14 h. ago Man who fired a shotgun outside a New York synagogue gets 10 years in prison

A man who fired a shotgun outside a New York synagogue shortly after the Israel-Hamas war began has been sentenced to 10 years in prison

Events

57 h. ago 'I can't sell my house': Locals furious over plans for giant solar farm nearly double the size of their village 'putting off' people buying their homes

Plans for a solar farm near the village of Weeton in Yorkshire have been opposed by locals who say it will 'transform' the 'cherished' natural landscape into an industrial site.

Society

4 d. ago Gaza latest: Netanyahu’s plan for military takeover of Gaza means ‘sacrificing’ hostages, say Hamas

Israeli political-security cabinet approved Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to take full military control of Gaza City on Thursday

Events

6 d. ago Vulture by Phoebe Greenwood review – a caustic satire on war reporting in the Middle East

A journalist pursues headline-making scoops whatever the cost to those in the conflict zone in this astute and darkly humorous debut novel by a former foreign correspondent‘Middle East on Fire: Israel positions tanks on Gaza border.” Journalist Phoebe Greenwood’s debut novel follows Sara Byrne, a freelance journalist in Gaza in 2012, who is reporting for a “pretty rightwing” British newspaper. Staying at the Beach Hotel, which is occupied exclusively by “middle-aged foreign correspondents”, she jostles with other reporters for stories while maintaining less-than-cordial relations with her fixer, Nasser. It could almost be a comedy of manners, with sketches of staff members and scenes from the hotel lobby. But it isn’t because, as the hotel owner puts it, “Gaza is a prison in non-stop war”.Vulture is a caustic study of what it means to report from a conflict, and particularly relevant to the current moment. It’s a knowing portrait by Greenwood, who was a freelance reporter in Je...

Events

7 d. ago Locals' fury over plans to build huge solar farm on idyllic countryside made famous by The Vicar of Dibley

EXCLUSIVE: The row centres on a 97-hectre solar project which is planned for fields in Oxfordshire that feature in the opening credits of the iconic 1990s BBC sitcom, starring Dawn French.

Politics

7 d. ago Nightmare neighbour dubbed the 'human wrecking ball' by a judge has been freed from prison under Labour's early release scheme

Mark Coates, 57, who tore the roof off the home of the people living next door in a bitter seven-year war over a garden fence has been released from prison more than four years early.

Events

8 d. ago ‘I oppose genocide’ : Meet the pensioners risking lengthy prison terms to support Palestine Action

Exclusive: The Independent spoke with half a dozen protesters arrested for supporting a terrorist organisation since the proscription of Palestine Action

Events

9 d. ago Solar farm plan for near sacred pilgrimage route is savaged by locals who say it will make it look like a prisoner of war camp

The rural village of Monk Sherborne, Hampshire lies along St James's Way, the English part of the Camino Way, a path which leads to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and has been used for 1,000 years.

Events

3 w. ago The Narrow Road to the Deep North review – immensely powerful TV

This adaptation of the Booker prize-winning novel spanning three timelines is a visceral, passionate drama starring Ciarán Hinds and Jacob Elordi. What bracingly confident televisionThere is an overwhelming darkness to The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Justin Kurzel’s adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker prize-winning novel. Thematically, this is to be expected: it is about a group of Australian prisoners of war constructing the Burma railway in the mid-1940s, at the tail end of the second world war. It is about the lasting trauma of conflict and imprisonment. It spans half a century, and though it tempers its darkness with a rich love story, it is largely violent, fatalistic and sorrowful. But visually, too, you may find yourself fiddling with the contrast and brightness settings. This very much matches its mood to its palette.Jacob Elordi is perfectly handsome and haunted as the younger Dorrigo, a poetry-loving doctor who is about to be married to the well-to-do and socially c...

Culture