5 h. ago Pep Guardiola left to rue dropped points as Manchester derby ends in bore draw

Blunt and tame, this 196th ­Manchester derby was a curio that failed to ignite despite the cross-town rivalry. Towards the close, Joshua Zirkzee had the contest’s clearest opening: the No 11 swung a boot at Patrick Dorgu’s cross and connected cleanly but ­Ederson saved, cat-like, and ­Manchester City escaped; as they did, also, when a later penalty shout for Mateo ­Kovacic’s challenge on Casemiro was correctly waved away.So this finished as a non-event in the sun, with scant incident and only marginally more goalmouth action. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Where is Malcolm in the Middle's Stevie now? Child star returns to the spotlight 25 years after the hit sitcom ahead of upcoming reboot

Malcolm In The Middle star Craig Lamar Traylor is best known for playing Stevie Kenarban in the American sitcom in the early 2000s. 

Events

9 h. ago Briton held by Taliban with wife describes dire conditions in Kabul jail

Peter Reynolds, 79, detained with his wife, Barbie, since February, says prison is ‘nearest thing to hell I can imagine’A Briton held captive by the Taliban for more than nine weeks has said he is living in dire conditions in a prison in Kabul, describing it as “the nearest thing to hell I can imagine”.In a recording of a phone call from Pul-e-Charkhi prison, Peter Reynolds, 79, also spoke of his fears for the safety of his wife, Barbie, who is being held in the women’s section of the the maximum-security jail. Continue reading...

Events

9 h. ago ‘I thought: this is it. I’m going to die’: Music producer Itay Kashti on his kidnapping ordeal

As his attackers are jailed for eight years, Kashti speaks about resilience, recovery after being targeted in attackAs he lay on the floor of a remote Welsh cottage, having been battered by a gang of masked kidnappers and handcuffed to a radiator pipe, musician and record producer Itay Kashti was heartbroken to imagine he would never see his family again.“I thought: ‘This is it. I’m going to die and this is the end of my story.’ I felt it was the final scene from a movie. I was thinking about my children.” Continue reading...

Events

18 h. ago Vet urges dog and cat owners to deworm pets as symptoms can be 'scary and serious'

A third of pet owners admit to experiencing a few horrors as a result of not worming their dogs or cats, with some animals even being signed off work as a result

Politics

22 h. ago Canadian parliament on lockdown as police deal with barricaded man: ‘Lock all doors and hide’

Police send in robot as people urged to ‘seek shelter in the nearest room’

Politics

29 h. ago Volunteers collect 60 bags of rubbish in just two hours from Welsh beauty spot

It was the hard work of a new Litter Picking Hub which means anyone can borrow litter picking equipment for free

Politics

31 h. ago Various: Chet Baker Re:imagined review – new reworkings by R&B, pop, soul and jazz artists

(Blue Note)There are hits and misses as 15 performers including Dodie, Mxmtoon and Ezra Collective’s Ife Ogunjobi give their personal take on Baker’s unique soundPossessing a whisper-soft voice and sweetly melodic trumpet tone, Chet Baker (1929-1988) had a sound that is often imitated yet almost impossible to master. For the latest edition of Blue Note’s Re:imagined series, in which the jazz label invites artists to produce cover versions of its back catalogue, 15 R&B, pop, soul and jazz artists have been given the unenviable task of interpreting Baker’s repertoire – with often surprising results.The trumpeter-vocalist’s supple take on jazz standards is well reflected in singer Dodie’s delicate version of Old Devil Moon as she emphasises the original’s swaying Latin percussion. British singer-songwriter Matt Maltese’s My Funny Valentine adds a beautifully elegiac guitar line to the well-worn melody. Other approaches work less well, with US singer Mxmtoon’s clean vocal tone overp...

Politics

32 h. ago A Minecraft Movie review – Jack Black and Jason Momoa star in seriously cobbled

Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess’s adventure based on the world’s favourite video game feels like one big cash-inIt’s a curious choice of title. A Minecraft Movie implies that this cynical intellectual property-rinsing exercise is one of numerous film adaptations of the enduringly popular sandbox video game. Perhaps there’s an alternative out there, a sharper, smarter, funnier version of a Minecraft movie. One with actual jokes. Or, God forbid, there may even be a worse iteration, although that’s hard to imagine. What becomes clear is that one of the key elements in the game’s popularity – the latitude it affords gamers to create their own experience – is a big stumbling block for any film adaptation of Minecraft.In the absence of a single fixed storyline the screenplay can follow, A Minecraft Movie has a cobbled-together feel, borrowing a device from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – and, in Jack Black, a star – and superimposing an all-purpose quest-for-an-artefact structure o...

