Archive November 11, 2025

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,356

By in News, World News

Here is how things stand on Tuesday, November 11:

Fighting

  • Fighting continues in and around the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region, with Kyiv and Moscow providing conflicting accounts of the situation in the nearby town of Myrnohrad.
  • The Ukrainian military claimed its forces were holding their positions in the city, saying that “the defence of Pokrovsko-Myrnohrad agglomeration continues”. But army spokesperson Andriy Kovalev acknowledged the provision of logistics to the town was complicated.
  • The statement came after the Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces were pressing an advance on Myrnohrad and were making gains in two of the town’s districts.
  • The Ukrainian Air Force also denied Russian claims of encircling Pokrovsk, saying that food and ammunition supplies to Ukrainian soldiers there are “being replenished in a timely manner”. The “most intense fighting” in Pokrovsk is “currently taking place in the industrial zone”, it said.
  • Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, meanwhile, killed at least one person in Kostiantynivka and wounded two others in Vasylkivska on Monday, according to the Ukrainska Pravda.
  • An explosion from an unidentified ammunition in a hospital ward in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region injured a man on Monday, police there reported, without providing further details.
  • The Russian Defence Ministry also claimed advances in the Zaporizhia region, saying its forces had pushed Ukrainian troops out of the villages of Solodke and Nove. The ministry said Russian forces also seized the village of Hnativka in the Donetsk region.
  • In Russia, a man who was seriously wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack in the village of Belyanka in the Belgorod region has died in hospital, medics said.
  • Ukrainian forces claimed an attack on a pumping station at the Hvardiiske oil depot in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
  • Russian forces announced destroying four Ukrainian drone boats near its Black Sea port of Tuapse. The port had suspended fuel exports after a November 2 Ukrainian attack on its infrastructure.

Politics

  • Ukraine’s anticorruption agency said it was investigating the country’s energy sector on Monday, alleging a $100m kickback scheme involving the state nuclear power company, Energoatom.
  • Energoatom, which operates three nuclear plants that supply Ukraine with more than half of its electricity, said it was fully cooperating with the probe as investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) searched its offices.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for accountability in the case, saying: “Everyone who has been involved in corruption schemes must receive a clear legal response. There must be criminal verdicts.”
  • Ukrainian Minister of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk told a news conference that electricity is beginning to be restored to some parts of Ukraine amid massive power outages that have left millions of people in the dark. “We are working to minimise the outage schedules. But the situation continues to be difficult. Practically every week, we experience a massive combined attack,” Hrynchuk said, according to Ukraine’s Ukrinform news agency.
  • Ukraine’s financial situation in 2026 is expected to be more challenging than this year due to uncertainty over how to cover a budget gap, Deputy Minister of Finance Oleksandr Kava said on Monday. Kava told a conference that the unfunded gap for 2026 and 2027 was about $60bn, and that Kyiv was still in talks with partners on how to raise the required funds.
  • In Russia, police in St Petersburg detained Diana Loginova, a teenage street musician already jailed twice for short stints after performing anti-Kremlin songs, as she left prison, state media and her supporters said on Monday.

Diplomacy

  • United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US was getting close to reaching “a fair trade deal” with India, which has been facing US tariffs over its continued purchase of Russian oil.
  • Trump’s comments came as the Reuters news agency reported that a large delegation of Indian exporters is set to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday for a four-day visit, citing a senior trade body official.
  • The Kremlin also said on Monday that it was “actively preparing” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit India before the end of the year, and hoped it would be a substantive trip.
  • Russia’s Lukoil declared force majeure at its Iraqi oil field, Reuters reported, as the company’s international operations buckled under the strain of US sanctions.
  • The report came as Bulgaria prepared to seize control of Lukoil’s Burgas refinery after adopting legal changes that allow it to take over the refinery and sell it to a new owner to shield the plant from US sanctions. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said on Monday that Bulgarian authorities were conducting inspections and implementing security measures at the site.
  • Germany will increase financial aid to Ukraine to 11.5 billion euros ($13.41bn) in the 2026 budget, up from 8.5 billion euros previously planned, Reuters reported on Monday, citing budget documents.

David Szalay wins Booker Prize for his novel Flesh

By in News, World News

Hungarian-British writer David Szalay has won the prestigious Booker prize for his novel Flesh, which tells the story of a tortured Hungarian emigre who makes and loses a fortune.

Szalay, 51, beat five other shortlisted authors, including Indian novelist Kiran Desai and the United Kingdom’s Andrew Miller, to claim the 50,000 British pound ($65,500) award at a ceremony in London on Monday.

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Written in spare prose, Slazay’s book recounts the life of taciturn Istvan, from a teenage relationship with an older woman through time as a struggling immigrant in the UK to a denizen of London high society.

“A meditation on class, power, intimacy, migration and masculinity, Flesh is a compelling portrait of one man, and the formative experiences that can reverberate across a lifetime,” organisers of the award ceremony in London said in a statement.

Accepting his trophy at London’s Old Billingsgate, Szalay thanked the judges for rewarding his “risky” novel.

He recalled asking his editor “whether she could imagine a novel called ‘Flesh’ winning the Booker Prize”.

“You have your answer,” he said.

In addition to the 50,000-pound ($67,000) prize for the winner, as well as 2,500-pound awards to each of the shortlisted authors and translators, the writers also gain a boost in popularity and benefit from increased book sales.

Szalay’s book was chosen from 153 submitted novels by a judging panel that included Irish writer Roddy Doyle and Sex and the City actor Sarah Jessica Parker.

Doyle said that Flesh, a book “about living, and the strangeness of living”, emerged as the judges’ unanimous choice after a five-hour meeting.

“We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book but it is a joy to read,” said Doyle in a statement.

“I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well. It’s as if the author … is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe – almost to create – the character with him.”

Booker Prize 2025 winner David Szalay, author of Flesh, poses with judges Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Power, Ayobami Adebayo, Kiley Reid and Roddy Doyle during The Booker Prize 2025 ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London, UK [Eamonn M McCormack/Getty Images]

Szalay, who was born in Canada, raised in the UK and lives in Vienna, was previously a Booker finalist in 2016 for All That Man Is, a series of stories about nine wildly different men.

Flesh was Szalay’s sixth work of fiction.

“Even though my father is Hungarian, I never felt entirely at home in Hungary. I suppose, I’m always a bit of an outsider there, and living away from the UK and London for so many years, I also had a similar feeling about London,” Szalay told BBC Radio.

“I really wanted to write a book that stretched between Hungary and London and involved a character who was not quite at home in either place.”

The frontrunners for this year’s prize, according to betting markets, were Miller for his early-1960s domestic drama The Land in Winter, and Desai for the globe-spanning saga The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, her first novel since The Inheritance of Loss, which won the Booker Prize in 2006.

The other finalists were Susan Choi’s twisty family saga, Flashlight; Katie Kitamura’s tale of acting and identity, Audition; and Ben Markovits’s midlife-crisis road trip, The Rest of Our Lives.

The Booker Prize was founded in 1969 and has established a reputation for transforming writers’ careers.

Its winners have included Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy, Margaret Atwood and Samantha Harvey, who took the 2024 prize for space station story, Orbital.

Holly Ramsay and Adam Peaty’s wedding move branded ‘divisive and hurtful’

By in Entertainment News, News

Holly Ramsay, who is the daughter of TV chef Gordon, is set to marry 30-year-old Adam Peaty, who is an Olympic swimmer with three gold medals to his name since 2016

Holly Ramsay has been branded “divisive and hurtful” after declining to invite Adam Peaty’s mother to their wedding.

Holly, who is Gordon Ramsay’s daughter, got engaged to the Olympic swimmer last year, a relationship Adam says pulled him out of a “deep, dark hole” as he had experienced depression and alcoholism. Holly, 25, welcomed her own mother Tana, family friend Victoria Beckham and Adam’s sister to her hen do last weekend, but not Adam’s mum Caroline, 59. Adam, meanwhile, is said to have invited Gordon, also 59, to his stag do.

And Caroline’s sister, Louise Williams, vented her anger at Holly, accused her of being “divisive and hurtful” in a public Instagram post. The post is thought to have upset Holly, a digital content creator, who has been dating Adam for more than two years.

READ MORE: Gordon Ramsay’s daughter Holly’s lavish hen do ahead of wedding to Strictly starREAD MORE: Tilly Ramsay beats dad Gordon and mum Tana in gruelling Ironman challenge

The Instagram post stated: “@hollyramsayy I’m so glad that you had a great hen do. As a bride, you deserve that. However, as a person you were divisive and hurtful towards a woman, who I have loved and continue to love deeply.

“A woman who opened her home and heart to you. You decided, for whatever reason, not to invite her, your prospective mother-in-law to your hen night yet Adam invited his father-in-law, your dad, to his stag night.

“You invited your mum (quite rightly) and even your mum’s assistant, your sisters, your friends, my niece, but not my sister, your future mother-in-law.

“I have also seen messages passing between her and Adam about this and other matters and, quite frankly, I expected better of you and definitely of Adam. You have inflicted a hurt on my sister that will take a very long time to heal if ever.”

The Daily Mail understands Adam, who was once close to his mother, had distanced himself from her after being seduced by the fame and glamour of the Ramsays. It is said the athlete, who has three Olympic gold medals to his name, and his partner have now banned Caroline from the wedding itself — on Christmas Day at Bath Abbey.

Yet Caroline, of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, herself waded into the incredible row by expressing her distress in an Instagram post, writing: “Crying is a way your eyes speak when your mouth can’t explain how broken your heart is.”

Her post attracted messages of support and concern from friends including one who commented: “Don’t let them drag you down Caroline.” The same person added in a further comment: “You know considering they are both supposed to be mental health advocates they don’t seem to be showing much regard for yours.”

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Humphries win eliminates Aspinall at Grand Slam

By in News, Sports News
Kieran Cleeves/PDC
Sam Drury

BBC Sport journalist

Top seed Luke Humphries beat Nathan Aspinall to book his place in the knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.

