Waking a dormant giant: Marseille are on a mission

Getting to grips with the French club is like 'sitting on a volcano' but they are thinking big and a Europa League semi-final awaits.

'Croke Park is steeped in culture. It means so much'

Leinster prop Porter aims touse recent European pain as fuel for semi-final gain against Northampton

Surrey’s Steel flexes golden arm to thrust himself into limelight

Leg-spinner who isthe top wicket-taker despite early start to Championship has England ambitions

'It's punishing' Non-dom says tax change will force him to leave Britain

Bassim Haidar is house hunting. He owns \"more than 10 properties\" in central including a London, £20m five-bedroom flat near Chelsea's Sloane Square.

Japan's empty homes top 9m as population keeps falling

As the declining population continues to affect Japan's society, the number of vacant houses has topped 9m - enough to accommodate the entire population of Australia at three people per dwelling.

Liberty leads the people - but now showing her true colours

For almost 200 years, she has been the definitive symbol of the French republic. Now, after a much-needed facelift, Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People will rise above the fray of revolutionary anarchy in her true colours once more.

Netanyahu faces new pressure to let more aid into Gaza as talks on hostages continue

Israel's leaders were under renewed pressure to allow more aid into Gaza yesterday, after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told Benjamin Netanyahu to \"accelerate and sustain improvements\" in the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching the territory.

EU calls for halt to police violence inGeorgia after force used on protesters

Western politicians and diplomats have called for a halt to rising violence in Georgia after security forces used water cannon, tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets overnight to break up a peaceful rally against a \"foreign influence\" bill.

Trans rights row with Rowling is really sad’Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe has described his rupture with JK Rowling over trans rights as \"really sad\", and said that her role in his life as the creator of Harry Potter \"doesn't mean you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life\".

Infected blood inquiry: study saying risks were tolerable’ omitted death

A study cited at the infected blood inquiry as evidence that the devastating consequences of blood products contaminated with hepatitis could not have been foreseen misrepresented the results of a trial in making its case, the Guardian can reveal.

Battle for London One last push for Hall, but has 'cars and crime' campaign fallen wide of mark?

Paul Icely puffs out his cheeks - and then slowly exhales. He is visibly deflating. \"I thought there might be a few more of us,\" the 67-year-old black-cab driver admits, his eyes darting between the students milling outside Barking and Dagenham college. \"You seen anyone else?\" Icely asks Lisa Prager.

‘America has lost a noble soul: author Paul Auster dies at 77

Paul Auster, the author of 34 books including The New York Trilogy, has died aged 77.

School pays tribute to 'gentle, caring' boy killed in east London sword attack

The 14-year-old boy killed in the east London sword attack was praised as a \"true scholar\", gentle and a gifted footballer, as it emerged he attended the same school as one of the victims of the 2023 Nottingham stabbings.

BBC grinds you down’ over equal pay, female presenters tell tribunal

Four senior female news presenters have accused the BBC of \"grinding down\" women on pay and failing to tackle persistent pay discrimination, at a tribunal court hearing in London.

Boat death Father of girl crushed in crossing tells of anguish

The father of a seven-year-old girl crushed to death on a small boat has said they tried to cross the Channel after being informed his young family would be deported to Iraq following years spent in Europe.

Dozens held across UK as ministers pave way for flightsto Rwanda

UK ministers have acknowledged for the first time that they are detaining asylum seekers to be removed to Rwanda, sparking demonstrations outside Home Office buildings.

Britain Fresh wave of camps set up at universities

A fresh wave of student demonstrations and encampments was under way at UK universities yesterday in protest over the war in Gaza, after violent scenes on campuses in the US where hundreds have been arrested in a crackdown by police.

‘Have your own experience’: top sculptor pulls plug on gallery audio guides

They are ubiquitous at art galleries across the world: the audio guide telling shuffl ing visitors the full story of what they are looking at and occasionally how they should feel.

Khan says Tories are unpatriotic for 'always trying to do London down'

Sadiq Khan says the Conservatives’ treatment of London is “unpatriotic” and accuses the government of putting obstacles in his way every day of his eight years running the capital.

Hundreds of students arrested at US protests

Police in riot gear have moved to stamp out a weeks-long pro-Palestinian protest movement on university campuses across the US, arresting hundreds of people and clearing encampments, as duelling groups of protesters clashed in Los Angeles.

Explained: how did the Everton crisis get to this point?

Owner made bold promises but the club have this week had to callin insolvency advisers amid huge debts

Key expects ‘slugfest' as England's batting muscle ripples from top

Amidrising tide of Twenty20 run-rates, the defending champions have opted for more aggression in selection

'Defending democracy' The fears behind EU ultimatum to Meta on fake news

Fears that Vladimir Putin is trying to fill the European parliament with pro-Russia MEPs were behind the EU's blunt message to the Silicon Valley owner of Facebook yesterday. It gave Meta just five days to explain how it will root out fake news, fake websites and stop adverts funded by the Kremlin, or face severe measures.

Whitbread to cut 1,500 jobs and sell 126 restaurants

The Premier Inn owner Whitbread is to cut 1,500 jobs in the UK and shut more than 100 struggling restaurants despite announcing a significant rise in returns to shareholders.

'Poised and calm' The young, fresh face of France's far right

A mid the paté stalls wine-tastings and of a country fair, a young politician hailed as the new face of the French far right was jostled by crowds shouting for photographs and handing him tricolour flags to autograph. \"Rockstar!\" shouted one 18-year-old.

Five skeletons unearthed at home where Goring lived in Nazi base

Amateur archaeologists have found five human skeletons missing their hands and feet under the former home of the Nazi war criminal Hermann Goring at Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair military headquarters in present-day Poland.

Trump fined 9,000 for violating gag order and warned of jail time

Donald Trump was fined 9,000 yesterday for nine violations of a gag order designed to protect participants in the former US president’s criminal trial in New York as thejudge warned him faced jail ifhe continued to violate the order.

Student protests Expulsion threat at Columbia campus

Tensions at Columbia University are boiling over since students protesting over the Israel-Hamas war inside Hamilton Hall now face expulsion, a spokesperson said yesterday.

Shh! Intimate Ralph Lauren runway show whispers quiet sophistication

In recent years, the settings for Ralph Lauren's runway shows have become something akin to displays of the designer's power and influence.

Running round a Wall of Death may aid astronauts’ fitness on moon

As humans prepare to return to the moon after an absence of more than half a century, researchers have hit on a radical approach to keeping astronauts fit as they potter around the ball of rock.