The Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif was the most prominent name among so many targeted for simply bearing witness to the truth
In January this year, Anas al-Sharif was filmed being lifted into the air after taking off his helmet and flak jacket to celebrate a ceasefire that would prove all too temporary in Gaza. This summer, the Palestinian journalist broke down while reporting on starvation in his home town that is now a war zone. A bystander told him: “Persist, Anas, you are our voice”.
But al-Sharif’s popularity in Gaza made him a target. In July, international agencies warned of the danger he was in as the Israel Defense Forces stepped up online attacks, falsely labelling him a Hamas terrorist. His employer, Al Jazeera, insisted he restrict his reporting to the more protected al-Shifa hospital after his father and many colleagues were killed. In August, a few months short of his 29th birthday, al-Sharif and six others were killed in a direct attack on a media tent next to the hospital. In a posthumous post he said: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”
Jane Martinson is professor of financial journalism at City St George’s and a member of the board of the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian Media Group. She writes in a personal capacity
Case of man who apparently targeted Christians is latest in series of incidents in Hampshire of animal remains being dumped
The people of the New Forest are accustomed to curious goings-on. The woods and heaths of the national park in southern England are the setting for all manner of tales of witches, pixies, cursed souls and rituals, and, even today, are a magnet for those fascinated by the otherworldly.
But residents are aghast at the case of a local man who hit the headlines after admitting dumping the carcasses of animals, including black lambs, near churches in and around the forest, apparently targeting Christian worshippers.
From corny adverts to snowy murder plots, test your knowledge with these seasonal questions
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Quickfire lots fuel a booming business, but critics condemn gambling-style features and popularity with ‘scalpers’
Christmas is fast approaching, the shopping days are ebbing away, and in one corner of the internet, the rush to grab highly prized Pokémon trading cards is boiling over into a competitive frenzy.
“Got any cheap Mew?” asks one buyer, deploying the frantic tone of an addict, albeit one craving a rectangle depicting a creature from the all-conquering Japanese media franchise.
“Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, can eat s--t. That’s my official policy as vice president of the United States.”
Backlash after broadcaster announces the program, which was due to air on Sunday night, ‘needs additional reporting’
CBS News is facing a backlash from one of its own correspondents, and others, after it cancelled an upcoming 60 Minutes investigation into El Salvador’s brutal Cecot megaprison to which the Trump administration deported hundreds of migrants.
The episode of its flagship program was due to air on Sunday night. However, in an “editors note” posted on X, the broadcaster’s official account announced that “the lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated. Our report ‘Inside Cecot’ will air in a future broadcast.”
In Germany, the neo-Nazi terrorist Beate Zschäpe has made a public display of her remorse – but remains silent on key aspects of her crimes
It’s a strange season to talk about forgiveness. While streets glow with fairy lights and shop windows promise that compassion is only a gift-box away, Germany is once again confronted with the unresolved wounds of its recent past. The trap of the season is this: believing that every gesture of regret must be met with mercy. As if forgiveness was a resource available to anyone who is reasonable enough to move on, no matter how atrociously they have been treated.
It is certainly not that simple for the families of the victims of the National Socialist Underground (NSU). During the 2000s, the neo-Nazi terror organisation killed 10 people, nine of them immigrants, mostly small business owners, and one policewoman. Because investigators focused on probing the victims’ families and communities rather than on Nazis, the NSU was able to continue murdering without interference. German media reported on the atrocities as die Dönermorde the kebab murders, as if it was some exotic true-crime phenomenon.
Fatma Aydemir is a Berlin-based author, novelist, playwright and a Guardian Europe columnist
He insisted he was OK, but he didn’t look it, and when he tried and failed to eat Christmas lunch we knew it was time for a mercy dash to hospital
Our family friend has always been a larger than life figure. Witty, unsentimental – and not one to say no to another brandy. At family parties, he’s the one gossiping about the latest scandal to catch up with a local MP, or regaling us with tales of the outrageous philandering of various Sheffield Wednesday players over the past 40 years. He could make anything – a jacket potato, a broken relationship – funny, somehow.
We would often spend Christmas morning with him and his family, before going our separate ways. But, one Christmas, about 10 years ago, when he was supposed to be meeting family abroad, he fell down the stairs, whisky in one hand, suitcase in the other, and broke his ribs. The hospital had patched him up and told him not to fly. So, here he was back with us in Sheffield, making the best of it, but looking increasingly peaky.
The art activists made headlines during the US president’s state visit when they shocked the waiting media with a short documentary – and were quickly arrested
When Donald Trump’s second state visit was announced, and when the finer details for the Windsor banquet on 17 September 2025 became known, there was no way Led By Donkeys was going to let that pass unprotested. It was just so craven, rolling out the red carpet for Trump. Their next art-activist event unfolded like clockwork.
Led By Donkeys made a nine-minute film about Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein which ended: “The president of the United States was a long-time close friend of America’s most notorious child sex trafficker. He’s alleged to be mentioned, numerous times, in the files arising from the investigation into that child sex trafficker … Now that president, Donald Trump, is sleeping here, in Windsor Castle.” (Trump says that he fell out with Epstein years before Epstein was first arrested, andhas consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.)
Documents released Monday outline allegations against Naveed Akram and his father Sajid over the 14 December attack
New details about the police case against the alleged Bondi terrorists have been released, including details of an alleged video manifesto linked to the Islamic State and the undetonated explosives – including a “tennis ball bomb” – found at the scene.
Naveed Akram, 24, faces charges of murdering 15 people and injuring dozens more in the shooting at a Hanukah celebration on 14 December. His 50-year-old father, Sajid Akram, 50, is the second alleged shooter, and died at the scene.
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