Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
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Poll positions in Scotland
CONRAD LANDIN takes a look at the parties’ shifting political fortunes north of the border in the wake of Thursday’s elections
First Minister and SNP party leader Nicola Sturgeon arrives at the count for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
REOPENING after the lockdown last weekend, Dunrobin Castle in the far north of Scotland held its first falconry display of the season.
After demonstration flights from a barn owl and a Harris hawk, we were introduced to Alba the gyrfalcon. Tempted by resident falconer Andy Bunting with dummy prey, Alba circled and swooped — and kept missing.
Finally, she hit bullseye. With Andy’s bait of little nutritional value, Alba was handed a snack as a reward for her efforts.
As polls show Scottish Labour’s support crumbling and Reform rising even among independence supporters, an urgent need emerges for an alternative based on public investment paid for by radical progressive taxation, argues VINCE MILLS