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Struggling company, which has run more than 100 outlets, has been criticised by MPs over claims it failed to pay locum pharmacists

Spanish woman's attempted restoration of church artwork was widely mocked but became lucrative tourist attractionCecilia Gimenez, the woman who achieved unwanted international fame for her botched Monkey Christ" restoration of a 19th-century mural in Borja, north-east Spain, has died aged 94.In 2012, Gimenez, an amateur artist, decided to restore Ecce Homo, a mural by a local artist, Elias Garcia Martinez, that hung in the Santuario de Misericordia church in Borja. However, her talent as an artist was not equal to her good intentions and she produced what was described as the worst restoration in history. Continue reading...

Isaac Herzog's spokesperson says he has not spoken to Trump since US president wrote to urge him to stop court cases against Israeli PMThe office of Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, has denied a claim by Donald Trump that Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under trial on corruption charges, would soon receive a pardon.Speaking shortly before his meeting in Florida with the Israeli prime minister on Monday night, Trump said he had been told by Herzog that a pardon was on its way". Continue reading...

Moment of maximum danger will come in May's local and regional elections and PM is already plotting his comebackKeir Starmer will begin his second full year in Downing Street as one of the least popular ever prime ministers - a spectacularly rapid reversal from his landslide election win of just 18 months ago.Yet Starmer believes this will be the year things start to improve for his beleaguered premiership and fractious Labour party. Continue reading...

Labour urges Conservative leader to reveal whether she knew David Wolfson was to represent Russian oligarch in legal caseKemi Badenoch is under pressure to act on the revelations that her shadow attorney general is representing the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, despite UK sanctions against him.David Wolfson, a Tory peer, is part of the legal team representing Abramovich as he attempts to recover billions in frozen assets he owns in the Channel islands. Continue reading...

Seyed Araghchi claims US president's Arab allies now view Israel's recklessness as a threat to us all'

Changes include the Victorian government expanding land taxes and Queensland introducing a child sex offender register

Applications to build battery storage drive boom as offshore wind projects given go-ahead jump sevenfold year on yearA record number of renewable energy projects were given the go-ahead in Great Britain in 2025, after planning approvals almost doubled year on year, according to an analysis.The energy capacity of new battery, wind, and solar projects that received approval climbed to 45GW this year, 96% higher than in 2024, according to data from Cornwall Insight. Continue reading...

General secretary of party's main union backer says it must change course or risk sowing seeds of its own destructionUnite's general secretary, Sharon Graham, has told the government it must do more for workers in 2026 or risk sowing the seeds of its own destruction.Graham accused Labour of being preoccupied with its failing leadership" and described the debate about who might replace Keir Starmer as inevitable. Continue reading...

US president says Chinese leader did not notify him of drills that have involved live missile launches into Taiwan strait

Exclusive: One Nation senator travelled on mining magnate's Gulfstream 700 in October and stayed at Rinehart's US$66m Palm Beach mansion

Foreign secretary says due diligence procedures were inadequate amid storm over activist's past tweetsYvette Cooper has launched a review looking into serious information failures" around the case of a British-Egyptian activist welcomed to the UK despite his past tweets now called abhorrent" by the government.Keir Starmer said he was delighted" by Alaa Abd el-Fattah's arrival on Friday but a political storm erupted after social media posts from a decade ago were unearthed including some in which the activist had called for Zionists to be killed. Continue reading...

Police allege a 16-year-old and 20-year-old were in the car with firearms and a dedicated encrypted phone

New M&S salads, breads, yoghurt bowls and chicken dinners come as more Britons turn to Mounjaro and Wegovy

Coral Adventurer, being investigated for allegedly leaving behind passenger who died, ran aground with 124 people on board on Saturday

Archives reveal options considered by Tony Blair's government for dealing with Zimbabwean dictator in 2004The Foreign Office cautioned against UK military intervention to overthrow the former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in 2004, advising it was not a serious option", recently released documents show.Policy papers show Tony Blair's government weighed up options on how best to handle the depressingly healthy" 80-year-old dictator, who refused to step down while the country descended into violence and economic chaos. Continue reading...

Average property price in city rose by 12.6%, while Stafford and Wigan also had double-digit growthUK house prices rose fastest in Plymouth this year as investment in shopping and amenities lured buyers to the south-west city, a survey of 2025 housing hotspots shows, as the central London market struggled with weaker demand.The average property price rose by 12.6% in Plymouth during 2025, the steepest rise anywhere in the country, taking the typical home price to 278,808. The data, from Lloyds Banking Group, showed Stafford and Wigan also had double-digit growth. Continue reading...

