Russia launches largest drone attack of war on Ukraine
Officials say many were intercepted - but several hit civilian areas, causing deaths and injuries.
List weekly accomplishments or resign, Musk tells US federal workers
The weekend email comes as Elon Musk leads an effort to aggressively curtail the government workforce.
Huge crowds gather for Hezbollah leader Nasrallah’s funeral
The coffin of the late Hezbollah leader was paraded through huge crowds of mourners.
Pope asks for prayers in message from hospital
The pontiff is receiving hospital treatment as the Vatican warns his condition is still critical.
Israel expels residents of three West Bank refugee camps
Israel's defence minister says the camps are now "empty" and would be occupied by the Israeli military.
Colombian city faces worst violence in decades as armed groups wreak havoc
Cúcuta imposes curfew as National Liberation Army (ELN) clashes with army in province bordering Venezuela
Residents of a violence-torn province in northern Colombia are bracing for further bloodshed as a conflict between rival armed groups spread to a regional capital in scenes residents said they had not witnessed since the cartel unrest of the 1990s.
The mayor of Cúcuta imposed a 48-hour curfew on the population of 1 million inhabitants in the hope of regaining control of the city after combatants of Colombia’s largest armed group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), attacked police stations with assault rifles and grenades and destroyed toll booths with car bombs.
Continue reading...Ukraine war live: Russia launches largest drone attack on eve of third anniversary of invasion
Drones intercepted in at least 13 regions including Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv and Odesa, according to Ukrainian authorities
Volodymyr Zelenskyy added in his post on X earlier today that a “lasting and just peace” in Ukraine can only be achieved through the unity of all its allies, namely Europe and the US.
It comes after US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia this week, without Ukraine’s involvement, raising concerns in Kyiv and the EU that any deal to end the war will be favourable to Moscow.
Every day, our people stand against aerial terror. On the eve of the third anniversary of the full-scale war, Russia launched 267 attack drones against Ukraine — the largest attack since Iranian drones began striking Ukrainian cities and villages. In total, nearly 1,150 attack drones, more than 1,400 guided aerial bombs and 35 missiles of various types were launched this week.
I thank everyone who repels such attacks on a daily basis—our aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare units and mobile fire groups of the air force and defence forces. I also thank those on the ground who save lives and respond to the aftermath of shelling—the state emergency service, medics, and the national police. The war continues. Everyone capable of helping with air defense must work to enhance the protection of human life.
Continue reading...John Simpson: 2025 could be year for the history books as Trump shreds global norms
Like 1968 or 1989, this could be a year when the world changes in a fundamental way.
‘A source of national shame’: shelters in England turn young people away as number of rough sleepers soar
Charities across the country highlight the rising demand for emergency accommodation as costs spiral to care for those most in need
Holly Udobang is packing the last bag: a sleeping mat, gloves, woolly hat, waterproof poncho, hand warmers. It’s the sort of kit that teenagers might need for a Duke of Edinburgh trip.
But this bag is for young homeless people, to give them a fighting chance of getting some sleep on the streets of London. Holly and her colleagues at the New Horizon Youth Centre are packing them to give to the young people they now have to turn away every day, as an increasing number of emergency shelters shut their doors.
Continue reading...‘Real anger’: Labour can expect hostile reception at farmers’ annual gathering
UK food producers plan more protests over inheritance tax changes ahead of this week’s NFU conference in London
The suits and black cabs which typically dot the streets around Westminster have been frequently replaced by the wellies, tweed jackets and tractors of aggrieved farmers of late. The next protest in London by the nation’s food producers is expected on Tuesday morning, ahead of the annual get-together of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
Farmers have regularly swapped their fields for the city since October, when changes to inheritance tax (IHT) for agricultural businesses were announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, angrily protesting and waving banners.
Continue reading...Custody spat over New Orleans escape-artist dog settled with visitation agreement
Scrim the tramp terrier, known for his many getaways, now has a home and an extended family to look over him
Calling King Solomon.
The wiry terrier named Scrim who had virtually all of New Orleans looking for him while he spent most of the previous year on the run – enduring a hurricane, a historic snowfall and other perils – landed in the middle of an adoption controversy among those who recently brought him to heel again and then wanted to keep him.
