipro and Pavlograd. “The region is under a massive attack. Explosions are being heard,” Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram, warning residents to take cover. He said overnight Russian strikes killed two people in Dnipropetrovsk, which had been largely spared from intense fighting since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Kyiv acknowledged on Tuesday that Russian troops had entered the region.The United States has warned Russia to move toward peace and meet with Ukraine or face possible sanctions at an emergency meeting of the UN security council called on Friday after missile strikes on Kyiv killed at least 23 people overnight on Thursday. US diplomat John Kelley told the meeting the strikes “cast doubt on the seriousness of Ru...

Events

58 h. ago Pensioner charged with child cruelty offences after boys fell ill at summer camp appears in court

Jon Ruben, 76, appeared at Leicester Crown Court for a brief hearing on Friday

Events

59 h. ago Retired vet 'will face more charges' after he was accused of lacing summer camp boys' sweets with sedatives

Jon Ruben, 76, has been charged with child cruelty offences relating to three boys, but was not asked to enter any pleas during his brief 15-minute hearing at Leicester Crown Court this morning.

Politics

60 h. ago Pensioner accused of lacing summer camp boys' sweets with sedatives to face January trial on child cruelty charges

Jon Ruben, of Wayte Court in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, is charged with child cruelty offences relating to three boys but was not asked to enter any pleas this morning.

Politics

61 h. ago Trial date set for man, 76, accused of giving children sweets laced with sedatives at summer camp

Jon Ruben, 76, is accused of giving children with sweets laced with sedatives

Politics

61 h. ago Boycott the banquet, send a tweet. But ending the horror in Gaza still relies on the worst people in the world | Marina Hyde

This humanitarian catastrophe is barely of passing interest to Donald Trump. The curse of our times is how little we can do about itDay 222 of Donald Trump’s presidency, and Russia’s war in Ukraine – which he promised to end on day one – shows no sign of having got the memo. This was not a single-use Trump promise; he made it at least 53 times. Yet the US president has failed to keep it, either literally or in his favourite manner: figuratively. Can you figuratively end a war? Not even, apparently.What his most recent round of failure means, however, is that Trump is pivoting back to another war, the grotesquely horrifying and unlawful humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. Not the way he’d phrase it, possibly. This week he swerved commenting on either Israel’s invasion of Gaza City or the mounting declarations that famine and starvation are clearly under way in the territory, and instead announced: “I think within the next two, three weeks, you’re going to have a pretty good, ...

Events

61 h. ago Peace efforts in limbo as Ukraine's capital mourns 23 dead after Russian attack

Officials say the death toll in a major Russian missile and drone strike on the Ukrainian capital has risen to 23, including four children

Events

61 h. ago Trial date set for man accused over ‘sweets laced with sedatives’ at summer camp

The court heard that Jon Ruben’s trial is expected to last four weeks.

Politics

68 h. ago Man, 76, to face court over ‘sweets laced with sedatives’ at summer camp

Children became unwell at the camp in July

Events

3 d. ago Pensioner to enter pleas over ‘sweets laced with sedatives’ at summer camp

Eight children and one adult were taken to hospital as a precaution after the incident in Stathern, Leicestershire.

Politics

3 d. ago ‘Massive’ Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv kills at least 12 people

Zelenskyy says Moscow ‘chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table’ after assault affecting more than 20 locationsRussian airstrikes have killed at least 12 people in a succession of attacks on Kyiv and wounded dozens in the most deadly night raid on the Ukrainian capital for several weeks.Three children, aged two, 14 and 17, were among those killed, officials said, in an onslaught that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said showed that Russia had no intention of negotiating an end to the war. Continue reading...

Events