41 m. ago New Year's Eve live: New year arrives in New York City as the world continues to usher in 2026

New Year's Eve live: New year arrives in New York City as the world continues to usher in 2026  BBC

Politics

46 m. ago New Year’s Eve live: US begins to enter 2026 as clock strikes midnight on east coast

Join our live coverage as we cross the globe to enter the new yearSydney is the self-appointed “world capital of new year’s eve” and arguably rightly so. As always, eyes will be on the Opera House at 13:00 GMT when fireworks will light up the sky in spectacular fashion. But there are also huge crowds out in Melbourne to see off the year in style.Thousands of people are expected to descend on Melbourne this evening to celebrate NYE. There will be two 7 minute firework displays and light shows tonight, first a family one at 9.30pm for young children, and the main one at the stroke of midnight. Continue reading...

Events

65 m. ago Australian man reportedly killed fighting with Ukrainian forces against Russia

Australia’s foreign affairs department seeking to verify reported death of Russell Allan Wilson on 12 DecemberGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe department of foreign affairs is trying to confirm the death of an Australian man who was reportedly killed while fighting with Ukrainian forces against Russia last month.According to multiple posts on social media, Russell Allan Wilson was killed on 12 December in the Donetsk region. The ABC reported that a friend of Wilson said he was killed during his final mission, and had been due to be married the week after his death. Continue reading...

Events

68 m. ago Cecilia Giménez’s botched Monkey Christ became a global meme. The real marvel was the humble, graceful woman behind it | Sam Jones

The restorer, who died on Monday, brought unwanted attention to herself – and her small Spanish town. Then, slowly, a small miracle took placeVery few of us find fame quite as late, or quite as brutally, as Cecilia Giménez did in the summer of 2012. The Spanish amateur artist was already 81 when her efforts to restore a decent, if unremarkable, fresco of the scourged Christ brought her a renown that almost destroyed her.Almost overnight, Giménez, who died on Monday at the age of 94, was stripped of her quiet existence in the north-eastern Spanish town of Borja, and recast as the well-meaning and unwitting creator of what would become known around the English-speaking world as Monkey Christ. In Spain, the meme phenomenon was dubbed Ecce Mono (Behold the Monkey), a play on the painting’s Latin title Ecce Homo (Behold the Man).Sam Jones is Madrid correspondent for the Guardian Continue reading...

Politics

68 m. ago World is in better place than when Eden Project created 25 years ago, founder says

Tim Smit also says extreme political views will fade when people realise good things around the cornerSir Tim Smit says the world is in a better place than it was when he co-founded the Eden Project 25 years ago and he believes people are more attuned to the natural world.Speaking as the project in Cornwall reaches its 25th anniversary, Smit describedextreme political views as the “roar” of people fearful that they cannot control the future but he said they would fade when people realised that good things were around the corner. Continue reading...

Politics

68 m. ago Grief, fear and fury: the Israeli and Palestinian mothers still standing united against bloodshed

Israeli movement Women Wage Peace and Palestinian group Women of the Sun held a mass rally in October 2023. Three days later a Hamas attack triggered war – leaving the women more determined than everOn the shores of the Dead Sea, about 1,500 Israeli and Palestinian women had gathered, holding hands and calling for an end to what they called a “vicious cycle of bloodshed”. It was an October evening in 2023 and they had travelled from villages, settlements and refugee camps around the region for a mass peace rally jointly organised by the Israeli movement Women Wage Peace and the Palestinian group Women of the Sun.Two of the organisers were friends: Yael Admi, 66, an Israeli mother of six, and Reem al-Hajajreh, 43, a Palestinian mother of four. The women had hoped their message would cut through decades of violence and mistrust. But three days later, Hamas launched its deadly attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, followed swiftly by what turned into a genocidal war by Israe...

Politics

69 m. ago Foreign Office confirms British nationals involved in fatal Machu Picchu train crash

Tourism to Machu Picchu has increased by about 25% over the past decade and about 1.5 million people visit the site annually, which was built by the Incas in the 15th century

Events

98 m. ago Heartwarming footage shows moment schoolboy erupts with joy as he opens gift of "golden ticket" for World Cup

Stuart Wilson tells how football mad son Aaron had given up on chance of trip to the USA - until he opened his Christmas package

Culture

1 hour ago Thousands pack into bitter cold Times Square to celebrate New Year's Eve as parties take place across America

LIVEBLOG: Follow New Year's Eve celebrations across the globe as nations around the world throw parties to toast the final hours of the year before ushering in 2026.

