General news

• Last-minute Christmas shopping guide: is there still time to save the day?

  20-12-2017 17:21 via theguardian.com
  Guide to online deadlines for guaranteed deliveries – and a word of warning for those hitting the high street to buy their presents on Christmas EveHave you done your Christmas shopping yet? There is still plenty of time to hit the high street but deadlines are rapidly approaching for online purchases. Here is a roundup of retailers’ last order dates for guaranteed delivery before Christmas and, for those who really like to leave things to the last minute, a guide to opening hours on
  
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• Middle East crisis live: Iran says Lebanon is part of deal with US as Trump reportedly speaks to Netanyahu

  12-06-2026 21:40 via theguardian.com
  Iran’s foreign minister says end to war on all fronts includes Lebanon; US president has reportedly discussed latest peace deal efforts with Israel’s PMIran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has cautioned against media speculation about a potential memorandum of understanding to end the war, particularly on claims regarding the strait of Hormuz.IRNA reported that Iran will not surrender its control of the strategic waterway and the US will have no role in its futur
  
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• ‘Failure was my thing’: Women’s prize winner Virginia Evans on her long journey to success

  12-06-2026 21:30 via theguardian.com
  The American author received ‘thousands of rejections’ over two decades before finally hitting gold with her first published novelJust as I am about to interview this year’s Women’s prize winner, debut American novelist Virginia Evans, at the party on a drizzly evening in a leafy London square, we are interrupted because someone wants to congratulate her. The fan is Richard Curtis.A warm-hearted weepy with a sprinkling of gentle humour, Evans’s prize-winning novel T
  
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• Canada v Bosnia and Herzegovina: World Cup 2026 – live

  12-06-2026 21:23 via theguardian.com
  ⚽️ Kick-off at 3pm EDT/8pm BST/13 June 5am AEST
  ⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail TahaForget the World Cup just for a sec … some news from Scotland. Canada: Crépeau, Johnston, De Fougerolles, Cornelius, Laryea, Buchanan, Koné, Eustáquio, Millar, Jonathan David, Oluwaseyi Continue reading...
  
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• England v Sri Lanka: Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup opener – live

  12-06-2026 21:22 via theguardian.com
  Updates from Edgbaston; play starts at 6.30pm BST
  Hosts get ready to rock | Mail James | Read the Spin4th over: England 32-0 (Jones 16, Wyatt Hodge 14) Captain Athapaththu brings herself on to keep the changes coming. Jones is frustrated as she clubs two drag downs straight to the fielder at square leg. Five singles in a row… Jones then deploys the slog sweep and gets four but could/should have been caught on the boundary! Dilhari gets in a muddle thinking she could only palm the ball ba
  
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• Elon Musk becomes world’s first trillionaire as SpaceX valuation passes $2tn in first stock market trading – business live

  12-06-2026 21:22 via theguardian.com
  One economist says Musk’s world-first level of extreme wealth highlights massive economic disparities and could have profound effects on society
  SpaceX’s shares will be supported by a number of “forced buyers”, such as tracker funds.Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, explains:The Nasdaq index has tweaked its rules, which has allowed SpaceX to join the index on a fast-track basis. It remains to be seen whether the company will have a disproportionate
  
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• Middle East crisis live: final text of peace deal between US and Iran agreed, says Pakistan’s prime minister

  12-06-2026 21:07 via theguardian.com
  Islamabad working with both sides to finalise next steps, says Shehbaz SharifIran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has cautioned against media speculation about a potential memorandum of understanding to end the war, particularly on claims regarding the strait of Hormuz.IRNA reported that Iran will not surrender its control of the strategic waterway and the US will have no role in its future management.Contrary to some bizarre claims in the media, Iran in no way makes a commi
  
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• Scotland played Traitors to give players voice before World Cup opener, says Robertson

