A Florida man working as a Salvation Army bell ringer for the holidays was arrested Christmas week after he allegedly attempted to "impale" the manager of a grocery store with his donation kettle tripod.
C of E faces dilemma as far right claims Christianity to push agenda that often clashes with gospel message
Gary made sure he got to Whitehall early for the “unite the kingdom” (UTK) outdoor carol service in the run-up to Christmas. After about 150,000 people turned up for the last rally called by Tommy Robinson in September, the leader of the anti-migrant far-right movement, he wanted to be sure of a prime position.
He needn’t have worried. About 1,500 people – perhaps 1% of September’s turnout – came to Whitehall to sing carols and hear preachers in the twilight of a mid-December day. Robinson had publicly insisted the event was a non-political celebration of Christmas; maybe that deterred some of movement’s more ardent activists.
Both industries dominate the world but now face fundamental transformation and uncertainty at home
South Korea’s entertainment dominance appears unshakeable. From BTS conquering global charts to Parasite sweeping the Oscars in 2020 and Korean dramas topping Netflix, Korean popular culture has never been more visible. Exports driven by the country’s arts hit a record $15.18bn (£11bn) in 2024, cementing the country’s reputation as a cultural superpower.
But inside South Korea, the two industries that helped build the Korean Wave – cinema and K-pop – are now experiencing fundamental transformations, with their survival strategies potentially undermining the creative foundations of their success.
The band may be relatively new but its members have spent years steeped in the scene, giving them edge and an ear for tracks that rip through a room
From London, UK
Recommended if you like Metallica, Terror, Trapped Under Ice
Up next Performing at Collision festival, Bedford, 11 April
One of the surprise success stories of the last year has been the resurgence of hardcore. From the ascent of the young, Grammy-nominated bands Turnstile and Knocked Loose to the comeback of Deftones and their fresh grip on gen Z, as well as the growth of the UK festival Outbreak, heavy guitar music is enjoying a renaissance. After releasing their debut album, Faded Intentions, in November, False Reality might seem like a new name to watch in this world – but they have deep roots.
A single act of kindness reminded me that, despite so much evidence to the contrary, the better angels of our nature are not necessarily doomed
Perhaps you are searching for reasons to be cheerful at the end of what has been a particularly dispiriting year? In that case, read on. In November, I was on a train travelling into London. When I got off the train and headed for the ticket barrier, I realised I didn’t have my wallet. I knew that I had had it when I boarded. I made an undignified scrabble and search through my coat, jacket and trouser pockets that deserved the comic skills of a Charlie Chaplin or Jacques Tati. There was, though, no mistake. I had somehow managed to leave my wallet on the train.
A nice station attendant took the details and said he would pass the message down the line. I left him my mobile number. But it was rush hour, the man pointed out, and the chances of getting the wallet back had probably vanished with the departing train. Meanwhile I rang my bank and eventually succeeded in cancelling my cards. I felt horribly stupid, old and embarrassed. I went for a drink with friends and felt sorry for myself.
Kathmandu mayor Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah will run for prime minister with presenter Rabi Lamichhane’s party after deadly protests that ousted government
Two of Nepal’s most popular political leaders have formed an alliance ahead of next year’s election in the wake of deadly youth-led protests earlier in the year that ousted the government.
Television host Rabi Lamichhane, the 51-year-old chairperson of the Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP), and the 35-year-old rapper turned Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah pledged to address the demands of the younger generation following September’s deadly anti-corruption protests.
The Belgian author’s genius comes to the fore in a dark domestic drama
The more one reads of Georges Simenon, the stranger the writer and his writings become. His novels, most of them composed in a week or two, are simple, straightforward, shallow-seeming even, but below the surface lie dark and fathomless depths.
Many readers will know him as the creator of Commissioner Jules Maigret of the Paris Police Judiciaire, the most unpretentious, humane and convincing of the great fictional detectives. However, his finest work is to be found in what he called his romans durs, or hard novels, including such masterpieces as Dirty Snow, Monsieur Monde Vanishes and the jauntily horrifying The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By. Now, Penguin Classics has launched a series of 20 of the romans durs in new translations, starting with The Cat, originally published in French in 1967.
As young men face new rules forcing them to indicate their readiness to serve, the Bundeswehr drums up support at a trade show
Sitting in the cramped interior of a Panzerhaubitze 2000 armoured vehicle, Tom, 20, hangs on every word coming from Achim, an officer with the German military, as he breathlessly talks students through the workings of “the most modern tank in the world”.
“What damage would you expect its ammunition to inflict?” Tom asks.
If you think a year is a long time in politics, it’s even longer in the world of denim. Where once there was a universal shape that was ‘trendy’, now jeans of all shapes and sizes are enjoying moments in the saddle
Never has there been a more fickle or divisive piece of clothing.