England’s Humphries averaged 102.62 in a superb display as he maintained his 100% record to top Group A.

Michael Smith, who beat American Alex Spellman 5-2, went through in second place.

It means an early exit for Aspinall, who can consider himself unfortunate to have come up against Humphries – who hit a nine-darter on Sunday – in this kind of form, given his 100.01 average and five 180s might often have been enough to win against a different opponent.

Former world champion Humphries will now face Jurjen van der Velde of the Netherlands in round two, which begins on Wednesday.

Chris Dobey will face 2023 world champion and fellow Englishman Smith in the next round after clinching first place in Group B with a 5-1 win over Martin Lukeman, despite averaging only 81.

Wales’ Gerwyn Price is also safely through after a 5-1 victory over Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont that sees him win Group D following Ricky Evans’ 5-2 loss to fellow Englishman James Wade.

Meanwhile, already-eliminated Stephen Bunting suffered a third final-leg defeat on the spin as he lost 5-4 to Group C winner Luke Woodhouse.

Germany’s Martin Schindler is through after beating Alexis Toylo of the Philippines 5-2.

    • 17 hours ago

Monday’s results

James Wade 5-2 Ricky Evans

Chris Dobey 5-1 Martin Lukeman

Stephen Bunting 4-5 Luke Woodhouse

Martin Schlinder 5-2 Alexis Toylo

Damon Heta 3-5 Jurjen van der Velde

Gerwyn Price 5-1 Stefan Bellmont

Michael Smith 5-2 Alex Spellman

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Celebrity Traitors’ Joe Marler shares how much he got paid and ‘not everyone got the same’

By in Entertainment News, News

Despite prior claims that all Celebrity Traitors contestants took home a flat fee of £40k, finalist Joe Marler has revealed that he actually got paid much less…

Celebrity Traitors fan favourite Joe Marler has debunked the claim that all the show’s contestants all received a flat fee of £40,000. He in fact got thousands less than that, saying that he doesn’t believe everyone received the same amount.

The BBC treachery show took the nation by storm, with its final reaching a maximum audience of 12 million. Many wanted to know how much the stars got paid to take part. Richard Osman and Marina Hyde seemed to spill the beans on their podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, with the latter saying everyone got paid the same: £40,000.

“They were able to pay everybody a blanket £40k fee, right? I am spilling all my tea today. They’re paying them a £40k fee,” Marina said. However, Joe has now said this was not true.

READ MORE: I cleared bathroom mould in minutes with two Amazon cleaning products for £15READ MORE: BBC Celebrity Traitors star admits he lied to wife after filming

When a reporter from The Times asked the ex-England rugby star what he was paid and said they’d heard it was £40,000, Joe said: “Yeah, Daisy [his wife] read that too. She said to me, ‘Hold on, I thought you only got 30?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I did.’”

He then added that he didn’t think they were all paid the same, but that it didn’t matter because £30,000 was still a lot of money. “No, I don’t think everyone got paid the same. But I’m not bothered. It was 30 grand whether you lasted two days or three weeks — a no-brainer.”

Joe did last three weeks. He made the final of the competition and, though the Faithfuls had played a terrible game so far and took several roundtables to catch even one Traitor, Joe seemed to have figured out that Cat Burns and Alan Carr were the remaining deceitful pair. His win seemed assured.

However, in the nail-biting finale, while he managed to convince Nick Mohammed and David Olusoga to banish Cat, he was unable to convince them to banish Alan. Instead, he found himself in the firing line and was voted out of the game. Ultimately, Alan won the game.

Joe’s intellect in the game and ability to accurately work out who each other Traitors were made him a favourite in the show. His ability to read people has also opened up more opportunities for him, as he has been able to start a new podcast call Joe Marler Will See You Now.

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In the podcast, launching on 13 November, Joe invites celebrity guests to his ‘clinic’ for a pseudo-psychological evaluation. What starts as a simple Q&A soon descends into a mix of probing questions, ridiculous assessments and a examinations of personality traits.

Speaking about the podcast, Joe said: “I’ve always loved asking questions and learning new things. This new show lets me do it in the most surreal, unpredictable way. I can’t wait for people to see just how ridiculous, and surprisingly revealing, it’s going to be.”

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo dazzle at Wicked: For Good premiere in London

By in Entertainment News, News

The Wicked: For Good London premiere was certainly a popular event, as loads of stars turned up to the film’s screening in Leicester Square this evening

Put on your ruby slippers – Wicked: For Good is almost here. The stars of the film, along with many other famous faces, headed to Leicester Square for the London premiere of the movie musical.

Wicked’s Elphaba and Glinda, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, both made appearances on the red carpet – which was actually a yellow bricked road. The pair took many photos together as they celebrated the release of the second instalment of Wicked.

Some fans worried Ariana wouldn’t make the premiere, as she had already missed the Brazil premiere due to flight delays. But thankfully the singer was able to make it to the UK for the London showing on Monday (10 November), and looked gorgeous in a sparkly black dress.