Relatives fear for lives of men thought to remain trapped in war after allegedly being recruited by a daughter of Jacob Zuma

Mary hasn’t heard from her son since 27 August, when he told her he was worried he was being sent to the frontlines of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Since then she has been ill with worry.

“I’m honestly really sick,” she said, exhaustion in her voice. “I get anxiety attacks, I’m in and out of hospital, palpitations. It’s just a whole lot. Headaches, I’m dizzy all the time. It’s not easy for me.”

Cuban officials denounce the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. Key US politics stories from 13 December 2025

Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday, calling it an “act of piracy and maritime terrorism”, as well as a “serious violation of international law” that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.

The tanker, which was reported now to be heading for Galveston, Texas, was believed to loaded with nearly 2m barrels of Venezuela’s heavy crude, according to internal data from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, as reported by the New York Times.

Her delivery might be stilted – but Truss’ new YouTube show has grand ambitions: a ‘Trump revolution’ in Britain with the help of an influential US conservative ecosystem

Liz Truss, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, began the first edition of her YouTube show with a vow to unmask “the evil-doers” attempting to bring down Britain, the US and Europe. She would, she explained, reveal how an “international network of leftists work to subvert democracy and the will of the people”.

Despite her bleak monologue, Truss pointed to hope from across the Atlantic. “We’re going to look at the Trump revolution and see how this can be achieved in Britain,” she said. “We’ll be talking to the leading lights of the Maga movement.”

Forget homeschooling, how about taking your family on a perpetual gap year and quitting the nine-to-five? Families who did just that share the hostel horrors and mid-trip meltdowns behind the Instagram feed

It was going to be the adventure of a lifetime. Late last year, Josy and Joe Davis decided to quit their jobs, sell their home and pull their two young daughters out of school to travel the world. Though their life in Gloucestershire was good on paper, post-pandemic it had been increasingly feeling like a grind. Josy, 35, a police dispatcher, worked shifts that swung from early morning to late night. Joe, also 35, a logistics manager, was often on call until 10pm. Neither felt as if they could ever switch off – let alone enjoy family time.

Exhausted, Josy caught herself being short with her daughters, Lola and Zara, six and four. “I felt like I spent my days off recovering, rather than actually being present,” she says. Though only in Year 1, Lola was feeling the pressure at school, fretting about where she ranked in the class.

Baronesses Nadine and Ariane de Rothschild at odds over future of Swiss chateau’s priceless contents

After three generations of genteel discretion bordering on secrecy, the international banking family the Rothschilds has been riven by rival claims to a multibillion-euro fortune including a vast collection of art masterpieces.

The battle now playing out in the courts and media has pitched the 93-year-old senior baroness, Nadine de Rothschild – widow of Edmond de Rothschild, the late scion of the French-Swiss branch of the family – against her daughter-in-law, Ariane de Rothschild, the current baroness.

The jailing of a Sudanese militia leader is an anomaly in a world where Putin, Netanyahu and yes, Hegseth, act without fear of international law

It was a rare success for international courts struggling to resist a rising tide of official lawlessness. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, a leader of the notorious, government-backed Janjaweed militia that committed genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region from 2003 to 2005, was jailed for 20 years last week by the international criminal court (ICC). He had been found guilty on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Although hundreds of militia were involved, Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, is the first person to be convicted of atrocities in Darfur, now again the scene of terrible violence in Sudan’s civil war. The ICC has charged Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s president at the time, with genocide and war crimes. Ahmad Harun, a former minister, faces similar charges. But both men have evaded arrest.

You’re reluctant to discuss this with your parents – but doing so might help you shake off the feeling of injustice

I am struggling with the different way my parents have treated me and my brother. My dad started a business when I was five. Now it’s worth several million. My brother was invited by my dad to go into the business when he left university. I was not. By then, the business was well established and my dad stayed on as CEO. My dad gave my brother 80% of it. He will now sell the business and realise millions, meaning he can retire early.

My dad helped me with university fees and house purchases. He’s told me I will inherit the house and whatever money is left when my parents pass away, which is likely to be in about 20 years. I doubt there will be anything left.

• Former fast bowler says attack has gone past his group from early 2000s

• ‘The Australian public won’t recognise how good they are until they’re gone’

Brett Lee has labelled Australia’s current bowling attack as the country’s greatest ever, declaring that Pat Cummins’ side have now surpassed his group from the early 2000s.