Politics

1 hour ago Anthony Joshua latest: Boxer pays respects to friends killed in Nigeria car crash after hospital discharge

Former two-time world heavyweight champion escaped collision with minor injuries

Events

2 h. ago He worked with the world's most famous names. Then he gave it all up for a Welsh pub

Nick Otley fancied trying photography and ended up drinking with Michael Hutchence and at parties with Kate Moss but the draw of the family business brought him back to Wales – it's fair to say it's proved a good call

Politics

3 h. ago New Year’s Eve live: fireworks in London, Paris and Berlin as New York awaits 2026

Join our live coverage as we cross the globe to enter the new yearSydney is the self-appointed “world capital of new year’s eve” and arguably rightly so. As always, eyes will be on the Opera House at 13:00 GMT when fireworks will light up the sky in spectacular fashion. But there are also huge crowds out in Melbourne to see off the year in style.Thousands of people are expected to descend on Melbourne this evening to celebrate NYE. There will be two 7 minute firework displays and light shows tonight, first a family one at 9.30pm for young children, and the main one at the stroke of midnight. Continue reading...

Events

3 h. ago Trump was bent on revenge and endangered the life of his VP: The top takeaways from Jack Smith’s Jan 6 testimony

In blockbuster testimony, the former special counsel batted down allegations of political partisanship, spoke of Trump retaliation threats, and explained why investigators sought phone records from members of Congress

Politics

4 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: 10% away from peace, Zelenskyy tells Ukrainians

US intelligence officials persuade Donald Trump that Ukrainians did not target Putin with drones – reports. What we know on day 1,408Ukraine was “10%” away from a peace deal, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, and his country wanted an end to the war but not at “any cost”. The Ukrainian president, in his New Year’s Eve address, said any agreement needed strong security guarantees. “The peace agreement is 90% ready, 10% remains. And that is far more than just numbers.”As the Russian ruler, Vladimir Putin, pushes for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as part of any deal, Zelenskyy said he did not believe Russia would stop there. “Pull out from the Donbas, and it will all be over. That is how deception sounds when translated from Russian – into Ukrainian, into English, into German, into French, and, in fact, into any language in the world.”Zelenskyy said he would not sign a “weak” peace agreement that would only prolong the war. “What does Ukraine want? Peace? Yes. At...

Events

4 h. ago How 'Britain's best conman' who posed a priest, a doctor and charity boss was tracked down to a German care home after 22 years on the run

Kenner Elias Jones, 75, of Caernarfon, North Wales become one of the world's most infamous fraudsters and moved across continents under a string of false identities.

Society

4 h. ago PETER HITCHENS: I can see why some people resent plummy English voices like mine, but we'll be sorry when they are no longer heard

Parodists strive to imitate my plummy English voice, one of the last to remain outside captivity, but it is beyond their range. They never lived in a world where it was normal.

Events

4 h. ago New Year’s Eve live: fireworks in London, Paris, Berlin and Rome as 2026 begins

Join our live coverage as we cross the globe to enter the new yearSydney is the self-appointed “world capital of new year’s eve” and arguably rightly so. As always, eyes will be on the Opera House at 13:00 GMT when fireworks will light up the sky in spectacular fashion. But there are also huge crowds out in Melbourne to see off the year in style.Thousands of people are expected to descend on Melbourne this evening to celebrate NYE. There will be two 7 minute firework displays and light shows tonight, first a family one at 9.30pm for young children, and the main one at the stroke of midnight. Continue reading...

Events

5 h. ago Anthony Joshua latest: Boxer released from hospital in Nigeria after car crash

Former two-time world heavyweight champion escaped collision with minor injuries

Events

5 h. ago Australia back injured stars as squad for T20 World Cup revealed

Cummins, Hazlewood and David named for India and Sri Lanka eventMatt Kuhnemann included in spin-heavy 15-player teamMatthew Kuhnemann is in line for a World Cup debut after being included as the biggest surprise selection in Australia’s squad for the T20 World Cup.As expected, Australia have named superstar pacemen Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, as well as swashbuckling Tim David, despite injury concerns. Continue reading...

Events

5 h. ago Mayor of London says capital’s New Year celebrations ‘greatest in the world’

The display included nods to England’s Women’s Rugby World Cup triumph, the Lionesses retaining the Euros and Europe’s Ryder Cup win.

Politics