41 m. ago Ukraine war live: Trump envoy Steve Witkoff set to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow amid US push for peace deal

Talks come after Witkoff led US discussions with Ukraine at weekend amid European concerns that Kyiv will be pressured to make concessions to MoscowUS-Russia talks may pile pressure on Kyiv to make concessions, says EU foreign policy chief See all our Ukraine war coverageThe Kremlin has said Vladimir Putin will meet Steve Witkoff for their talks on Tuesday afternoon. It’s now approaching 9.10am local time in Moscow.Their meeting would take “in the second half of the day”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, while refusing to be drawn on Russia’s red lines, saying megaphone diplomacy was not helpful.Russian military commanders told Putin in comments reported on Monday that Russian forces had captured the frontline Ukrainian towns of Pokrovsk – a key logistics hub – and Vovchansk and were advancing elsewhere, which the Russian president hailed as successes to enable further gains. Ukrainian officials have made no acknowledgement that either place has fallen into Russian hands. Co...

Politics

44 m. ago Omaze couple's lives change after huge phone call while they tucked into McDonald's

Rob and Lisa Nicholson were at a McDonald's in York when they received a phone call — which they first thought was a spam call — that changed their lives

Politics

52 m. ago Mother of 'miracle baby' calls for gift of donated blood this Christmas

Giving blood was the ultimate gift for little Alexandria Allyson.

Events

83 m. ago Liverpool news: Arne Slot snubs advice as Virgil van Dijk admits what team aren't doing

Liverpool got their first win since the beginning of November with a 2-0 victory over West Ham United on Sunday as the Reds aim to turn their season around

Politics

98 m. ago Primark selling £10 jewellery gift 'so similar' to £70 Oliver Bonas version

The budget retailer is selling a £10 item that looks similar to a pricier alternative

Economics

1 hour ago Shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments

Conch-shell trumpets discovered in Neolithic settlements and mines in Catalonia make tone similar to french horn, says lead researcherAs a child, Miquel López García was fascinated by the conch shell, kept in the bathroom, that his father’s family in the southern Spanish region of Almería had blown to warn their fellow villagers of rising rivers and approaching flood waters.The hours he spent getting that “characteristically potent sound out of it” paid off last year when the archaeologist, musicologist and professional trumpet player pressed his lips to eight conch-shell trumpets. Their tones, he says, could carry insights into the lives of the people who lived in north-east Spain 6,000 years ago. Continue reading...

Politics

1 hour ago UN experts accuse one of England’s biggest social landlords of habitability failings

Exclusive: Letter says L&Q appears to have systematically failed in its duty to provide adequate standard of livingUN experts have said that one of England’s biggest social landlords appears to have systematically failed to ensure the habitability of its rental properties.In a letter to the UK government, they cite the case of a disabled tenant, Sanjay Ramburn, 55, who they say lived with his family of five in an L&Q group property in Forest Gate, east London, for several years with no electricity. They experienced four ceiling collapses, as well as severe damp and mould that affected their health. Continue reading...

Events

1 hour ago Saunas, skating and celebratory toilet seats: 25 ways to get into the Christmas spirit

Are you feeling festive? If not, here are some great and unexpected shortcuts, from fish pie to ‘intermittent wrapping’ to watching a seasonal film every day of DecemberIf I haven’t wrapped up warm and wobbled around in circles, it isn’t Christmas. I can measure out my life in London’s ice rinks. Broadgate Circus in the early 00s, because it was cheapest and I was skint. Several seasons of Skate at Somerset House with my ex, because it was our “romantic” Christmas tradition (actually, he hated skating). This year, I’ll be mixing old and new: Hampton Court Palace, where people have been skating since the 1800s, and the inaugural Skate Leicester Square. As long as there’s a mug of something mulled afterwards, I’m happy. Rachel Dixon, travel writerYears ago, a regrettable ex-boyfriend bought me a merman Christmas tree ornament so bizarre that it short-circuited my brain, unleashing something primal within me. Ever since, I have scoured department stores, gift shops and the darkest reac...

Politics

1 hour ago Meet the women who made London the divorce capital of the world

Meet the women who made London the divorce capital of the world  Financial Times

Politics

2 h. ago Dear Coleen: My friend posted my 'bitter divorce' online and refuses to delete it

"I’m the 'bitter divorcée' in her article, whose husband had an affair and can’t get over it! I’m so mad but when I talked to her about it, she couldn’t see why I was angry."

Politics

2 h. ago SNP Government urged to consider asylum hotel protest curbs by abortion buffer zone law MSP

EXCLUSIVE: Gillian Mackay was responsible for safe access zones for women outside clinics and said asylum seekers may need similar protections.

Events

2 h. ago Woman's horror as dead husband's body returns from Cyprus holiday without a heart

Michael Graley, 76, died suddenly after complaining about cramp in his leg while with his family in Cyprus - and his devastated wife has told of the horror that followed

Events

5 h. ago An anonymous $50M gift will cover some tuition for medical lab students at University of Washington

An anonymous donation expected to exceed $50 million is helping cover tuition costs for medical laboratory science students at the University of Washington for the next half-century

Science

5 h. ago How you can learn to control your dreams... and change your life. Doctors now say 'lucid dreaming' techniques can treat phobias, insomnia and even depression

Throughout his late teens and early 20s, Matthew Humphreys was prone to low moods. He ignored them until, in his mid-20s, the negative thoughts and feelings of emptiness became more pronounced.

Science

6 h. ago M54 traffic updates LIVE as road closed overnight for recovery after lorry collision

Part of the M54 is closed again — for the second time in one week — after another crash involving a lorry near junction two for Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Politics

6 h. ago M54 traffic: Motorway closed overnight for recovery work after lorry collision

Part of the M54 was closed again — for the second time in one week — after another crash involving a lorry near junction two for Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Politics

6 h. ago Revealed: Half of women will avoid work Christmas parties this year due to safety concerns

Some 49 per cent of women and 31 per cent of men plan to stay in due to worries about their welfare when travelling home from work parties.

Politics

6 h. ago Ellie Goulding and Beau Minniear's pal gushes about the couple's exciting news

Ellie Goulding, who has been nominated for two Grammys, started dating actor Beau Minniear around six months ago after she separated from husband Caspar Jopling

Politics

6 h. ago ‘Was it a woman who bit off his ear?’: the wild life and serene photography of Tom Sandberg

Norway’s most celebrated photographer made his name with calm, reflective images that sit at odds with his reckless life. Friends and family remember a paradoxical manNorway has never looked as wet as in the photographs of the late Tom Sandberg. There are shots of drizzle and puddles, of asphalt slick with mizzle. A ripple of water appears to have a hole in it, a figure looms behind a rain-dappled window, a gutter glows after a downpour.Shot in either bold chiaroscuro or gentle orchestrations of greys, these are pictures with the power to make the everyday seem dreamlike. But they are also uplifting, in a confusing kind of way, like being told to dress for sun even when the clouds are black. Continue reading...

Culture

6 h. ago People living along polluted Thames file legal complaint to force water firm to act

Residents claim raw sewage and poorly treated effluent as result of Thames Water’s failings are threat to healthCommunities across south-east England are filing the first coordinated legal complaints that sewage pollution by Thames Water negatively affects their lives.Thames Water failed to complete upgrades to 98 treatment plants and pumping stations which have the worst records for sewage pollution into the environment, despite a promise to invest in them over the last five years. Continue reading...

Politics