  12-06-2026 20:08 via theguardian.com
  Captain said game helped pass time in training campScotland play 83rd-ranked Haiti on Saturday in BostonAndy Robertson has revealed an unorthodox way Scotland have prepared for their World Cup return, with the captain organising a game of Traitors among the squad during their buildup camp in the United States.Scotland’s meeting with Haiti in Boston is their first World Cup game since 1998. Much has been made of Scotland’s togetherness in the lead up to this tournament. Robertson did
  
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• Canada police investigate whether Toronto police death linked to global terror attacks

  12-06-2026 20:08 via theguardian.com
  Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, was killed while executing search warrants related to a shooting at US consulateAuthorities in Canada are investigating whether the killing of a Toronto police officer while he was executing search warrants related to a shooting at the city’s US consulate is linked a broader series of global terror attacks.Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, a member of the emergency taskforce, was killed on Thursday during a dawn search of an apartment building in the west of the
  
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• Chaotic talks on a US-Iran deal continue on the Trump rollercoaster

  12-06-2026 20:05 via theguardian.com
  Amid rhetoric, market uncertainty and tit-for-tat exchanges, the two sides are still trying to find a way out of the impasseGreat news! Donald Trump has said the US and Iran are on the verge of a peace agreement. Oil prices are down, and the stock market is up. This comes only hours after Trump warned Iran was about to be struck “VERY HARD”, a threat that had sent oil prices up and stocks down.It has been another ride on the Trump rollercoaster, keeping traders on edge, most of the w
  
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• Should you boycott the World Cup? - The Latest

  12-06-2026 20:03 via theguardian.com
  The football’s only just kicked off, but this World Cup has already seen its fair share of controversy. With a Somali referee barred from entering the US, Fifa president Gianni Infantino cosying up to Donald Trump and accusations of price gouging and cash grabbing, fans have been left with mixed emotions about the tournament. Annie Kelly speaks to the sportswriter and columnist Jonathan Liew Continue reading...
  
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• Rangers target Derek McInnes from Hearts as replacement for Danny Röhl

  12-06-2026 19:56 via theguardian.com
  Röhl expected to join RB Salzburg within daysMcInnes turned down chance to manage Rangers in 2017Rangers are likely to move for the Hearts manager, Derek McInnes, if Danny Röhl completes a move to RB Salzburg.The Ibrox club and Salzburg are in talks over a deal for Röhl, who was appointed by Rangers last October. The 37-year-old began his coaching career elsewhere in the RB stable, at Leipzig. There is a rising sense in Glasgow that he will accept Salzburg’s overtures, with
  
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• Number of arrests after riots in Northern Ireland rises to 19

  12-06-2026 19:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Police call for calm before anti-racist protests in Belfast and Glasgow as MPs warn of failure over online misinformationPolice said 19 people, including a 16-year-old boy, had now been arrested after two nights of rioting in Northern Ireland following a knife attack earlier in the week.The violence broke out after far-right activists called for demonstrations in response to the attack, which was captured in a graphic video. Continue reading...
  
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• British man jailed for goading American to kill himself on video call

  12-06-2026 19:46 via theguardian.com
  Dylan Phelan, 21, of Leeds, sentenced to more than six years for encouraging the suicide of 21-year-old Travis DyerA Yorkshire man has been sentenced to more than six years in jail after admitting encouraging a US citizen to kill themselves while on a video call.Dylan Phelan, 21, was sentenced on Friday at Leeds crown court after previously pleading guilty to intentionally doing an act that was capable of encouraging the suicide of another person.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacte
  
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• The SpaceX IPO made Musk a trillionaire. The old rules of capitalism no longer apply | Robert Reich

  12-06-2026 19:40 via theguardian.com
  The economic principles taught in school aren’t as relevant as hype, connections and total, arbitrary controlShare your views on SpaceX’s stock market debutElon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire, after his SpaceX exploration and satellite company went public on the Nasdaq on Friday.With shares priced at $135 each, Musk’s aerospace and satellite maker soared to an overall market valuation of approximately $1.77tn – which raised Musk’s net worth (which
  
