43 m. ago I thought she was my best friend. Then she scammed me out of £75,000. Here's how I caught her

After Johnathan Walton was conned out of his life savings by the woman he thought was his best friend, he was told he couldn't prosecute. So he set a trap of his own

Economics

44 m. ago A World Cup preying on Fomo: Fifa’s 2026 ticket scheme is a late

Dynamic pricing, crypto detritus and corporate doublespeak have made the task of buying 2026 World Cup tickets a grim case study in the monetization of emotionWhen the first tickets for the 2026 World Cup went on sale last week, millions of fans joined online queues only to discover what Gianni Infantino’s assurance that “the world will be welcome” really means. The cheapest face-value seat for next summer’s final, somewhere in the gods of New Jersey’s 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium where the players are specks and the football’s a rumor, comes at a cost of $2,030 (oxygen tank not included). Most upper-deck seats range from $2,790 to $4,210, according to customers who finally glimpsed the prices that had been closely guarded. The much-touted $60 tickets for group-stage games, propped up by Fifa as evidence of affordability, exist only as comically tiny green smudges on the edge of digital seating maps, little more than mirages of inclusivity.Fifa had kept the costs under wraps until th...

Politics

44 m. ago My kids gave me enough material to write TV comedy. Where will the jokes come from now they’ve left? | Helen Serafinowicz

The inspirations for my BBC show have packed up and gone to uni, leaving me to rattle around on my own. At least they will be back for ChristmasHelen Serafinowicz is the writer of Motherland and AmandalandMotherhood has given me two kids and a TV show (and a spin-off). When I first entered Motherland, it was quite clear this was a mad world, and ripe for the picking. Trying to find your tribe when you have absolutely nothing in common with your fellow tribespeople, other than babies of the same age, is very difficult, but also rich in inspiration for comedy.Over the years, I would write down little moments or observations that made me chuckle: arriving at a kids’ party dressed exactly like one of the dads; watching in amazement as a mum asked an usher to turn the heating up in the auditorium on a school trip to see The Lion King; the mum whose advice to her children if they got lost in a crowd was “think like a paedophile” (we used this – with permission – in the Halloween episode o...

Culture

44 m. ago Hollyoaks O.B star Darren Jefferies now eight years after final appearance

The former Hollyoaks star appeared on a rival soap after bowing out of the Channel 4 show

Politics

44 m. ago Horrifying moment 12 thugs storm a property after battering down door with motorbike

The gang were captured on CCTVstorming the house armed with baseball bats and axes allegedly over a drug debt, as the terrified occupants make a hasty escape to safety

Events

2 h. ago Man United latest: Dressing room claim made as bidder confirms takeover interest

We're rounding up the very latest news from Old Trafford as Manchester United prepare to return to Premier League action following the second international break of the new season

Politics

2 h. ago ‘Our job is to maximise their losses’: how Ukraine’s forces attempt to claw back against Russian advances

Along Donetsk’s frontline, a small counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops aims to help change perceptions about the war among Kyiv’s western alliesAs Donald Trump prepared to meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August, Russia launched an offensive in eastern Ukraine. Small groups of soldiers pushed forward near Dobropillia and, meeting little resistance, they advanced 15 to 20 km and seized a chain of villages.It is a small pocket of land, but one that has driven perceptions of the war in the last months. At the time of the Alaska summit, it was seen as proof that Russia had momentum; as Ukraine had taken back territory – albeit in the context of Russian advances elsewhere – it may have contributed to Trump’s dismissive assessment of Moscow’s military as a “paper tiger”. Continue reading...

Society

2 h. ago Why should you be Labour’s next deputy leader? Guardian readers quiz the candidates

As party members prepare to choose between Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell, the pair answer questions on wealth taxes, Brexit, the climate crisis and the far right Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago The Freak: script of Charlie Chaplin’s unfinished final film to be published

Exclusive: Fantasy about ‘a beautiful creature with wings’ has been compiled from drafts, storyboards and sketchesHe rose from the slums of Victorian London to become arguably cinema’s first great comic artist, with The Great Dictator and Limelight among his masterpieces.Now the script of Charlie Chaplin’s unfinished final film is to be published, having been pieced together from drafts, storyboards and sketches, on which he had been working before his death in 1977, at the age of 88. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Meera Sodha’s recipe for za’atar roast vegetables with whipped feta | Meera Sodha recipes

Toss spiced roast veg with creamy butter beans, fresh mint and zesty lemon, then pile it all high on a big platterThis year, I bought three oval platters: a small, silver-plated one from a local charity shop on which I serve crisps to make them look fancy; a medium-sized splattered enamel one for everyday everything; and a very large, stainless-steel one for dinner parties. I’m not sure why this happened, but I can tell you that I love the energy that platters give to a table, and the gentle sense of pomp and ceremony they lend even the simplest of meals. My love for the platter has dictated today’s recipe, a final fling with the very last of the summer vegetables served over whipped feta. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago California State University Long Beach student, 22, is found dead and now his roommate is charged with murder

A second roommate was also stabbed but was transported to a hospital in stable condition

Events

6 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: Power restored to Kyiv after Russia drone attacks

Zelenskyy says attacks targeted energy infrastructure as winter looms; boy killed as drones and missiles hit Zaporizhzhia. What we know on day 1,326Power was restored to 270,000 consumers in Kyiv after attacks from Russia knocked it out, Ukraine’s energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk wrote on Facebook on Friday. People in Kyiv heard blasts throughout Thursday night and many woke up without power on Friday after the huge air attack targeted Ukraine’s energy system. Images posted online showed firefighters working to tackle burning blocks of flats. Hrynchuk did not say how many people had lost power. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the Russian strikes targeted civilian and energy infrastructure as Ukraine prepares for winter temperatures.Russian drones and missiles damaged 12 apartment buildings in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing a seven-year-old boy and injuring four people, according to the regional governor. The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, sa...

Events

6 h. ago Last words of Death Row man who murdered girl while pretending to look for his dog

Death Row killer Roy Lee Ward was executed for the brutal murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne, a Heritage Hills High School cheerleader and honour student whose life was cut short in her own home

Events

6 h. ago Death Row killer tucks into final meal after killing girl, 15, inside her home

Death Row killer Roy Lee Ward was executed for the brutal murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne, a Heritage Hills High School cheerleader and honour student whose life was cut short in her own home

Events

6 h. ago Modern forensics techniques could hold the answer to triple murder that's been a cold case for 30 years

Diane Jones, 21, and her daughters Shauna, two, and Sarah-Jane, one, were killed in a blaze at Gurnos Estate in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, after petrol was poured through their letterbox.

Events

6 h. ago Gardeners preparing for winter warned of £20,000 fines for removing common plant

There are a number of UK laws that could catch out gardeners as they prepare for winter months

Events

8 h. ago Trump floats 'everlasting success' beyond Gaza as delicate peace deal enters final stages

Donald Trump claims the Israel and Hamas peace deal will bring an everlasting peace to the Middle East, where residents have been dancing in the streets celebrating the deal.

Politics

8 h. ago Terrified mother's final screams caught on tape as abductor prepared to murder her

Denise Amber Lee, 21, should have been at home with her two young sons. When her husband returned, his children were alone and his wife was missing.

Events

8 h. ago Killer Fred Singleton who raped and murdered pensioner dies in prison

Fred Singleton has spent 42 years on death row since his conviction of the rape and murder of vulnerable widow Elizabeth Lominick, crimes which happened in her own home

Events

8 h. ago My Hero Academia season 8: what time is episode 2 out and where to watch it?

My Hero Academia’s final season will continue this weekend 🦸 ♂️📺

Politics