Armed Americans fight back: Inside 2025’s most gripping self-defense shootings across the US











Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha responds to claims by Moscow of a strike on home in Russia’s Novgorod region
Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has echoed Donald Tusk’s optimistic tone regarding talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
He posted to X to confirm there had been “another round of consultations” with “European and Canadian partners”. It is not clear who was in the meeting.
Peace is on the horizon, there is no doubt that things have happened that give grounds for hope that this war can end, and quite quickly, but it is still a hope, far from 100% certain.
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© Photograph: Press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade HANDOUT/EPA

© Photograph: Press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade HANDOUT/EPA

© Photograph: Press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade HANDOUT/EPA














Aspirant Americans tell of exclusions from ceremonies by sudden policy introduced on ‘security’ grounds
The occasion should have been marked by the joy of reaching the destination of US citizenship following the long odyssey of immigration.
Instead, the ceremony at Boston’s Faneuil Hall – renowned as a “cradle of liberty” for its role as a protest hub in the run-up to the American revolution – felt like a nightmarish end of the road for some aspirant new Americans who had turned up full of hope.
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© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Brother Dong is one of a growing band of Chinese volunteers who are lending their support to Ukraine
Are you looking for a way to stay sane in an environment that has been torn apart by war? Then perhaps what you need is a bubble tea.
That is the philosophy guiding Brother Dong, a Chinese-German volunteer in Ukraine. The 52-year-old former officer in China’s People’s Armed Police drives once a month from his home in Frankfurt to collect a haul of tapioca pearls from a warehouse in Berlin. From there he drives across Poland to reach Ukraine.
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© Photograph: Katya Moskalyuk/The Guardian

© Photograph: Katya Moskalyuk/The Guardian

© Photograph: Katya Moskalyuk/The Guardian












PDC hot favourite was jeered during quarter-final victory
‘It definitely fuelled me up and it made me play better’
Luke Littler admits he “lost” his head when reacting to the hostile crowd during his fourth-round World Championship win over Rob Cross and still has some learning to do.
The 18-year-old was booed and jeered as he beat Cross 4-2 to book his place in the quarter-finals at Alexandra Palace. Littler let the emotion out after throwing the winning darts, running around the stage gesturing to the crowd, who had wanted Cross to win.
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© Photograph: John Walton/PA

© Photograph: John Walton/PA

© Photograph: John Walton/PA
A screening tour, a New Year’s re-release, a documentary, an incoming director’s cut … will we ever be rid of this historic misfire?
At first, it appeared to end with a whimper. After decades of talk, Francis Ford Coppola’s forever-gestating dream project Megalopolis debuted in movie theaters in fall 2024, and promptly flopped at the box office, grossing a paltry $14m worldwide against a budget around $120m, much of which was put up by Coppola himself. Not even a series of splashy Imax presentations, including some with a live-actor element, could entice more than a relative handful of curious cinephiles out of the house to witness Coppola realize his ambition of making a movie about a visionary, time-stopping architect (Adam Driver) and the decadent city only he can save with his brilliant blueprints.
Some of the movie nerds showed up to watch Driver speechify, to immerse themselves in digital evocations of a futuristic, Rome-New York City hybrid, and enjoy the eclecticism of a cast that also includes Laurence Fishburne, several members of Coppola’s family, SNL’s Chloe Fineman, a number of semi-canceled actors encouraged to ham with impunity, and Aubrey Plaza as Wow Platinum. A bunch of the movie’s original viewers had some fun making jokes on social media; a few mounted genuine defenses in the digital pages of Letterboxd and the like. But unsurprisingly, the movie did not figure into year-end awards consideration. After months-to-years of buildup, the movie left theaters within a few weeks, and was available to stream at home a little while later. For most movies, that’s a recipe for disappointed shrugs.
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© Photograph: Entertainment Pictures/Alamy

© Photograph: Entertainment Pictures/Alamy

© Photograph: Entertainment Pictures/Alamy















Champions have conceded 12 set-piece goals in league
Arne Slot expressed his dismay before Wolves game
Liverpool have parted company with their first-team set-piece coach, Aaron Briggs, in response to the weaknesses that have blighted Arne Slot’s side this season.
Slot has made no secret of his dismay with Liverpool’s set-piece failings at both ends of the pitch, and admitted they were holding back the Premier League champions before Saturday’s 2-1 win over Wolves.
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© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy












