CATEGORIES

Facebook UK cut 700 staff and reduced tax bill, accounts show

Facebook cut more than 700 employees in the UK last year at a cost of £79m after its parent company, Meta, embarked on its first-ever round of redundancies as part of a global cost-cutting drive to offset a disastrous collapse in revenues.

Whale of a time How Moby-Dick marathons became American tradition

Every autumn on Venice beach, locals set up a chair by the water. A harpoon goes on one side, a whalebone on the other. Then, in honor of grey whale migration season, they spend two days reading Moby-Dick aloud.

Tanzania Hopes for reform fade amid wave of repression

When Samia Suluhu Hassan took office as Tanzania's president in 2021, many in the east African country hailed what they hoped was a new dawn after the authoritarian and repressive rule of her predecessor, John Magufuli.

Former president in historic comeback as Voters punish Ghana's ruling party

Ghana's former president John Dramani Mahama won a historic comeback election victory yesterday after voters appeared to punish the ruling New Patriotic party (NPP) over its management of an economic crisis.

'A gram is $6' Crystal meth use booms in Mexico as prices fall

11 night, Daniela stares at screens in the warehouse where she works as a security guard. The challenge is to stay awake. So, before every shift, she smokes crystal meth for the euphoric focus it gives her.

Filling the vacuum President-in-waiting is wasting no time in seizing the agenda

The grand reopening of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Saturday was attended by about 50 heads of state and government. Joe Biden was not there to admire the magnificent splendour of the 850-year-old place of worship, but Donald Trump was.

Zelenskyy wants to make peace deal with Russia, Trump claims

Donald Trump has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a day after meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Paris, claiming Kyiv \"would like to make a deal\" to end its war with Russia.

Notre Dame holds first mass since devastating fire in 2019

Parisians and the world rediscovered the breathtaking beauty of the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral on Saturday evening, five years after it was devastated by fire.

'A domino effect' Family looking for answers over Sheffield killing

When the family of Roger Leadbeater, a 74-year-old man stabbed to death while walking his dog yards from his home in Sheffield, went to lay flowers at the scene two days later, they were met with a horrifying sight.

Review to end scandal of debt due to flaws in carer benefit, says minister

The government has promised a \"new settlement\" for unpaid carers, vowing to end the scandal of carer benefit overpayments that has left hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in huge debt and in some cases facing prosecution.

Blackpool How poverty and austerity led to lowest male life expectancy in the UK

It is a league table that no one wants to top. For the first time in 20 years, Blackpool, a once-glamorous seaside resort, has overtaken Glasgow to have the lowest average male life expectancy in the UK.

Review Grimm tale stuffed with sweet treats

Hansel and Gretel Globe theatre, London

Theatre review Spiky and spectacular show has fabulous performances

Noel Streatfeild's classic 1936 novel about three adopted sisters who go to stage school is underpinned by spiky subject matter, in the tradition of good children's stories. Pauline (Grace Saif) is salvaged from a shipwreck, Petrova (Yanexi Enriquez) orphaned in Russia, and Posy (Daisy Sequerra) given up by her dancer mother who has \"no time for babies\". They are taken in by professor and palaeontologist, Great Uncle Matthew (Justin Salinger), GUM for short, who hands them over to two female charges at 999 Cromwell Road and departs for adventures abroad.

'The system is a joke' Day in the life of crown court where delays and shortages are the norm

A man bursts out of a courtroom, shouting expletives. The judge has just ruled that his brother-in-law will not be going to prison after sexually assaulting his two young daughters.

Alleged offenders are spending up to five years in prison awaiting trial

Court backlogs are forcing alleged offenders to spend up to five years in jail awaiting trial and driving innocent people to plead guilty, two prison watchdogs have revealed.

Compass The Labour majority 'has a timebomb under it'

Keir Starmer's focus on winning over voters from the centre-right has delivered Labour a large but fundamentally shallow election victory and a weak mandate to deliver real change, a Labour-linked thinktank has warned.

Housing People take priority over saving newts, says Rayner

Newts should not be more protected than people who need homes, Angela Rayner said yesterday before an overhaul of national planning guidelines.

Reeves: closer ties with EU will replace division and chaos

Rachel Reeves plans to end Britain's fractious post-Brexit relationship with the EU, which she describes as defined by \"division and chaos\", by promising closer ties in the first speech since 2020 by a UK chancellor to eurozone finance ministers.

I was partly deaf for three months after Covid jab, says violinist Kennedy

The violinist Nigel Kennedy has said that he experienced partial deafness for about three months after having the third Covid vaccine in 2021.

Fayed faked dementia to avoid trial, says youngest son

Mohamed Al Fayed pretended he had dementia to evade prosecution for sexual crimes, his son has said.

GMB union is riddled with misogyny, ex-activist says

GMB must release former female staff members from confidentiality clauses that prevent them speaking publicly about their treatment, a former regional president of the trade union has said.

Two people killed as Storm Darragh brings chaos to many parts of the country

A cleanup operation is underway as communities survey the damage brought by Storm Darragh, which killed two people over the weekend.

Hezbollah's war with Israel left Tehran's allies fatally exposed

It was no coincidence that the Syrian group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) began its push for the city of Aleppo on the same day that Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire to end the fighting in Lebanon.

Distant dream: exiles plan return as fall of Assad paves the way home

Nasma and Haleem Kawas met during the first protests against Bashar al-Assad's rule in their hometown of Aleppo. In the early days of the 2011 Arab Spring, the pair locked eyes at a demonstration calling for the president's overthrow. Now, after 13 years of broken dreams and exile, the couple are planning their return.

Downing St PM hails end of 'barbaric' Syrian regime

Keir Starmer welcomed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's \"barbaric regime\" in Syria yesterday.

Family business How Assad went from doctor to brutal dictator

In the face of it at least, the Bashar al-Assad of 2002 was a starkly different figure from the brutal autocrat he would become, ruling over a fragile state founded on torture, imprisonment and industrial murder.

Russia and Iran are suddenly impotent as Turkey takes role of most influential external power

As Celebratory gunfire was heard across much of Syria, the diplomatic big guns of Iran and Russia, in Doha to attend a major dialogue forum, fell silent, rendered powerless and irrelevant by events in Damascus.

'They Vanished' Regime's forces melted away as rebels drew near

When the rebels finally reached Bashar al-Assad's sprawling palace in Damascus, the gates were open. There was no traffic on the floodlit highways leading into the vast estate, and apparently no defenders were waiting among the carefully tended trees. In the empty guardhouses, coats were still hung on the backs of doors.

Arab states will start dialogue with all forces in Syria to prevent reignition of war, says Qatar

Qatar has said Arab states will seek to avert the threat of a reignited Syrian civil war by starting an open dialogue with all the forces on the ground as the Turkish foreign minister said the formation of a new inclusive government in Damascus would allow millions of refugees to return home.

Prisoners freed Joy and grief as families reunite with 'disappeared'

As Syrian rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured city after city on the road to Damascus, forcing Bashar al-Assad to flee the country, they also opened the doors of the regime's notorious prisons, into which upwards of 100,000 people disappeared during nearly 14 years of civil war.