Politics

33 h. ago Kae Tempest review – a brave, intimate set where the personal is political

Village Underground, LondonThe laser-focused spoken-word performer returns to the musical stage with new tracks focusing on their identity, but wider concerns are never far away“This has been a performance piece about how technology is going to be the death of us all,” jokes rapper, poet, author and playwright Kae Tempest as a keyboard player and a technician wrestle with malfunctioning equipment. We’re just two tracks in; Tempest assures us that if the electronics are not back up soon, they’ll do the whole show a cappella.They could, too. The teenage Tempest cut their teeth battle-rapping in south London, turning to slam poetry when more direct avenues into hip-hop refused to open easily to a young, blond slip of a thing. You suspect they have never wasted the opportunity when handed a mic. Given Tempest’s extended output over more than a decade of albums, works of fiction, poems, plays and nonfiction, with prizes and accolades for many of them – you can’t imagine them ever being a...

Politics

35 h. ago Sara Pascoe: ‘I still identify as an infertile, childless woman’

The standup used to joke about not having kids, but then she had IVF and found herself an ‘eroded’ mother of two. Now she’s back with a show about motherhood in her 40s – but don’t expect any cute parenting storiesMy favourite Sara Pascoe joke is her imaginary riposte to people asking if she’s going to have kids. They mean well, these prying parents – they just don’t want her to miss out on a life-enhancing experience. The thing is, the comedian has had some life-enhancing experiences of her own. “But I have never, ever said to anybody: ‘Oh, have you been on QI? Ahhh, you should go on QI!’” she insists, settling into her archly patronising pep talk. “No I didn’t think I wanted to be on QI until I was on QI, and then it was like I looked back and my entire life had been leading up to me being on QI. Yes it’s very tiring being on QI, but it’s so worth it. I just wouldn’t want you to leave it too late and they’ll have stopped making it!”As a skewering of smug, insensitive acquaint...

Politics

37 h. ago The cover up that kept Britain's worst nuclear disaster secret despite fears it could have been as bad as Chernobyl

It was Britain's worst nuclear disaster, but it is likely you have never heard of it. Unlike Chernobyl in Ukraine, Windscale in Cumbria is not vivid in the public imagination.

Events

38 h. ago I was devastated when I found out my husband of 20 years was cheating on me with his colleague

UK-based Claire (name changed) never imagined she'd find herself in the thick of online dating after meeting her husband - and marrying him - in her 20s.

Politics

39 h. ago From bingo clubs to poetry nights: Why Gen Z don't go to nightclubs anymore

Scarlett Dargan imagines this week's generational debate

Politics

40 h. ago What links hedgehog, deer, lion and elephant? The Saturday quiz

From billiard, calabash and churchwarden to Wide Sargasso Sea, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz1 Who was the only English monarch to marry a Habsburg?2 What media company paid $10bn in music royalties in 2024?3 Which east African country is bottom of the world press freedom rankings?4 What metal melts at -38.8C?5 Which artist, according to HG Wells, “invented a whole cat world”?6 What is the tallest fence on the Aintree Grand National course?7 What was first won by the Crossworders in 2008?8 Which restaurant dynasty’s surname was a basic sauce?What links: 9 A Bend in the River; A Brief History of Seven Killings; To Sir, With Love; Wide Sargasso Sea?10 Billiard; calabash; churchwarden; cutty; vest pocket?11 Domenico di Bartolo; Duccio; Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti; Simone Martini?12 Electromagnetism; gravity; strong nuclear; weak nuclear?13 Arjan Veurink and Anthony Barry?14 Deer (wild animals); hedgehog (small animals); lion (safari park); elephant (zoo)?15 I Love Lucy; ...

Politics

51 h. ago Ukraine deploys 15,000 'silent killer' robot soldiers to war frontlines to defend against Russia

Ukraine's 'silent killers' have been sent as reinforcements to help frontline troops battle off brutal Russian invasion, as experts seek more major technological breakthroughs taking high-tech science to the trenches

Events

53 h. ago Nan searching for her lost dentures finds them in one of the worst imaginable places

Footage shows a large white dog called 007 sporting a set of shiny dentures which had been lost by his owner in Shanghai and she had been left searching through her home for them

Politics

55 h. ago Kevin De Bruyne showed true colours after being asked if he would sign for Liverpool

Kevin De Bruyne has announced that he will leave Manchester City at the end of the season after a dominant Premier League reign, albeit one different to that he imagined as a child

Politics

59 h. ago Inverness cat: Owner’s disbelief as cat missing since November found more than 300 miles away

“I like to think she just fancied a little Highland holiday.”

Events

61 h. ago Owner’s disbelief as cat missing since November found more than 300 miles away

Owner Sophie Carty said she ‘couldn’t believe it’ when she was told how far her cat had travelled.

Events