Minutes of travel expenses of former Duke of York as UK trade envoy withheld from National Archives

Then PM wrote on note from aide in 2005 that case must not' be dealt with in civil court, archives reveal

Australian federal police are reviewing security camera footage from the duo's month-long trip to Davao in November

Newly released UK cabinet papers from 2005 provide an insight into how the Blair government worked to flatter the Australian PM to influence his decisionTony Blair's government discussed how to influence" John Howard when it came to committing Australian troops to Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, newly released files in the UK show.They also reveal that one of Howard's own defence ministers told a Downing Street official that the Australian prime minister was not keen" on sending troops to Afghanistan and privately advised the British leader should raise the issue with Howard to get him focused on the need for Australia to contribute". Continue reading...

Former PM's team suggested initial less-politicised drafts seemed patronising and appealed to fuddy-duddy Britain'

Tony Blair was told that tensions with his then chancellor would need to be carefully managed, files reveal

Emergency medicine specialist says improved social care and efficiency would help crisis in NHSEmergency departments across the UK are in big trouble" owing to the way corridor care has been normalised", a leading medic has warned.Dr Ian Higginson, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), said there should be howls of outrage" over deaths linked to long emergency department waits, with just a few hospitals around the UK managing to avoid caring for patients on trolleys in corridors. Continue reading...

Meera Syal also made dame while England women's football and rugby winners feature prominentlyThe actors Idris Elba and Meera Syal have been made a knight and a dame in the new year honours list, with top awards also going to the ice skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.The former head of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, was also made a dame and there were knighthoods for Patrick McCabe, a former UN official responsible for clearing unexploded bombs in Gaza; Tristram Hunt, the former Labour MP and now director of the V&A, for services to museums; and Roy Clarke, creator of the sitcoms Last of the Summer Wine, Open All Hours and Keeping Up Appearances. Continue reading...

Former Brazilian president underwent a phrenic nerve block while temporarily released from prison for surgeryJair Bolsonaro underwent a second phrenic nerve block procedure" on Monday to treat persistent hiccups.The treatment went well and the former Brazilian president's condition is stable, according to his medical team. Continue reading...

Strictly and Traitors presenter and true national treasure' will front The Claudia Winkleman Show from springShe has ruled the Traitors castle and waltzed out of the ballroom on Strictly Come Dancing. Now Claudia Winkleman is taking up residence in one of television's most traditional settings - on the chatshow sofa.The BBC has confirmed that the presenter, who has become one of its most prized assets after fronting two of its most successful programmes, is to host The Claudia Winkleman Show in the spring. Continue reading...

Russia's claim it foiled drone attack on Putin residence shows they do not want to finish this war', Ukrainian president saysVolodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of trying to sabotage peace talks and preparing to bomb government buildings after the Kremlin said it had foiled a Ukrainian drone attack on Vladimir Putin's residence.Zelenskyy described the claim as typical Russian lies" following his two-hour meeting on Sunday with Donald Trump in Florida. He said Russia was at it again" and using dangerous statements" to undermine diplomatic efforts" with the US to end the conflict. Continue reading...

Israel's PM travels to Mar-a-Lago as US administration reported to be running out of patience over Gaza ceasefireBenjamin Netanyahu met Donald Trump at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.High on the agenda will be the ceasefire in Gaza, which in October halted the devastating two-year-long war. Though the terms agreed for an initial phase have been largely completed, with Israel's forces pulling back to new positions and Hamas releasing all living and all but one of the dead hostages, immense challenges face the implementation of the second phase of the president's 20-point plan. Continue reading...

The actor said privacy laws protecting children from paparazzi were a key factor in the family's decisionGeorge Clooney has been granted French citizenship, along with his wife Amal Clooney and their two children, according to an official decree in France's government gazette.The publication confirms an ambition Clooney alluded to early in December when he praised French privacy laws that keep his family shielded from paparazzi. Continue reading...

Man in his 60s, believed to be a driver involved in two-vehicle collision in Thetford, shot after leaving sceneThe police watchdog has launched an investigation after a man in his 60s was shot dead by officers in Norfolk.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was examining what led police to fire twice after two vehicles crashed into each other in Thetford on Sunday evening. Continue reading...

Train accident in Oaxaca is likely to raise criticisms about public works projects from the previous administrationAt least 13 people were killed when a train derailed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, in an accident which is likely to revive opposition criticisms of the speed and dealings with which the country's government builds its flagship public works projects.The incident took place on the Interoceanic Train, which was built to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, creating an alternative rail cargo route to the Panama canal intended to drive development in the region. Continue reading...

Activist was entitled to UK passport but for a rising number of voters Britishness is something you are born withWhat does it mean to be British? That question is increasingly at the heart of our national political debate. And it has become a more urgent one this week as the Conservatives and Reform UK call for the British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah to be stripped of his UK citizenship over racist and offensive tweets he published 10 to 15 years ago.Abd el-Fattah's social media activity was thrust into the spotlight after he was finally allowed to arrive in the UK last week following a decade spent as a political prisoner in Egypt. The tweets unearthed were vile: they included calls to kill all Zionists" and to burn down Downing Street during the 2011 riots. Abd el-Fattah has apologised for those remarks. Continue reading...

