49 h. ago Nigel Farage accused of turning 'blind eye' to racism after candidate's Lammy attack

Labour's chairwoman Anna Turley has written to Nigel Farage demanding Chris Parry is removed as a candidate after it emerged he said David Lammy should 'go home' to the Caribbean

Events

4 d. ago Welcome to our age of impunity – where the ICC prosecuting atrocities is a rare feat | Simon Tisdall

The jailing of a Sudanese militia leader is an anomaly in a world where Putin, Netanyahu and yes, Hegseth, act without fear of international lawIt was a rare success for international courts struggling to resist a rising tide of official lawlessness. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a leader of the notorious, government-backed Janjaweed militia that committed genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region from 2003 to 2005, was jailed for 20 years last week by the international criminal court (ICC). He had been found guilty on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.Although hundreds of militia were involved, Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, is the first person to be convicted of atrocities in Darfur, now again the scene of terrible violence in Sudan’s civil war. The ICC has charged Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s president at the time, with genocide and war crimes. Ahmad Harun, a former minister, faces similar charges. But both men have evaded arrest. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Pope meets with Italian secret agents and urges them to be ethical

Pope Leo XIV has met with members of Italy’s intelligence services and warned them not to use confidential information for blackmailing or other nefarious purposes

Politics

8 d. ago List of the largest Catholic Church sexual abuse settlements in the US as two new funds are established

The two new funds will total at least $530 million

Events

9 d. ago Court settlement approved for New Orleans Archdiocese to pay hundreds of clergy abuse victims

A federal judge has approved a federal settlement that will clear the way for the New Orleans Archdiocese to pay at least $230 million to hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse

Events

9 d. ago New Orleans Catholic clergy abuse survivors in line to collectively be paid $305m

Attorneys for the victims struck deal with the church’s largest insurer to increase $230m settlement approved earlierNew Orleans Catholic archdiocese gains approval to pay $230m to sexual abuse survivorsRoughly 600 survivors of the clergy molestation scandal that drove the New Orleans Catholic archdiocese into bankruptcy have secured the opportunity to collectively be paid $305m after attorneys for the victims and the church’s largest insurer struck a deal Monday, according to some of the lawyers.The insurer in question, Travelers, had refused to join a proposal officially approved Monday to pay $230m to the abuse survivors to effectively wrap up a bankruptcy protection case that the US’s second-oldest archdiocese filed in May 2020. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago New Orleans Catholic archdiocese gains approval to pay $230m to sexual abuse survivors

Settlement also includes major changes to how church identifies and discloses past claims of abuse by clergyAfter more than five years of litigation, a federal bankruptcy judge has approved the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans’ proposal to pay $230m to roughly 600 survivors of sexual abuse by the church’s priests, deacons and other personnel.Judge Meredith Grabill on Monday confirmed the settlement, which also includes major changes to how the church identifies and discloses past claims of sexual abuse by clergy and protects children and vulnerable adults going forward. Continue reading...

Economics

1 week ago Putin should have accepted Trump’s deal. Now Russia’s collapsing economy could lead to his downfall | Simon Tisdall

The war against Ukraine has hit ordinary Russians hard, and the deteriorating situation is likely to inflame tensions People in Britain who think they are governed by fools should take a closer look at the Russian and US presidents. Vladimir Putin is systematically ruining his country. His war of choice in Ukraine is an economic, financial, geopolitical and human calamity for Russia that worsens by the day. For his own murky reasons, Donald Trump, another national menace, offered him a lifeline last week. Yet Putin spurned it. These two fools deserve each other.On the table in Moscow was a “peace” deal that, broadly speaking, rewarded Russia’s aggression by handing over large chunks of Ukrainian land, compromised Kyiv’s independence and weakened its defences against any future attack. The Trump deal, if forced through, would have split the US and Europe; ruptured Nato, perhaps fatally; reprieved Russia’s pariah economy; and probably toppled Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.Simon Tis...

