CATEGORIES

Sunak under pressure over failing concrete in schools

A school buildings crisis was threatening to engulf Downing Street this week, with Rishi Sunak accused of slashing the budget for repairs while his education secretary was caught claiming colleagues had done nothing to stop it

Group therapy Modi's G20 call to arms can't halt retreat of globalisation

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, will have the unenviable task of forging agreement between the world’s biggest developed and developing countries when G20 leaders gather in Delhi for their annual summit on  9 September

How Russia cherishes its propaganda friends in Italian media

Whenever Nello Scavo returns from Ukraine, he is overcome with frustration

War gains Military breaches Russian line of defence

Ukrainian forces have decisively breached Russia’s first defensive line near Zaporizhzhia after weeks of pain staking mine clearance, and expect faster gains as they press the weaker second line, the general leading the southern counteroff ensive has said

The evacuees who can't take Russian shelling any more

Antonina Sanina's last two nights in Kupiansk were spent hiding in the base. ment of her apartment block. She survived six and a half months of Russian occupation last year, but the renewed shelling of the Ukrainian town finally prompted her to abandon home. \"I couldn't take it any more,\" she explained simply after volunteers drove her to safety

For the ages The question everyone is avoiding: how old is too old for power?

THE QUESTION WAS SIMPLE: what are your thoughts about running for re-election in 2026? \"Oh,\" said Mitch McConnell with a half chuckle, a mumble and then: silence

In 2018, Alexandria OcasioCortez became America's youngest-ever congresswoman and part of the celebrated 'Squad' of House progressives.Now an established Democratic force, she talks about the climate crisis, Trump and misogyny in the US

'We are in a moment of generational change'

Bloomsbury threads

A new book about London's most famous literary set explores its lesser-known role in sparking a sartorial revolution

With five PMs in seven years, the Tories are all at sea with no ideas

Late one night in 1867, Benjamin Disraeli, chancellor of the exchequer in Lord Derby's Tory government, cunningly thwarted a Liberal wrecking amendment in the Commons to his second reform bill. Having written to Queen Victoria at 2am, he went to the Carlton Club in London, where he was cheered and toasted as \"the man who rode the race, who took the time, who kept the time, and who did the trick\". The following year, he became prime minister.

'I get in trouble when I talk about the state of the nation'

After 17 years abroad, Zadie Smith has returned to her literary stomping ground of north London. She talks about fame, therapy and finding inspiration for her latest novel on her doorstep

Don't mention the war

On the International Space Station, astronauts from Russia and the west share a craft the size of a large family home. So what happened when Moscow started a conflict 400km below on Earth?

Far-right populist who is a 'shoo-in' for president aims at pope

In one corner of the ring stands Javier Milei, 52, self-described former tantric sex coach, outsider anarcho-capitalist and frontrunner in Argentina's upcoming presidential elections; in the other, his compatriot Pope Francis, 86, champion of the poor, repeatedly derided by Argentina's likely next president as \"a fucking communist\" and \"the representative of the evil one on Earth\" for promoting the doctrine of \"social justice\" to aid the underprivileged.

Not'appy The problem with digital societies

Increasingly, the world seems to run on smartphones-often to the exclusion of those who struggle with tech. What can be done?

Son of Soros under fire as foundations retreat from Europe

He survived the Nazis, made a fortune on Wall Street and became one of the most steadfast backers of democracy and human rights in the eastern bloc. But there are now fears about the commitment of the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, 93, to his homelands, as his donor network announced it will curb its activities across the EU from 2024.

The Russian minister who became a US truck driver

The former minister drove his big white truck north until he reached Michigan. The Great Lakes provided a welcome relief from the scorching Texas heat.

Fukushima fish traders fear effects of water release

Awa-jinja is a place of pilgrimage for the more superstitious fishing crews of Shinchi-machi, a coastal town in Fukushima, who come here to lower their heads and ask the Shinto gods to look kindly on them as they prepare to steer their boats into the Pacific Ocean.

Bombed out The island idyll where atomic tests reverberate

Oppenheimer has reminded the world of the impact of nuclear weapons testing. One Pacific archipelago never forgot

Monster, Inc Loch Ness's most famous local keeps head down

Around Loch Ness last Saturday, the hope was for sunshine. Would-be champions prepared for the Glenurquhart Highland Games, dedicated runners warmed up for the Loch Ness 24 endurance race - and volunteers readied their binoculars and notepads for the biggest search for the Loch Ness monster in 50 years.

How football president's kiss led to a #MeToo moment

When Jenni Hermoso arrived in the stands, the standing ovation was thundering. On the field below, Atlético de Madrid and AC Milan were battling it out for the Women's Cup, but the message - scrawled on posters, temporary tattoos and a metres-long banner unfurled by the players - was unanimous at the stadium in Madrid last Saturday night: \"We're with you, Jenni Hermoso.\"

Female suicides on rise under Taliban regime

First, her dreams of becoming a doctor were dashed by the Taliban's ban on women's education. Then her family set up a forced marriage to her cousin, a heroin addict. Latifa* felt her future had been snatched away.

Touch down Moon landing is another leap in the global space race

For all the risks, for all that was riding on a successful landing, the descent to the moon's surface was remarkably uneventful, if not exactly stress-free. The Vikram lander, part of India's Chandrayaan-3 mission, dropped steadily on its thrusters to the rock below, slowed to a hover as it approached the ground, and finally came to a rest on the dusty terrain.

Labrador dawn A future where culture meets conservation

A plume of red erupts in the grey-blue waters and Martin Shiwak accelerates his boat to grab the seal he has shot before it sinks out of sight. Shiwak has hunted for years in the waters of Lake Melville, close to the Inuit community of Rigolet in Nunatsiavut.

The next movement Prigozhin is gone, but the Sahel will not be free of Wagner soon

Last week, before Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash, the founder of the Russian mercenary group Wagner appeared bullish in a publicity video, holding a rifle and dressed in desert camouflage.

The cost of speaking out The not so mysterious deaths of Putin's opponents

The attacks have varied, from underwear tainted with the nerve agent Novichok or polonium-laced tea to the more straightforward assassinations by a bullet but, throughout Vladimir Putin's 23-year rule, Kremlin critics, journalists and defected spies have been killed and targeted for opposing him.

Patriot, traitor, martyr ...

After his apparent assassination, Yevgeny Prigozhin's legacy is still to be determined. The Wagner chief's reputation will be dictated by two linked factors-Putin and the result of the war

Village people - A celebrated court case links Victorian England with slavery in Jamaica in Zadie Smith's gripping historical novel

Zadie Smith has spent a long time concertedly not writing historical fiction.

Carry on screaming Film studio is back from the dead

Amicus, which mastered the art of the gleefully ghoulish cinematic short-story collection in the 60s and 70s, is set to make a glorious return

For 25 years, my weekly game has been about so much more than sport

It’s the middle of summer, which means a new football season. The glory game hardly sleeps these days: the Women’s World Cup has only just concluded and there is the constant spectre of the Saudi power grab on men’s elite football.

Biden's Middle East policy aims seem delusional and out of time

It’s uncanny, the way America’s declining influence across the Middle East seems to be tracking the previous, humbling retreat of the British empire from the same area.

THE 600 BILLION DOLLAR MEN

From the star-studded Pro League to golf, F1 and cricket, Saudi Arabia's dizzying strategic investment in global sport is as cynically ambitious as it is controversial.