Australia’s attack will take one step closer to being reunited in Adelaide this week, with Cummins and Nathan Lyon back in the team alongside Mitchell Starc.

Suspect or suspects remain at large as Ivy League university tells students to shelter in place

• Multiple people shot at Brown University in Rhode Island, police say

Police said no weapons were recovered from the scene and the last sighting of the suspect was him leaving the Hope Street side of the building on foot.

Timothy O’Hara, a deputy police chief, told a press conference that the suspect is a “male dressed in black” who exited the complex at Brown University.

• Former striker scored a hat-trick in 1979 derby

• Rowell had been diagnosed with leukaemia

The former Sunderland striker Gary Rowell has died at the age of 68, the Black Cats have announced. He was being treated for leukaemia.

The Seaham-born Rowell, who scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 Division Two win over Newcastle at St James’ Park in February 1979, died on Saturday. His death comes 50 years to the day since he made his Sunderland debut and just a day before the Black Cats host the Magpies in the first Premier League derby between the clubs since March 2016, at which the hosts will mark Rowell’s death.

Forward made an emotional lap of honour at Anfield after a week that put his future at the club in doubt

Mohamed Salah and Liverpool have put politics to shame by showing what a long week truly looks like. It ended with the Egyptian doing a one-man lap of honour at Anfield, an attempt to rebuild trust with the supporters after creating a ceasefire, if not a complete truce, with Arne Slot.

Over the past seven days a lot has changed, but one thing remained the same, Salah started a Premier League game on the bench, not that he needed to wait long for a chance to do his talking on the pitch. He would finish with an assist after playing 75 minutes against Brighton in a game in which he desperately wanted to score. Maybe his parade was the beginning of the end, but it felt more like the start of the apology that should continue after the Africa Cup of Nations, giving both parties space to breathe.

Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, says ‘shooter’ still at large, as officials embark on widespread manhunt

• Brown University shooting: follow live updates

• What we know so far about the Brown University shooting

At least two people were killed and nine more critically injured in a shooting on Saturday at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with the suspect still at large hours after the first shelter in place orders were issued.

Police scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighbourhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, back yards and porches for hours late into the night after the shooting was first reported in the afternoon.

Specialist teams will deal with offences such as rape and stalking as part of VAWG strategy, home secretary says

All police forces in England and Wales will have dedicated rape and sexual offences teams by 2029, the government has said.

The plans are being unveiled as the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, prepares to outline a delayed strategy on violence against women and girls (VAWG) next week.

No easy games? Surely this one would be for Arsenal. Never before in English football history had a team endured a worse league record after 15 matches than Wolves. In any of the professional divisions. Their haul of two points gave an outline of the grimness, although by no means all of the detail.

Before kick-off, the bookmakers had Wolves at 28-1 to win; it was 8-1 for the draw. You just had to hand it to the club’s 3,000 travelling fans who took up their full ticket allocation. There were no trains back to Wolverhampton after the game, obviously. It was a weekend. Mission impossible? This felt like the definition of it.

UN secretary general António Guterres says ‘unjustifiable’ attack on base in city of Kadugli ‘could be war crime’

A drone strike has hit a United Nations peacekeeping logistics base in war-torn Sudan, killing six peacekeepers, the UN secretary general António Guterres has said.

Eight other peacekeepers were wounded in the strike on Saturday in the city of Kadugli in the central region of Kordofan. All the victims are Bangladeshi nationals, serving in the UN interim security force for Abyei (Unisfa).

• Lim beats Jeffrey de Graaf to set up Luke Humphries rematch

• Singaporean beat the future champion in 2020

Paul Lim made World Darts Championship history at Alexandra Palace – and then hoped lightning would strike twice against Luke Humphries.

Lim became the oldest player to win a match at the event as the Singaporean, who turns 72 next month, defeated Jeffrey de Graaf 3-1 to extend his own record set in 2020. On that occasion he overcame Humphries and the pair are reunited in round two after the world No 2 produced eight 180s in crushing Ted Evetts 3-1.

Number is stark contrast with estimated 110,000 at far-right activist’s ‘unite the kingdom’ rally in September

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson led a carol concert to “put the Christ back into Christmas” on Saturday in an event that had a huge drop-off in attendance from his last rally in London.