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• Starmer admits he must ‘turn things around’ as US adds to pressure over defence spending

  12-06-2026 19:40 via theguardian.com
  Prime minister promises to fight any leadership challenge as he faces escalating row over military spending Keir Starmer has admitted that he has to “turn things around” after the resignation of the defence secretary, John Healey, in an escalating row over military spending that has prompted recriminations across Whitehall and concern from the US.Downing Street and the Treasury traded blows with allies of Healey on Friday. No 10 expressed dismay that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had
  
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• Thomas Partey out of Ghana’s World Cup opener after visa application to Canada refused

  12-06-2026 19:32 via theguardian.com
  Player had been due to face Panama in TorontoFifa says decision made by Canadian governmentThomas Partey has been denied entry to Canada and will not be available for Ghana’s first World Cup game in Toronto on Wednesday.The former Arsenal midfielder was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in July 2025 by the Metropolitan police and pleaded not guilty. Partey, who now plays for the Spanish club Villarreal, was subsequently charged with two new counts of rape in
  
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• UK to ban under-16s from ‘high risk’ social media apps

  12-06-2026 19:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Measures to include restrictions on ‘safe’ social media apps, with some fearing banning some platforms and not others will lead to legal challengesTeenagers under the age of 16 are to be banned from accessing “high-risk” social media apps while safer platforms will be subjected to restrictions, under a sweeping government crackdown.Under-18s will also be banned from using romantic or sexual AI chatbots after a consultation on keeping children safe online. Continue reading
  
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• ‘I think about him every time I go swimming’: David Hockney remembered by Rachel Whiteread, Jeremy Deller and more

  12-06-2026 19:27 via theguardian.com
  Artists and cultural figures celebrate the great Yorkshire painter who could ‘make teabags and toothpaste glamorous’ – with a poem from a fellow Yorkshireman‘David Hockney caught the look of the modern world’David Hockney, revolutionary British artist, dies aged 88My earliest memories of modern artists were of David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Bridget Riley. I remember seeing a TV programme about David in the 1970s as a young kid and thinking “wow, is that what b
  
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• Texas shooting leaves one person dead and nine others in hospital

  12-06-2026 19:26 via theguardian.com
  Midland police reported that the suspected shooter was dead after a two-hour standoffSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailA shooting on Friday in Midland, Texas, has killed one person and sent a further nine to the hospital with injuries, according to the city’s authorities.The possible suspect was in a standoff with officers for around two hours but later on Friday afternoon was reported deceased, police and the city’s mayor said. Continue reading...
  
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• Pro-Palestine activists sentenced as terrorists over damage at Israeli arms factory in UK

  12-06-2026 19:23 via theguardian.com
  Four found guilty will face tougher conditions as judge says actions were ‘designed to intimidate the UK government and a section of the public’A judge has imposed lengthy custodial sentences on four Palestine Action activists who smashed up drones and other equipment at an Israeli arms manufacturer’s UK factory after ruling that there was a “terrorist connection” to their offending.Charlotte Head, 30, and Leona Kamio, 30, were each jailed for five years and Fatema
  
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• Latest US release of UFO files reveals strange lights but few hard facts

  12-06-2026 19:20 via theguardian.com
  New batch of government documents takes no position on origin of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs)A possible UFO sighting over a busy southern African airport, and yet more mysterious glowing orbs in the sky above the US, feature in the latest batch of previously classified documents released by the Pentagon on Friday in its stated quest for “transparency” amid the irrepressible debate about the chances of extraterrestrial life.In keeping with the first two document drops of gover
  
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• David Hockney, pioneering British artist famed for his pools and portraits, dies aged 88

  12-06-2026 19:18 via theguardian.com
  The peroxide blond painter from Yorkshire made his name with sunkissed visions of California and never stopped breaking barriers, going on to become one of contemporary art’s most important figures
  • ‘David Hockney caught the look of the modern world’
  • David Hockney’s life in picturesDavid Hockney, the iconic British painter who cast a revolutionary gaze across 20th-century art, has died aged 88.He made his name as a pop artist during the swinging 60s and was p
  