Continue reading...Gaza ceasefire once again in doubt as first phase nears end
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indefinitely delayed the release of what would have been the biggest group of Palestinian prisoners so far
Starmer unlikely to unveil plan for rise in defence spending this week, says minister
Bridget Phillipson calls 2.5% target ‘ambitious’ days before PM meets with Donald Trump in Washington
Keir Starmer is unlikely to set out a plan this week for when the UK will increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, a cabinet minister has indicated.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the target was ambitious, despite Labour previously claiming it would set out a path to meeting the spending goal after the strategic defence review in the spring.
Continue reading...Home Office contractor collected data on UK citizens while checking migrants’ finances
Official sent email to charity that suggested Home Office had data on ‘hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting Britons’
The Home Office has been accused of collecting data on “hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting British citizens” while conducting financial checks on migrants.
A report by a private contractor for a routine immigration application was mistakenly sent to a charity by a government official, and contained information on more than 260 people including their names, dates of birth and electoral roll data.
Continue reading...Forensic science centre that inspired BBC show Traces at risk of closure
All 24 jobs at Dundee University’s Leverhulme research centre could be axed because of £30m budget deficit
Dundee University’s world-leading forensic science research centre, which inspired the hit BBC drama Traces, is under threat of closure as the institution attempts to plug a £30m budget deficit.
It is feared all 24 jobs will be axed at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, the largest interdisciplinary team in the UK dedicated to improving the science used to investigate crimes and prosecute those responsible.
Continue reading...Don’t gift our work to AI billionaires: Mark Haddon, Michal Rosen and other creatives urge government
More than 2,000 cultural figures challenge Whitehall’s eagerness ‘to wrap our lives’ work in attractive paper for automated competitors’
Original British art and creative skill is in peril thanks to the rise of AI and the government’s plans to loosen copyright rules, some of the UK’s leading cultural figures have said.
More than 2,000 people, including leading creative names such as Mark Haddon, Axel Scheffler, Benji Davies and Michael Rosen, have signed a letter published in the Observer today calling on the government to keep the legal safeguards that offer artists and writers the prospect of a sustainable income.
Continue reading...Chain, chain, chain: political theatre confirms Elon Musk’s Maga hero status at jubilant CPAC
Emboldened and exultant, speakers put less emphasis on baiting liberals and more on spreading the Maga gospel
What do you give the man who has everything? A ballroom full of cheering conservative activists found out this week when Elon Musk was presented with a chainsaw by Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, who has used the power tool as a symbol of his push to impose fiscal discipline.
Wearing sunglasses, a black Maga baseball cap and a gold necklace, Musk giddily wielded the chainsaw up and down the stage. “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy!” he declared. Members of the audience shouted: “We love you!” Musk replied: “I love you guys, too!” And he quipped: “I am become meme.”
Continue reading...New York City’s Ukrainian community ‘disappointed’ after Trump’s ‘betrayal’
As the US upends decades of foreign policy, those watching the war unfold from miles away resolve to stand strong
Members of New York’s large Ukrainian community expressed a mix of disillusionment, betrayal, defiance and acute uncertainty about what the future holds for Ukraine after tensions escalated this week between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Geopolitical events in the last week have shocked Ukrainians at home and overseas as well as US lawmakers and allies, as the US president appeared to heavily favor the Russian president Vladimir Putin to dictate peace terms on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Musk tells US federal workers to explain what they achieved last week or be fired
‘Cruel and disrespectful’ request to employees sparks confusion across key government agencies
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the past week, sparking confusion across key agencies as the tech billionaire Elon Musk expands his crusade to slash the size of government.
Musk, who serves as President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting chief, telegraphed the extraordinary request on his social media network on Saturday.
Continue reading...Literary gold … or betrayal of trust? Joan Didion journal opens ethical minefield
Soon we can all read the late author’s private notes about her therapy. But should we?
In 1998, the late journalist Joan Didion wrote a scathing essay about the posthumous publication of True at First Light, a travel journal and fictional memoir by Ernest Hemingway, 38 years after the author killed himself. “This is a man to whom words mattered. He worked at them, he understood them, he got inside them,” Didion wrote. “His wish to be survived by only the words he determined fit for publication would have seemed clear enough.”
Just over a year later, in December 1999, Didion began writing her own journal about her sessions with a psychiatrist. She addressed these notes – detailing her struggles with alcoholism, anxiety, guilt and depression, a sometimes fraught relationship with her adopted daughter Quintana and reflections on her childhood and legacy – to her husband, John Gregory Dunne.
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