The Metropolitan police said about 1,000 people attended the event at its peak, in stark contrast to the estimated 110,000 who turned up to Robinson’s “unite the kingdom” rally in September.

• Liverpool manager: ‘There’s nothing for me to talk about’

• Slot refuses to divulge details of talks with Salah

Arne Slot claimed he had no outstanding issues with Mohamed Salah and would see the Egypt international after the Africa Cup of Nations following the forward’s positive return for Liverpool against Brighton.

Salah was reintroduced to the Liverpool side as a 26th-minute substitute having been omitted from the Champions League win at Inter over the incendiary interview he gave at Elland Road last Saturday. Slot refused to divulge details of the conversation that led to Salah being restored to the squad on Friday but insisted that, as far as he was concerned, the matter was resolved. Talks are expected, however, between the Liverpool hierarchy and Salah’s representative while the forward is away on Afcon duty.

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2 min: Doherty skittles Martinelli out on the left. An early free kick for Arsenal. Rice’s delivery is uncharacteristically poor, failing to beat the first man … and that first man is Doherty, who makes good his mistake by clearing.

Arsenal get the ball rolling. They haven’t lost at home yet this season, winning ten from 11. Godspeed, Wolves.

The Manchester City midfielder is in sparkling club form but that doesn’t mean he is the right fit for Tuchel’s England

By the time the World Cup comes around, nine years will have passed since Phil Foden won the Golden Ball as England lifted the Under-17 World Cup. That tournament can be seen in hindsight as a watershed for the English game, the first indication that the elite player performance plan (EPPP) and the England DNA project – taking youth football seriously – might be beginning to pay off.

Youth football is notoriously unpredictable and England’s record in the Under-17 World Cup since shows a failure to qualify and a pair of last-16 exits, but following that 2017 success, England’s senior side have reached two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final, while the under-21s have won two European titles. Two previous Golden Ball winners from Under-17 World Cups – Cesc Fàbregas and Toni Kroos – have gone on to win the senior World Cup. Some, such as Landon Donovan, Anderson and Kelechi Iheanacho have had perfectly decent careers. And others have vanished almost entirely: Sani Emmanuel of Nigeria, for instance, won in 2009 then made just 16 senior appearances, 10 of them in the Swiss second tier with Biel-Bienne; while another Nigerian, Kelechi Nwakali, winner in 2015, joined Arsenal but, after a series of loan moves and stints in the lower reaches of the Spanish and Portuguese systems, was kicked out of Barnsley this past summer after returning late for pre-season.

Kevin Rodriguez Zavala died from blunt-impact trauma on ride at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park

A Florida sheriff’s office has concluded that the death of a 32-year-old man while riding a high-speed roller coaster at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park was accidental.

According to a report released Friday by the local medical examiner, Kevin Rodriguez Zavala suffered a deep cut on the left side of his forehead, a fracture to the bone ridge above his eye and bleeding above his skull. Additional injuries included bruises on his arms and abdomen, a broken nose and a fractured right thigh bone.

The 30th anniversary of the Dayton Accords, which put an end to the war in Bosnia, leads Joldić to reflect on the nature of imperfect peace

Jasmina Joldić was nine when she found out she was born into a religion.

Her mother, Selma, was trying to explain to little Jasmina and her older sister, Amela, why their father had been taken away by armed men.

Ash Jacks McCready had low expectations for her first date with Tom, but after an awkward start, their relationship moved fast and wild

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In high school I was in an all-consuming relationship with one thing: dance. Any free time I had was spent on working towards a coveted spot at a performance company.

As soon as I graduated school in Brisbane, I left to begin my career as a performer.

• Pool 1: Sharks 28-23 Saracens

• Much-changed Sarries beaten in tough conditions

It is a long way to go for just a point, but Saracens all but took the maximum against Sharks in biblical weather in Durban. Now that South Africa has been incorporated into the Champions Cup, these long trips are part and parcel. It meant Saracens changing 10 of their starting lineup. It meant Sharks changing 14 – and a head coach to boot.

JP Pietersen, the former Springbok, stepped up to fill his new role this week when John Plumtree resigned after the Sharks’ heavy defeat in Toulouse on Sunday. One match, one win, his record now reads. For Sharks this was only a second win of the season. They were just about worth it, but still they must despair at finding any rhythm among a squad packed with Springboks.