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• The Guardian view on the Makerfield byelection: Andy Burnham is looking to beat Reform’s politics of anger | Editorial

  12-06-2026 19:08 via theguardian.com
  A win for Labour would show how the party can speak to working-class insecurity without scapegoating minoritiesThe resignations from the heart of government this week will only deepen the anti-Westminster mood ahead of the Makerfield byelection. The departure of the defence secretary, John Healey, and his deputy illustrates that Sir Keir Starmer’s problem is not just his unpopularity. It is that his claim to competence is being challenged from the inside. When ministers resign saying that
  
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• The Guardian view on literature in wartime: words do not stop when the bombing begins | Editorial

  12-06-2026 19:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Writers do not only document the horror of conflict; they speak to a future that must exist beyond itLast week, thousands of readers gathered for a literary festival in Kyiv, risking air raids to hear from writers. Four brutal years of war have not destroyed the appetite for writing, but fuelled it. Russia’s extensive and systematic attempts to destroy Ukrainian culture, and therefore identity, have rightly received widespread attention. Over 700 libraries were damaged or destroyed outrigh
  
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• Ugly scenes in Belfast expose a broken politics | Letters

  12-06-2026 18:59 via theguardian.com
  Readers respond to nights of rioting in the city fuelled by anti-migrant rhetoric I agree with John Harris’s analysis (Cars burn in Belfast, bricks fly in Southampton – and the ubiquitous cry of ‘civil war’ goes up again, 10 June). He misses one obvious point, though. Since the election of the first Thatcher government in 1979, there has been a continuous attack on the rights and living standards of working-class people, such that we are now seeing a decline in healthy li
  
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• Ten years after the vote, we have some new slogans for the Brexit bus | Letters

  12-06-2026 18:59 via theguardian.com
  Readers respond to an article by Jonathan Freedland about our entire political and cultural landscape being shaped by the referendumJonathan Freedland is right to highlight the disastrous role played by David Cameron and George Osborne in using the prospect of an in/out referendum to garner votes in the 2015 election, with a view to dropping it if the expected coalition with the Lib Dems emerged (Britain is a swamp of lies and disinformation – and we got here on the Brexit bus, 5 June).But
  
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• Readers’ top 100 novels cause a stir | Letters

  12-06-2026 18:59 via theguardian.com
  Letter writers challenge what appears and what doesn’tAlex Clark writes that The Lord of the Rings “is, strictly speaking, a trilogy” (Move over Middlemarch! Readers’ top 100 novels, 6 June). Strictly speaking, it isn’t a trilogy but a single work of fiction originally published in three volumes for practical reasons. None of the three volumes can stand alone. Compare, for example, the late David Lodge’s Changing Places, Small World, and Nice Work – a pr
  
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• From Celtic culture to Norman wisdom, the English should delight in their hybridity | Letters

  12-06-2026 18:59 via theguardian.com
  The origins of the English nation long preceded the Anglo-Saxons, says Rev Dr Richard Cleaves. Plus a letter from George NicholsonRev Dr John Caperon, writing about the Bayeux tapestry’s visit to Britain, appears to think that “the real origins of the English nation” lie in the “pre-1066 Anglo-Saxon culture” (Letters, 9 June).This is utterly outrageous. A little respect is due to the Danelaw and the Vikings, to the Celts of the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries, to
  
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• Mary Hooper obituary

  12-06-2026 18:48 via theguardian.com
  My mum, the author Mary Hooper, who has died aged 81, left school aged 15 with no qualifications. Her last school report said: “Far too noisy and talkative.” When she was a young mother in the 1970s she read a short story and thought “I could do better than that,” wrote one up and sent it to Jackie magazine. To her surprise, it sold for £14.She went on to write hundreds of stories and more than 100 books for children and young adults, before YA was an official genre
  
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