33 h. ago The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet review – a monument to Afghan resilience

A sweeping social history of Afghanistan is seen through the lens of Kabul’s InterContinental hotel, where staff endured the horrific realities of life in a war zoneSo catastrophic has the last half century of Afghan history been that it is easy to forget how rich the country’s culture once was. The Mughals always regarded it as a much more refined place than India and looked to it as the source of the region’s greatest poets and artists, calligraphers and miniaturists, architects and tile makers. As recently as the early 1970s, at the height of the hippy trail, as Afghanistan filled with travellers “high on weed and low on cash”, Kabul was still known as the Paris of the east. Memoirs of the time describe a world of miniskirts, jazz clubs, bowling alleys and ice-cream parlours. This world was linked to a poor but extremely beautiful rural hinterland where life revolved around the vine harvest and the annual arrival of nomad caravans from the Wakhan corridor.A quick flick throu...

Politics

4 d. ago 'Deliveroo rider disguise donned by gunman to shoot girl, 8, and dad'

Jazz Reid allegedly fired a volley of 11 shots, hitting an eight-year-old girl and her father, 34, while they were sat in a car in London, the Old Bailey has heard

Events

4 d. ago Shooting of girl, 9, as she ate ice cream was linked to £4bn cocaine plot

The misguided bullet remains lodged in her brain to this day.

Economics

1 week ago Girl shot in the head in Minneapolis church attack is making 'miraculous' progress, family says

The family of a 12-year-old girl critically wounded during the deadly shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic church says she is making remarkable progress

Events

2 w. ago Bristol shooting sees girl, 9, in 'brilliant family' hurt in racially motivated attack

Avon and Somerset Police are seeking a white teenager following the "deeply troubling incident" which happened on Chakeshill Drive in the Brentry area of Bristol

Events

3 w. ago Getaway driver is jailed for life over gangland restaurant shooting that left girl, nine, with bullet lodged in her brain

Javon Riley, 33, from Tottenham, North London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of causing grievous harm with intent to a girl and attempting to murder Mustafa Kiziltan Kenan Aydogdu and Nasser Ali.

Events

3 w. ago Man jailed for life over London shooting that left girl, nine, with bullet in brain

Man jailed for life over London shooting that left girl, nine, with bullet in brain  The Guardian

Events

3 w. ago Man jailed for life over shooting of girl, 9, and three men outside London restaurant

Javon Riley, 33, was a hired spotter and getaway driver in the gangland shooting

Events

3 w. ago Javon Riley: Man jailed for life over shooting of girl, 9, and three men outside London restaurant

Javon Riley: Man jailed for life over shooting of girl, 9, and three men outside London restaurant  The Independent

Events

3 w. ago Man jailed over shooting that left girl, 9, with bullet in brain

Man jailed over shooting that left girl, 9, with bullet in brain  BBC

Events

3 w. ago Neurosurgeon says there are 'rays of hope’ for girl critically hurt in Minneapolis church shooting

A neurosurgeon says there are “rays of hope” for a 12-year-old girl critically injured in a Minneapolis church shooting

Events