Investigators focus attention on to Andriy Yermak as part of inquiry into nuclear energy kickback scandal * Europe live – latest updates Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have said they are conducting searches at the home of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powerful chief aide and lead negotiator in the latest round of peace talks, Andriy Yermak. Journalists filmed about 10 investigators entering Kyiv’s government quarter in a widening of the investigation into a nuclear energy kickback scandal allegedly run by an associate of the Ukrainian president who has fled the country. Continue reading...

Would-be contenders include governors, senators, members of Congress and the former vice-president

Iga Swiatek tells Simon Cambers she was baffled by post-match suggestions she should have let Amanda Anisimova win one game in Wimbledon final as she turns focus to Australian Open in 2026

This is the day when politicians and amateur commentators talk more doggybollox than on any other day of the year

Twenty years after the first face transplant, patients are dying, data is missing, and the experimental procedure’s future hangs in the balance

The Footnote x Counterpoints prize is intended to uncover new literary voices whose work reflects the experiences of migration Footnote Press and Counterpoints Arts have announced a new fiction award celebrating writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds, offering a £15,000 prize and a publishing deal for the winner. The Footnote x Counterpoints prize for fiction, launching on Thursday, marks the second time the two organisations have collaborated on a prize. In 2023, writers were invited to submit narrative nonfiction, but now the prize will focus on fiction for the first time. Continue reading...

French thriller starring Benoît Magimel has been accused of stealing its story from a 1976 action film

Prime minister says Reform leader’s explanations about alleged comments are ‘unconvincing to say the least’ Keir Starmer has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to his school contemporaries who claim the Reform leader racially abused them while at Dulwich College. The Guardian reported last week the testimony of Peter Ettedgui, who said a 13-year-old Farage “would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers”. Continue reading...

Known for bold raids on urban bins, raccoons are becoming more domesticated – so how they look will gradually change, says science writer Helen Pilcher

The US health secretary’s ‘digital affair’ with Olivia Nuzzi doesn’t need sombre analysis. Take it from this Brit: sometimes laughter is the only option, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

Maybe. Let’s hope it is not too late for Democrats to win back the working class and Washington

Irish comedy writer cleared at Westminster magistrates court of harassing Sophia Brooks on social media The Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has been cleared of harassing a transgender activist on social media but found guilty of criminal damage of their mobile phone outside a conference in London last year. The 57-year-old flew in from Arizona to appear at Westminster magistrates court in person on Tuesday, where judgment was delivered by district judge Briony Clarke. Continue reading...

Chancellor tells parliamentary party they will not like every measure but promises budget will be ‘fair’ Rachel Reeves has privately urged Labour MPs to back her make-or-break budget, saying they will not like every measure but promising it will be “fair.” Speaking to a fractious parliamentary party, after a fortnight of leadership speculation, the chancellor said “politics is a team sport” and promised there would be a package of appealing measures in the budget that they could present to their constituents. Continue reading...

I worried about nuclear war throughout my childhood, partly because it was the 80s, and partly because we were always demonstrating against it. On this important day, I knew where I needed to be, writes Zoe Williams

Decision to remove children comes after British-Australian parents and three daughters ate poisonous mushrooms and ended up in hospital The decision by an Italian court to take three children being brought up in the woods away from their British-Australian parents has sparked a fierce debate in the country over alternative lifestyles. Nathan Trevallion, a former chef from Bristol, and his wife, Catherine Birmingham, a former horse-riding teacher from Melbourne, bought a dilapidated property in a wooded area in Palmoli, in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, in 2021. Continue reading...

After decades of terrorizing civilians in the name of fighting terror, the White House is trying to do it with even less oversight

From a newer, greener Top Gear to the greatest comedy of all time, here are the series Guardian readers most want back on our screens

The two remaining members of the groundbreaking, politically revolutionary group talk about the state of hip-hop and the US government’s attacks on people of color

Let’s put aside the schooldays accusations and look, instead, at the Reform leader’s path since then. I think a pretty clear picture of the man emerges, says author and podcaster Musa Okwonga

Girl, 13, has been bailed after being arrested on suspicion of murder in relation to death of mental health counsellor A woman whose death has sparked a murder investigation has been named by police. Sarah Forrester, 55, a mental health counsellor, died after an incident at a house in Moredon, Swindon, on Friday evening. Continue reading...

Files show then PM was walking dog, riding motorbike and hosting guests as pandemic planning stalled in ‘lost month’ Boris Johnson took four days off from official government business during a key period in the UK’s Covid preparation when the NHS was bracing to be “overwhelmed” by the virus. Official disclosure for the period in February 2020 – described by the Covid inquiry as a “lost month” in the country’s crisis response – reveal Johnson enjoyed an extended break during the half-term holidays at Chevening, a governmental estate in Kent, where he spent time walking his dog and taking motorcycle rides. Continue reading...

The philosopher and the sex trafficker were in contact long after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, documents reveal The prominent linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky called it a “most valuable experience” to have maintained “regular contact” with Jeffrey Epstein, who by then had long been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, according to emails released earlier in November this month by US lawmakers. Such comments from Chomsky, or attributed to him, suggest his association with Epstein – who officials concluded killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges – went deeper than the occasional political and academic discussions the former had previously claimed to have with the latter. Continue reading...

The Norwegian author on his autofictional epic, moving to London, and the psychopath at the heart of his new novel

Collective experiment found switching profile to ‘male’ and ‘bro-coding’ text led to big increase in reach, though site denies favouring posts by men Do your LinkedIn followers consider you a “thought leader”? Do hordes of commenters applaud your tips on how to “scale” your startup? Do recruiters slide into your DMs to “explore potential synergies”? If not, it could be because you’re not a man. Continue reading...

Judge sentences Martin Suter to minimum of 27 years for stabbing Ann Blackwood to death in 2023 A man has been jailed for life with a minimum of 27 years for murdering his ex-wife at their son’s grave on their late child’s birthday. Martin Suter, 68, was rebuked by the judge and his former brother-in-law for “pitilessly extinguishing” the life of Ann Blackwood, 71. Continue reading...