Zelenskyy says Moscow trying to derail peace talks progress, as Russian foreign minister claims Ukraine targeted president's home in NovgorodThe Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists this morning that Moscow agreed with Donald Trump's assessment that talks to end the war were in their final stage.As a reminder, Trump said a draft agreement to end the war was nearly 95% done". I really think we are closer than ever with both sides," he said, though he added that one or two very thorny issues" remain. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research finds worrying' surge in support for hard-right narratives on national identityThe number of people who believe Britishness" is something you are born with has almost doubled in two years, according to research that warns of a rising tide of ethno-nationalism in Britain.Although a majority of the public still believe being British is rooted in shared values, a growing proportion see it as a product of ethnicity, birthplace and ancestry, according to analysis carried out by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and shared with the Guardian. Continue reading...

Tighter border controls caused arrivals to decline sharply but forced people on to more dangerous routes, activists sayMore than 3,000 people died trying to reach Spain by sea over the past year, a sharp fall from the previous 12 months.However, activists cautioned that the drop reflected tighter border controls that have forced migrants to take increasingly dangerous routes. Continue reading...

Move comes after party's exclusion for last two years was lambasted by JD Vance at this year's eventThe Munich Security Conference (MSC) has invited lawmakers from Alternative fur Deutschland to join its annual gathering of top international defence officials in February after shutting out the far-right party for the last two years.The reversal, which was confirmed by organisers, came after the US vice-president, JD Vance, lambasted the AfD's exclusion in a blistering speech at this year's event in which he accused Germany of stifling free speech by sidelining the anti-migrant, pro-Kremlin party. Continue reading...

Dissident human rights campaigner has apologised after calling for violence against Zionists and police in 2010-2012The human rights campaigner Alaa Abd el-Fattah's past social media posts have led to a widespread backlash since his return from detention in Egypt on Friday. What has happened? Continue reading...

Paint and sofas sell well as Britons are priced out of moving home or undertaking pricey renovations

I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost,' Ahmed tells CBS News of those who died in Sydney attack on 14 December

Albin Kurti's emphatic victory strengthens mandate for domestic reforms including welfare expansionKosovo's prime minister, Albin Kurti has won an emphatic election victory, marking a resurgence for the nationalist leader and ending a political deadlock in Europe's youngest state.The win in Sunday's snap election strengthens Kurti's mandate to push through domestic reforms, including welfare expansion and higher salaries for public workers, although he faces significant problems including tensions with Serbia and health and education systems that lag behind Kosovo's Balkan neighbours. Continue reading...

Campaigner recently released from prison makes statement after PM's support is questioned by Tory MPsAlaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian human rights campaigner, has apologised unreservedly for what he accepted were shocking and hurtful tweets that he wrote more than 10 years ago in what he described as heated online battles.He said he was shaken by the criticism that has rained down on him since the tweets were highlighted by shadow ministers challenging Keir Starmer's support for him since he was released by the Egyptian government to travel to the UK after his release from more than 10 years in prison. Continue reading...

Manchester and Bristol among those worst hit as most airports face bills more than doubling in next three years

Health minister decries criticism of vaccinations by heads of four authorities as dangerous and utterly irresponsible'A third of Reform UK's council leaders across the country have expressed vaccine-sceptic views, openly questioning public health measures that keep millions safe.The leaders of four of the 12 councils where Reform is in charge or the largest party - Kent, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Durham - are among those in the party who have publicly criticised vaccinations. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Organisation accuses Sir Mark Rowley of religious discrimination and whipping up conspiracy theories'Freemasons have demanded an emergency injunction from the high court to halt the Metropolitan police's new policy that orders officers to tell their bosses if they are members of the organisation.The Freemasons filed papers in London on Christmas Eve and claim the Met's policy amounts to religious discrimination" against Freemasons who are also police officers. Continue reading...

After the huge success of the celebrity version the producers added a twist - and host says it all gets hardcore'With its cloak and dagger plots and gripping finale, The Celebrity Traitors became the biggest show of 2025 in the UK - but the new series of the regular version is even more brutal, the host Claudia Winkleman has said.And as Kate Garraway might put it, audiences are set to be flabbergasted by a new twist that the producers say has been introduced to change the conversation" around the regular version of the hit reality gameshow when it returns for its fourth series on 1 January. Continue reading...

Marine robotics firm to renew its search more than decade after plane disappeared with 239 people onboardThe search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is expected to resume on 30 December, more than a decade after the plane disappeared with 239 people onboard in one of aviation's greatest mysteries.A renewed search by Ocean Infinity, a UK and US-based marine robotics company, had begun earlier this year but was called off in April because of bad weather. Continue reading...

Police are expanding aerial searches near where the abandoned car of 41-year-old Trisha Graf was found

Open letter to Anthony Albanese calls antisemitism a national crisis that demands a powerful national response'