21 m. ago Aldi reveals full list of stores set for major upgrades this year

Aldi has already completed upgrades in more than 500 of its stores, including modernised layouts, more space for fresh and chilled products, and brighter, wider aisles

Politics

1 hour ago Xavi Simons makes transfer preference clear as Man City eye Chelsea hijack

Chelsea have been linked with a move for RB Leipzig star Xavi Simons all summer long but saw a switch called into question with fresh interest from one of their Premier League rivals

Sport

2 h. ago With fewer renters than ever having a living room, this is why the death of the communal space matters

An astonishing 80 per cent of housemates without a living room are in that position because landlords have turned it into an extra bedroom in an effort to maximise their income. Olivia Petter explores what the loss of this vital shared area means for people

Events

3 h. ago Hijacked satellites and orbiting space weapons: In the 21st century, space is the new battlefield

Outer space has emerged as the world's next battlefield, demonstrated by recent cyberattacks on satellites blamed on Russia

Events

11 h. ago Golden eagles could be reintroduced to England for first time in 150 years

The species was wiped out in England in the 19th century because of persecution by those who saw them as a threat to livestock and game birds.

Politics

14 h. ago "Weapons" maintained top spot during second weekend, scaring off newcomer "Nobody 2"

“Weapons” scared its way to the top during its debut last weekend and stayed there, beating out “Freakier Friday” for a second time, and the newcomer action movie “Nobody 2.”

Events

18 h. ago Putin won in Anchorage. Now Zelenskyy and Europe are in an even more perilous position | Rajan Menon

Trump’s summit failed to achieve a ceasefire, but the Russian president will be very happy with how events are unfoldingDonald Trump portrays himself as a hard-nosed dealmaker. Yet in the run-up to Friday’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, his claim that the Russian leader held him in high regard and was therefore serious about ending the war in Ukraine sounded naive. Putin doesn’t let sentimentality shape his political and military decisions. Nor has he disavowed his longstanding claim to four Ukrainian provinces: Donetsk and Luhansk, which together comprise Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south. Despite Russia’s overwhelming numerical advantage in troops and weaponry, Putin occupies only one province, Luhansk, almost entirely. Yet he persists.In the days before his meeting with Putin, Trump said the Russian economy “stinks” and that falling oil prices would cause Russia’s war to run aground. The war has certainly placed severe s...

Politics

18 h. ago German police are investigating a €0.15 water butt theft – and I fear they’re on the right side of history

I’ve often laughed at those who are voluntarily extremely frugal. But in a world of dwindling resources, aren’t the real weirdos the ones throwing yacht parties and sending Katy Perry into space? Here’s a silly season story for you: a 51-year-old woman in the German town of Spaichingen in Swabia is under criminal investigation on suspicion of filling watering cans from her neighbour’s water butt. The total estimated value of the purloined water: €0.15.It’s wonderfully daft. She allegedly hid behind a bin to evade detection and, according to reports, the police declared, with Solomonic gravity: “Once it is in the barrel, [the water] no longer belongs to the heavens.” Who knows what motivated this nano-crime: a moment of midlife madness? Some kind of grudge? But water is metered in Germany so there might a kind of extreme parsimony at work (Swabian housewives are legendarily thrifty, apparently). Continue reading...

Events

21 h. ago Inside the incredible Victorian time capsule home lovingly restored in Scotland

Two friends have transformed one of Scotland's most remote farms into an authentic 19th century home - after its owners left behind 200 years of contents.

Politics

22 h. ago The GHOST that walks on Death Row: US prisoner jailed for murder he didn't commit reveals inmates saw a SPIRIT 'walk down the hallway' whenever there was an execution

In the fragile space between life and death, Florida prison inmates sit in a damp jail cell waiting to learn their fate. 

Events

22 h. ago I'm an interiors expert and these are the 'ugly' everyday items I would NEVER have in my house

Nicolas Fairford says some items that almost all of us have in our homes should be kicked to the interiors kerb because they disturb 'the flow and beauty' of a well-designed space.

Politics

22 h. ago 'Rustic Dunelm laundry basket that takes up less space' gets almost perfect rating

'Well made and roomy. Excellent for a corner of the bathroom or bedroom.'

Politics

25 h. ago ‘Animal Farm was my parents’ teamwork’: Orwell’s son on 80 years of the satirical classic

Richard Blair on the role his mother played in developing the 1945 political fable – and how it nearly didn’t get publishedAs the second world war reached its height, the winter of 1943-4 was one of the coldest of the century. My parents were living in a poorly heated flat in Kilburn, north-west London. My mother was working at the Ministry of Food. She was deeply involved in BBC Radio’s Kitchen Front which tried to help people conjure nutritious meals from their rations. My father became literary editor of Tribune magazine in November 1943. He was only required in the office three days a week, which gave him the time to write Animal Farm.Every evening, my father would read what he’d written to my mother under heavy blankets in bed. It was the only warm place in the flat. They would discuss the developing story and where it might go next. Lettice Cooper, the novelist and my mother’s Ministry of Food colleague, remembered my mother updating them every morning...

