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Half of the most important buildings in the UK are churches and, even when congregations fall away, they are vital community hubs. But many, including beloved St Tyfrydog’s in Wales, which closed in 2020, are decaying. Can they be saved?
There is a sign on the gate leading through the circular stone wall that surrounds St Tyfrydog’s church on Anglesey (Ynys Môn). Services, in Welsh and English, are held on the first and third Sunday of the month, at 2.15pm, it says. But this is no longer the case: the last service was held here on 22 November 2020.
There was a decent turnout that day, to say goodbye to this little medieval church, parts of which date from about 1400 (there has been a church on the site since 450). The problem was that, before then, apart from on big occasions such as Christmas and the harvest festival, the congregation was tiny; five or six people, sometimes just three.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:00:07 GMT
World’s worst nuclear disaster leaves mixed legacy of nature’s resilience amid serious contamination, as wars increase lobbying for energy supply
Forty years on from the world’s worst nuclear disaster, Chornobyl is still contaminated with almost half the caesium-137 that exploded from the Unit 4 reactor in 1986, as well as much longer-lived hazards such as plutonium, tritium and americium. But according to some experts, the long-term affects on nature may be less than if the area had been left to humans, resulting in unexpected consequences in an environment left to its own devices.
The reminder of the protracted fallout from Chornobyl was made ahead of Sunday’s anniversary, which coincides with renewed lobbying for nuclear power and a rise in fears about atomic brinkmanship due to the oil crisis and wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:00:09 GMT
The four-part docuseries Hulk Hogan: Real American shows the almighty rise and bleak fall of a one-time wrestling hero who became closer friends with Donald Trump
It’s an interesting move that Netflix has taken recently, buying the rights to WWE programming while simultaneously commissioning documentaries about how fundamentally flawed its stars are. Nevertheless, after the success of its Vince McMahon series, it was only a matter of time before it made a series about wrestling’s biggest and most complicated star. And now it is here, in the form of Hulk Hogan: Real American.
Few wrestlers have risen quite as high or fallen quite as low as Hogan, born Terry Bollea. For a considerable stretch of time, Hogan was the WWE; a bundle of imminently marketable tricks and quirks that gave him the nod over all the other grunting men in pants who made up the sport.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:00:06 GMT
Savitha Prakash, a first-generation immigrant running in local elections in Harrow, says Reform UK aims to ‘put Britain first’
Savitha Prakash, an NHS doctor living in the London borough of Harrow, believes there are similarities between the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. “He’s [Modi] one of those people, like Nigel, he walks the talk. He made [a] difference to the country,” said Prakash, who chairs Reform UK’s branch in Harrow.
In particular, the 47-year-old said Farage and Modi – who have each been accused by their critics of scapegoating marginalised communities – were focused on putting the needs of the majority first.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:00:06 GMT
In her new book, New York Times investigative journalist Jodi Kantor has set her mind to helping young people find their life’s work. What should they, or anyone else who feels lost and overwhelmed right now, do to get started?
Early last year, the investigative journalist Jodi Kantor was asked to give the commencement address to students at Columbia University in New York. The place was in chaos – amid continuing pro-Palestinian protests students were expelled, or arrested and detained by immigration officials, while President Trump had ordered a $400m withdrawal of federal funding (which was later reinstated as part of a settlement with the administration). Kantor was “horrified” to see what had happened at Columbia – her alma mater, where she was sacked from her first journalism job at the student paper– “a place and campus I loved, a place that stands for discussion and ideas and progress. I said: ‘I’ll do it if I can speak to the students first.’”
She spoke to several. They didn’t want to talk about Israel or Gaza, or Trump, or what was happening at the university and its implications for free speech. “They said: ‘Our class, despite all of its political differences, is united in anxiety over one question. When everything feels so broken, how do we start? How do we find our life’s work in this environment?’”
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:00:45 GMT
Lawrence Bishnoi has been in high-security custody for more than a decade. During that time, he has been linked to multiple high-profile killings, both in India and as far afield as Canada. What explains his seemingly undimmed power?
The border that separates India from Pakistan is lined with 50,000 towering poles that hold 150,000 floodlights, which at night create a glare that is visible from outer space. Passing through the towns on the Indian side of the border, it can be difficult to tell, even in daylight, where one ends and the other begins. Curving along the rolling fields of wheat are nameless dirt roads where men sit on rope benches, whiling away their afternoons, staring as you pass by.
Dutarawali, right by the highway, is slightly different: here, the houses are big, with spacious courtyards. One of the houses – three storeys, painted white with red accents – has a 7ft boundary wall topped with barbed wire and four CCTV cameras overlooking the unpaved street. The symbol of Om is curled on its brown iron door, which has no nameplate. It is the house of Lawrence Bishnoi, who is today, at the age of 33, India’s most notorious gangster.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:00:45 GMT
Permanent secretary Cat Little tells MPs that she sought legal advice before sharing the vetting information with the prime minister
Little says in March she had a meeting when she asked to see the Foreign Office’s documentation about the decision to grant Mandelson vetting. She said she was asking because this was documentation covered by the humble address. She said was told that “that information would not be forthcoming”.
In the middle of March, I have a meeting with Sir Olly and a senior member of his team, and this is after the point that I’ve been told that this summary document exists.
I specifically ask to see this document and any decision-making audit trail around those judgments at the time. It was made clear to me that that information would not be forthcoming.
I took the very unusual judgment that I should directly request the information from UK Security Vetting.
And I did that because I go back to my responsibilities, to discharge the humble address, which is a responsibility that is unique to me and I take very seriously.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:56:30 GMT
Leaked assessment says clearing mines could take half a year; US navy secretary leaves office ‘immediately’
The Pentagon abruptly announced that the secretary of the US navy, John Phelan, would be leaving his job yesterday. No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the navy’s top civilian official, who had addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals at the navy’s annual conference in Washington just a day before the announcement.
People familiar with the dynamics at the Pentagon told the Guardian Phelan was fired. Phelan had an increasingly rocky relationship with the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, and other senior staff.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:56:41 GMT
Exclusive: Labour MP calls on DVLA to take action, saying speeding, hit and runs and other crimes are going unpunished
More than 18,000 vehicles are being used in the UK without proper records of where their owners live, it has emerged, part of what a Labour MP has called an increasing problem of “ghost owners” who cannot be held accountable for their driving.
According to a freedom of information request to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, 18,260 vehicles were listed in its records as being registered to the DVLA’s own address, meaning the owner’s location was not known.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 08:26:52 GMT
Australia’s Corporate Travel Management is ‘negotiating commercial arrangements’ to refund the money
The Australian company that ran the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge has admitted it overcharged the British government by £118m.
Corporate Travel Management (CTM) said its auditor had found evidence of “erroneous billing” of its UK clients, increasing its estimate of how much it owes the government by £40m.
Continue reading...Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:15:29 GMT