Jeans, patented 152 years ago as workwear, have the power to make a wearer feel either on-trend or old fashioned, depending on their cut, wash and length and, most importantly, timing. As we bid farewell to 2025, it’s hard to decipher what exactly the jean of the year has been.
Exclusive: Chloë Deakin tells how she wrote to Dulwich college master to argue against Farage’s nomination as prefect
It was 1981 and Nigel Farage was turning 17. He was already a figure of some controversy, as would become a lifelong habit, among the younger pupils and staff at Dulwich college in south-east London.
“I remember it was either in a particular English lesson or a particular form period that his name came up,” said Chloë Deakin, then a young English teacher, of a discussion with a class of 11- and 12-year-olds. “There was something about bullying, and he was being referred to, quite specifically, as a bully. And I thought: ‘Who is this boy?’”
Flood of unreality is an endpoint of algorithm-driven internet and product of an economy dependent on a few top tech firms
In the algorithm-driven economy of 2025, one man’s shrimp Jesus is another man’s side hustle.
AI slop – the low-quality, surreal content flooding social media platforms, designed to farm views – is a phenomenon, some would say thephenomenon of the 2024 and 2025 internet. Merriam-Webster’s word of the year this year is “slop”, referring exclusively to the internet variety.
To the designers of film posters, I suppose it looks cleverly exotic – but there are 250 million readers of Cyrillic globally, and its misuse grinds our gears
One of the worst bugbears to possess is one that is shared by hardly anyone else. It’s lonely being the only person who cares about something. It’s even lonelier when the thing you care about makes you want to stamp your feet, tear your hair out and run naked into the streets while making the face of Edvard Munch’s The Scream. And so it is for me whenever I see a film poster, headline, book cover or screen caption featuring the incorrect use of the Cyrillic alphabet.
You might think this is a niche preoccupation. But you would be surprised how many times the name of “STДLIN” pops up in poster designs, supposedly representing “STALIN”. This phenomenon annoys me most when the entity depicted is not fictional. If you write the (nonexistent-in-any-language) word “STДLIN” instead of “STALIN” you are writing “STDLIN”. Which would be fine if you were attempting some kind of wordplay comparing the impact of the one-time Soviet leader to a sexually transmitted disease. But clever wordplay is not the intention of these designs. The intention of the incorrect use of the Cyrillic alphabet is to indicate one thing and one thing alone: “This is about something that is happening east of Warsaw! It is probably connected to the former Soviet Union! It should give you a frisson of creepy exoticism!”
Balkan country will become 21st country to adopt EU currency, with policymakers hoping move will boost economy
Bulgaria is preparing to adopt the euro in January amid fresh domestic political turbulence and fears that Russia-aligned disinformation is deepening distrust of the new currency.
The Balkan country of 6.5 million people will become the 21st country to join the eurozone on 1 January, as policymakers in Brussels and Sofia hope it will boost the economy of the EU’s poorest nation and cement its pro-western trajectory.
It might seem like all gains for her and all losses for you, but it’s really the start of an exciting new chapter in your relationship
I am a single mum to an 18-year-old daughter. It has always been just us two, and we have a very open, supportive, healthy relationship.
She is going away to university in the new year and has recently developed a new friendship group I know less well than her old friends. They all seem friendly, look out for each other, and don’t let anyone go home on their own, etc. At first, I found her being out late with her friends particularly worrying. It took me a few days to get used to this new part of life, but we talked and I got across to her that it’s purely me worrying about her safety – I think she felt I was annoyed with her. I just worry, though I really appreciate that she keeps me informed of where she is, and I know many 18-year-olds wouldn’t be so open.
Do hot baths improve endurance? Will creatine bolster your brain power? Does pickle juice prevent cramp? Here’s what we learned about living well this year
The best advice for living a healthy, well-adjusted life – eat your vegetables, get a good night’s sleep, politely decline when the Jägerbombs appear – never really changes. Other nuggets, such as how much protein you should be eating or how to maximise workouts, seem to change every year. But as we wonder whether we should really give sauerkraut another go, science marches on, making tiny strides towards improving our understanding of what’s helpful. Here’s what you might have missed in the research this year, from the best reason to eat beetroot, to how to ruin your five-a-side performance before the game even starts. There’s still time to break out the pickle juice shots before 2026 …
A luxury expedition vessel has struck a coral reef off Papua New Guinea’s coast in the latest setback for the troubled cruise operator, still reeling from a passenger’s tragic death.
McLaughlin was reacting to a minute-long video that appears to show Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran illegal immigrant who became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, filming himself lip-syncing to a song in Spanish.
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