CATEGORIES

Bogged down Aswinter draws in, the talk grows of stalemate and a long conflict

The Ukrainian counteroffensive has stalled, with progress on the two principal axes on the southern front modest since it began on 4 June. Kyiv's forces have advanced about 10km south of Velyka Novosilka and 9km south of Orikhiv and there appears no prospect of a breakthrough as the weather turns.

Sunak pins hopes on Cameron's return

PM aims to rewrite the Tory narrative with shock appointment, but will it shift the dial with voters?

Resurrected Former PM has experience, but appointment is not without risk

There is a danger that Lord Cameron, with six years' experience as prime minister and umpteen world summits under his belt, as opposed to Rishi Sunak's single year, will be tempted not just to dominate foreign policy but to stray out of his lane and give very broad advice to his boss.

After Bibi Netanyahu's time looks up-but what would follow is less clear

For years, the newspaper Israel Hayom has been known as the \"Bibiton\". A Hebrew portmanteau, it means \"the paper of Bibi\", the nickname for Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was founded by the late billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson as the mouthpiece for Netanyahu.

Besieged No water, no power and little hope in Gaza hospital

Inside a darkened operating theatre in Gaza's largest hospital complex, staff swaddled dozens of tiny premature babies seven or eight to a bed, in a desperate effort to keep the infants warm - and alive. With no oxygen supplies or power for incubators, nurses attempted to provide what little care they could for 39 babies who had been transferred from the neonatal unit following a strike on Dar al-Shifa's intensive care unit.

California dreaming Could Gavin Newsom be a rival to Biden?

One of the strongest candidates for US president in 2024 may be one who's not yet in the race. There's growing evidence that Gavin Newsom, the charismatic and energetic Democratic governor of California, is running something of a shadow campaign to Joe Biden and is ready to step up if, or when, the incumbent is out of the running.

A dividing line Abortion hostility could return to haunt Trump's party in 2024

Republicans beware - abortion retains its saliency. As a corollary, Joe Biden is down but not out. On election day last week, voters in Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky embraced individual autonomy and reproductive rights. Looking forward, the US supreme court's decision in the Dobbs case and the Trumpian majority's rejection of privacy as a fundamental constitutional right stand to haunt Trump and his party as they enter the 2024 election season.

The nightmare scenario

Less than a year before the election, the former president is leading in key polls. Would another Trump term spell disaster for US democracy?

My sweet gourd: creative ways to make the most of pumpkins

I never know what to do with pumpkins besides carve them. Help!

Sonic boom: how classic game got its legs back

The hedgehog's longtime caretaker, Takashi Iizuka, talks about going back to the 90s for new game Sonic Superstars and the blue blur's rivalry with Mario

A master's profound coda

A virtual concert by Ryuichi Sakamoto has captivated audiences. Its creator, Todd Eckert, talks about working with the Japanese composer, who died in March

Is it right or wrong to post about conflict on social media? Hannah Jane Parkinson

The welcome irony is that Martin Niemöller's words about not speaking out are everywhere. If you were not already familiar with First They Came, his urging of resistance in the face of tyranny and persecution, from history class or Holocaust documentaries, you may have seen it on Instagram during the past weeks.

Germany's admirable bond with Israel is becoming a straitjacket

With Gaza bombarded, with thousands dead and its infrastructure largely in ruins, is it ever acceptable for a German to criticise Israel? Almost the entire German political establishment and most of those in public life apparently think not.

The sparring game

Louis Theroux's charm and cheek made him one of the best interviewers in the business. Will he take it on the chin when Zoe Williams turns the tables?

Magnificent megastructures

Utilitarian as they may be, some civic projects are so monumental they approach the sublime. And one of the most elegant is a power station hidden away inside a mountain in the glorious landscape of north Wales

Indigenous ancestry row tarnishes singer's legacy

Allegations in a documentary that the popular American folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie misrepresented her Indigenous roots have rattled First Nations communities in Canada, where she claims to have been born, highlighting the complex legacy of an artist whose decades-long career is defi ned by advocating for Indigenous rights.

One year out, most US voters don't want Trump or Biden

Americans are one year away from a presidential election that's shaping up to be a historically unpopular rematch between the oldest ever sitting president, Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his Republican predecessor, the twice-impeached, serially indicted Donald Trump.

Ground dispute How a rusting wreck became a geopolitical flashpoint

For more than two decades, a second world war-era ship, BRP Sierra Madre, has stood deliberately grounded in the remote, shallow waters of the fiercely contested South China Sea, carrying the Philippine flag and guarding against Chinese expansion.

Border zone reimagined as a path towards peace

A new tourist trail offers hikers a radical view across the 38th parallel, 75 years after war cut Korea in two

The hope and perils of an AI revolution

Africa lags behind as a global Al power, but is beginning to realise the technology's potential-good and bad

'All we can do now is run away' Is time up for the sinking islands of San Bernardo?

Islanders on this archipelago live only a few metres above sea level, while authorities fail to take action as climate change brings oblivion closer each year

Summit highs Existential threats and a new forum for diplomacy

Rishi Sunak hailed last week's artificial intelligence summit at Bletchley Park, the UK base for second world war codebreakers, as a diplomatic win after it produced an international declaration to address risks with the technology. Here are five things that we have learned from the summit.

Chaos theory Johnson will struggle to reverse account of his Covid reign

Inquiry evidence stacks up against former PM, in repeated references to him being out of control and indecisive

Mone admits involvement with 'VIP lane' PPE firm

The Conservative peer Michelle Mone has acknowledged for the first time that she was involved with a company that was awarded government PPE contracts worth £200m ($250m) during the Covid pandemic.

Kyiv rebukes general over claim war is at a stalemate

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied a suggestion from the Ukrainian military's commander-in-chief that the war with Russia has reached a stalemate, and a senior spokesperson for his administration has rebuked the general in question and accused him of making \"the aggressor's job easier\".

Freedom, but no peace Life on the Kherson frontline

On the Saturday, the Russians hit a school and a grain store. On the Sunday, the ceaseless bombardment of Kherson from across the river struck a medical facility. An artillery round landed near a middle-aged man. The doctors did their best but the shrapnel had pierced his brain.

'Get them out' Hostages' families call for concessions to secure release

Relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have called on Benjamin Netanyahu to make significant concessions to secure the freedom of their loved ones.

The last hope

A long-mooted two-state solution between Israel and Palestine could offer a path to peace after the bloodiest fighting in decades. But how might it look – and would the will still exist to achieve it?

Nature's way - A gripping, semi-historical imagining of the memories and experiences of a French botanist in colonial Africa

Readers of David Diop's previous novel, which won the International Booker prize, probably won't have forgotten the experience. At Night All Blood Is Black is narrated by a young Senegalese soldier recruited to fight for France in the first world war and brutalised in the trenches.

Breezy does it

From Barcelona to Bohemia, artists are using arange of innovative techniques to capture and harness the power of mighty winds