CATEGORIES

Money hacks How to get your finances ready for a new baby

Raising a child from birth to the age of 18 costs, on average, £166,000 for a couple, and £220,000 for a lone parent in 2023, according to Child Poverty Action Group's annual cost of a child report. Affordability is regularly cited by people who would like to have children as a key reason for holding off doing so.

Teachers' pensions 'I'm in despair as my debts mount'

Delays to pension pot valuations are 'causing huge distress' and costing money for divorcing couples. Rupert Jones reports

Property Homeowners face huge bills when leases expire

Those unaware of how the system works can be left stumping up thousands despite paying off a mortgage. Diane Taylor reports

Price shock Are you feeling better off now? Why US voters should, but may not, say yes

Are you feeling better off now? Why US Voters should, but may not, say yes

Retail sales growth slowed in September despite boost from technology spending

Sales growth in shops in Great Britain slowed last month as an increase in purchases of technology was tempered by the largest monthly fall in spending at supermarkets this year.

UK care home chain sold to US investment company

One of Britain's largest care home chains, Care UK, has been sold to a US property investment company, the Guardian can reveal, in a deal that comes as private providers lobby government for a greater role in the NHS.

Flatten or refashion Can new purpose be found for empty shopping centres?

In Bolton's town centre, the gap-toothed brutalist facade of Crompton Place shopping centre faces off against its majestic Victorian town hall.

Ex-spy for India charged with masterminding US murder plot

US authorities have charged a former Indian intelligence officer with allegedly masterminding a murder-for-hire plot against a prominent Sikh separatist in New York City last year.

Tomb finds at Petra are thrilling - but what do they really reveal?

For one of the most famous ancient sites on the planet, there is a surprising amount about the city of Petra - and the Nabataean people who built it - that we don't know for sure.

Enough already The Tokyo company that resigns for you

Mari was just two months into her new job when she decided she had had enough. The position at an online bank in Tokyo, found through a staffing agency, had looked like a perfect fit for the 25-year-old, a member of Japan's legions of temporary workers. But she quickly became despondent.

Election Can Japan's Liberal Democrats hold on to power?

Bruised by financial scandals, a cost-of-living crisis and unpopular leaders, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP), which has been in office for most of the past seven decades, might have been expected to be nearing its end.

Italy’s deal to 'offshore' migrants in Albania hampered by court ruling

The last 12 asylum seekers being held at a new Italian migration hub in Albania must be transferred to Italy, a court has ruled, in a heavy blow to a controversial “offshoring” deal between Rome and Tirana aimed at curbing migrant arrivals in the European Union.

Fury at plan to expand new Guggenheim into reserve

A large and almost comically sinister fish named Guggenheim is on the loose in and around the ancient Basque town of Guernica, its jaws perilously close to snapping shut on a twitchy-looking tiddler called Urdaibai.

Russian MPs back ban on promoting child-free lives

A law that would ban \"propaganda\" seeking to promote a child-free lifestyle has cleared its first hurdle in Russia's lower house of parliament, gaining unanimous approval among lawmakers who want to increase the country's birthrate.

Moldovans head to polls to decide if the future lies with Russia or the west

Moldovans head to the polls tomorrow for a presidential election and an EU referendum that will mark a pivotal moment in the tug-of-war between Russia and the west over the future of the small, landlocked south-eastern European country with a population of 3 million.

Texas court grants stay of execution to father in 'shaken baby' case

The Texas supreme court has blocked the execution of a man on death row in a late-night ruling on the day of the scheduled lethal injection.

Latino voters More back Trump despite his anti-migrant policies

Dan Soza has seen the harsh realities of Donald Trump's immigration policies up close - and he's alarmed that many Latino voters in Saginaw do not take the former president's threats of mass deportations seriously.

Harris calls out 'fascist' Trump as race teeters on knife-edge

With just half a month to go, the US presidential election is deadlocked, as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump jockey for any advantage in ways that illuminate their stark political differences, with Harris announcing a plan to campaign with the Obamas, as Trump doubled down on threatening his enemies.

Graphic alert on climate Terrifying French hit makes debut in English

When France's best-known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist in 2019, the result was a terrifying comic bestseller. Part history, part analysis, part vision for the future, World Without End weaves the story of humanity's rapacious appetite for fossil fuel energy, how it has made possible the society we take for granted, and its disastrous effects on the climate. It was an immediate smash hit with French readers, selling more than 1m copies so far and becoming France's top-selling book in all categories in 2022.

‘Scramble for the oceans’ Countries race to name and claim the remote seabed

“The sea does not belong to despots,” Jules Verne wrote in 1869 in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Landlords 'pose bigger fire risk to Dartmoor than wild campers'

Wild camping is not a significant fire risk on Dartmoor, new data shows, despite claims by a landowner who has been trying to ban the practice.

Conservationists call for rare acid grassland in Essex to be protected from housing plan

It is the second-best place for nightingales in the country, a sanctuary for rare barbastelle bats and home to nearly 1,500 invertebrate species, including a quarter of all Britain's spider species. But Middlewick Ranges on the edge of Colchester in Essex is set to be sold by the Ministry of Defence for 1,000 new homes.

Let down by politics and football, but at least my dog is a bouncy miracle

Herbie is now 13 years old. Which, depending on how you measure it, makes him somewhere in his 80s in dog years. For his last birthday, friends gave him some treats that claim to improve his joints. Now, I took glucosamine for years in a bid to make my knees marginally less creaky and never noticed any improvement.

TV review A triumph of sex, excess, and fabulous awfulness

Welcome to Rutshire!\" announces Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson), one of its calmer denizens and the only one with enough time between champagne-quaffing and nethers-slapping to ease a new family's passage into the bonkers, bonking Cotswolds set with conventional niceties. And what a welcome it's been!

Stop the shouting Armani: 'calm' style is secret to my success

“There is too much shouting in fashion today,” said Giorgio Armani, who is one the few global household names in fashion. At 90, he retains sole control of his company with a fortune estimated by Forbes to be $12.1bn (£9.3bn). He added that a “calm rather than loud” style had been the secret of his success, before a catwalk show in Manhattan.

Bella Freud's 'personality-packed' M&S collection sells out in a day

Marks & Spencer launched its much-anticipated collaboration with the cult designer Bella Freud on Thursday and had sold out of the vast majority of items in the 27-piece collection by yesterday afternoon.

Man found guilty of rape and manslaughter of woman in London

A man has been convicted of the rape and manslaughter of a woman while she lay unconscious on a park bench in west London after a night out.

Ethical minefield US startup charging couples to 'screen embryos for IQ'

US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement.

Are you sitting comfortably? You will be in HS2's seats, say designers

For now, it is not clear how far passengers will be able to travel on future HS2 services - whether reaching Euston or all the way to Crewe. But a peek at HS2's embryonic carriages reveals travellers will be enthroned in “the best seats of any UK trains” - even, arguably, in the toilets.

Spice traders from Beckham to Oprah: how hot sauces got even hotter

First came tequila. Then rosé. Now the latest celebrity-backed brand isn't booze, but a hot sauce.