Politics

1 week ago From Pope Francis to Charlie Kirk, many deaths in 2025 had a wide impact

The world lost influential people in 2025, and some of their deaths had significant impacts

Events

2 w. ago What could be putting young women off marriage? It really isn’t that much of a mystery | Naoise Dolan

Survey data suggests more and more girls can’t imagine getting married, while their male counterparts are keener. That disparity holds a clueAccording to recent data, marriages in England and Wales are down by nearly 9% after a post-pandemic spike, while civil partnerships have risen by almost the same percentage. This downward trend is also reflected in the US. The Vatican has piped up in defence of the institution, releasing a 40-page doctrinal note, Una Caro (One Flesh): In Praise of Monogamy: Doctrinal Note on the Value of Marriage as an Exclusive Union and Mutual Belonging. Sworn celibates would not be my personal first port of call when seeking relationship advice, but to each their own – exclusively and indissolubly, if the Catholic church is to be believed.Among the younger crowd, gendered expectations about marriage are changing, at least according to a survey by the University of Michigan, which found that only 61% of high-school girls want to be married one day, compared ...

Politics

2 w. ago Pope Leo's WW3 warning as 'future of humanity is at stake' in bombshell speech

Pope Leo has warned that the 'future of humanity is at stake' during a speech on his first trip abroad as the head of the Catholic Church amid the wars in Ukraine and Gaza

Events

3 w. ago Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review – Josh O’Connor excels in another deadpan delight

Daniel Craig is joined by a sparkling array of talent including O’Connor, Glenn Close and Josh Brolin in this latest murder mystery with a religious undercurrentRian Johnson’s delectable new Knives Out film is a chocolate box: mouthwateringly delicious on the first layer and well, perfectly tasty on the second. Daniel Craig returns as private detective Benoit Blanc, in a slightly more serious mode than before, with not as many droll suth’n phrases and quirky faux-naif mannerisms, but rocking a longer hairstyle and handsomely tailored three-piece suit.Blanc arrives at a Catholic church in upstate New York to investigate the sensational murder of its presiding priest, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, a ferocious clerical alpha male played by Josh Brolin, thundering his reactionary views from the pulpit. (That “Monsignor” title can only be bestowed by the pope incidentally: presumably Benedict XVI or John Paul II, not milksop liberals like Francis or Leo XIV.) And prime suspect is the sweet-...

Events

3 w. ago Vatican answers African bishops concerned about polygamy with document praising monogamous marriage

The Vatican has doubled down on the value of monogamous marriage between a man and woman

Economics

3 w. ago Who can tame Trump? An unlikely candidate is emerging: the Catholic church | Simon Tisdall

Inequality, immigration and civil rights are the battlegrounds on which the church, and some other Christian denominations, are fightingThe supreme court can’t do it – it’s packed with conservatives who owe him their jobs. Congress won’t do it – Republicans slavishly follow his orders, Democrats are ill-led and divided. For today’s White House, the concept of constitutional limits on executive power is a quaint relic. The news media, or sections of it, does its best amid constant legal threats. But, too often, they pay him off. Brave reporters who insist on asking awkward questions are insulted or silenced: “Quiet, piggy.”So who will tame Donald Trump? Who will halt his rolling constitutional coup – his ongoing evisceration of US democracy, civil rights, living standards, global reputation and moral integrity? Voters may try to indirectly rein him back in next November’s midterms (as they did recently in New York and elsewhere). But those elections are a year away. The emergency is ...

Politics

3 w. ago Pope Leo XIV accepts resignation of Spanish bishop accused of abuse in first known case for pontiff

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of an ailing Spanish bishop who is under church investigation for allegedly sexually abusing a young seminarian in the 1990s

Events

4 w. ago Pope Leo criticises ‘disrespectful’ treatment of immigrants in US

Pontiff backs statement by US bishops condemning raids and mass deportations under Trump administrationPope Leo has reiterated his disapproval of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, saying foreigners in the US are being treated in an “extremely disrespectful way”.Leo, the first US pontiff in the history of the Catholic church, made the remarks in response to questions about a statement adopted last week during a special assembly of US bishops that criticised the Trump administration’s mass deportations and lamented the fear and anxiety caused by immigration raids. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Pope Leo condemns US’s ‘extremely disrespectful’ treatment of immigrants

Pontiff backs statement by US bishops condemning raids and mass deportations under Trump administrationPope Leo has reiterated his disapproval of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, saying foreigners in the US are being treated in an “extremely disrespectful way”.Leo, the first US pontiff in the history of the Catholic church, made the remarks in response to questions about a statement adopted last week during a special assembly of US bishops that criticised the Trump administration’s mass deportations and lamented the fear and anxiety caused by immigration raids. Continue reading...

Events