Politics

27 h. ago ‘50 years of anger and pain’: Miami Sounband’s Des Lee when Irish terrorists colluded with MI5 to massacre Ireland’s biggest band

The band were as big as it got, topping the Irish singles chart seven times. Then they were stopped at a bogus checkpoint in County Down – and three were shot dead. Fifty years on, survivor Des Lee looks back on that terrible night‘It was absolutely despicable,” says Des Lee, his voice trembling with emotion, “to think that those people who were supposed to be protecting us had planned our murder ” I’ve never heard a story as astonishing as Lee’s. His memoir, My Saxophone Saved My Life, recounts the events of half a century ago, in which his much-loved pop group, the Miami Showband, were ambushed by loyalist paramilitaries operating a fake army checkpoint, with half his bandmates murdered as he lay still, playing dead to stay alive.Though the attack carries strangely little traction in Britain, the Miami Showband massacre of 1975 is deeply etched into Irish cultural memory. Even amid the context of the Troubles, whose bleak statistics – more than 3,600 dead, more than 47,500 injured...

Events

27 h. ago Channel 5 revives BBC’s Play for Today to ‘help shape future of British drama’

Series aims to follow original in tackling ‘thornier issues’, and to support talent from lower-income backgroundsIt was one of the most influential British television series of the last century, renowned for exploring thorny societal issues and bringing the work of emerging talent, such as Ray Winstone, Alison Steadman, Helen Mirren and Dennis Potter, to mass audiences.Now Play for Today is being revived on Channel 5, to give young writers, actors and producers from lower-income backgrounds a way into TV, helped by established talent. Continue reading...

Events

27 h. ago The Miami Showband massacre: what led to the killing of the ‘Irish Beatles’?

The band were as big as it got, topping the Irish singles chart seven times. Then they were stopped at a bogus checkpoint in County Down – and three were shot dead. Fifty years on, survivor Des Lee looks back on that terrible night‘It was absolutely despicable,” says Des Lee, his voice trembling with emotion, “to think that those people who were supposed to be protecting us had planned our murder ” I’ve never heard a story as astonishing as Lee’s. His memoir, My Saxophone Saved My Life, recounts the events of half a century ago, in which his much-loved pop group, the Miami Showband, were ambushed by loyalist paramilitaries operating a fake army checkpoint, with half his bandmates murdered as he lay still, playing dead to stay alive.Though the attack carries strangely little traction in Britain, the Miami Showband massacre of 1975 is deeply etched into Irish cultural memory. Even amid the context of the Troubles, whose bleak statistics – more than 3,600 dead, more than 47,500 injured...

Events

34 h. ago National Guard to carry weapons in D.C. as 400 additional troops brought in at Trump’s request

The West Virginia National Guard will send up to 400 ‘skilled personnel’ to Washington, D.C. – as reports emerge that troops will be now carrying weapons

Politics

35 h. ago National Guard to carry weapons in D.C. as West Virginia sends troops at Trump’s request

The West Virginia National Guard will send up to 400 ‘skilled personnel’ to Washington, D.C. – as reports emerge that troops will be now carrying weapons

Politics

40 h. ago Historic cave in Scotland where a 6th century saint once stayed

The cave in Argyll and Bute is a hidden historic site where an Irish missionary is said to have worshipped on his journey to Scotland

Politics

41 h. ago Glenn Maxwell steers Australia to T20 series win over South Africa in thriller

Third T20i: Australia, 173-8, bt SA, 172-7, by two wktsMaxwell’s 62 gets hosts home with one ball to spareAustralia’s Glenn Maxwell produced an unbeaten half-century in a tense chase to help the hosts edge out South Africa by two wickets in the third and final T20 international in Cairns on Saturday. Maxwell’s unbeaten 62 off 36 balls helped Australia chase down 173 with one ball to spare at the Cazalys Stadium, completing a 2-1 series victory in style.After 18 overs, it was a run-a-ball target for Australia with Maxwell in the middle. The South African bowler Corbin Bosch (three for 26) claimed two wickets and kept Maxwell away from the strike. Needing 10 off the last over from Lungi Ngidi, Maxwell took six from the first four balls before reverse-sweeping for four to seal Australia’s dramatic victory. Continue reading...

Politics