Viviana, 72

There was always a sense that we were psychically, as well as physically, merged

Sebastian and I have been together for seven years, but we haven’t had sex – or even seen each other – for the past two. Sebastian is married and our relationship is a secret. We met through work, but when Sebastian retired, he moved 300 miles away.

These days, he is with his wife 24/7 doing retirement activities. But before he moved away, we were able to spend at least one day a month together. He’d arrive on my doorstep, and the first thing I’d do is press my mouth to his, not to kiss, but to breathe in one another’s breath. The sex that followed felt like an extension of that strange, intimate breath: there was always a sense that we were psychically, as well as physically merged.

We may not have seen each other for two years, but I still feel fused with him. We usually exchange 40-60 messages a day. Some are erotic, but many are mundane. The constant communication keeps our relationship fuelled and intense. I’ve felt more emotionally distant from partners who I was actually living with.

Of course, there are times when our situation feels desperate. We were almost able to meet this past summer and had put months of planning into it. He booked tickets to a gig he knew his wife would never want to see, and so was able to travel alone. But then I got Covid, and we had to cancel. We were both shattered with disappointment. We are now back to trying again, but the reality is that even in the best of all possible worlds, we won’t get to see each other more than twice a year.

I don’t feel jealous of Sebastian’s wife because there is no way that anything in his marriage could be akin to the intensity of what we share. I genuinely don’t think I’m taking anything away from her. They are dedicated to one another, but there isn’t the kind of intensity between them that would be diminished by him paying attention to me. I have never felt any guilt, because I view this relationship as a gift. I was 65 when this began, and I’m 72 now. The way I see it, if something this special is put in front of you, you can’t walk away from it.

Sebastian,65

My relationship with Viviana is not a replacement for something that may or may not be missing elsewhere

The first time I kissed Viviana was at her home, pressed up against the wall in her hallway. I was meant to be visiting for a casual lunch, and the attraction came out of nowhere for both of us. I remember leaning in to greet her at the door, smelling her scent, and feeling overwhelmed. As we kissed, she said to me: “How married are you?” I replied: “Very married.” That was seven years ago – and I don’t think we’ve ever explicitly discussed my marriage since.

I don’t feel guilty about our relationship, because I have conceptualised my relationship with Viviana as existing in a completely different universe to my marriage. Viviana and I have a keen interest in theoretical physics and the concept of the multiverse helps us – we never discuss my marriage because it simply does not exist in our world. My marriage is perfectly wonderful and fulfilling. My relationship with Viviana is not a replacement for something that may or may not be missing elsewhere.

I miss Viviana very much, but we are creative, and are able to adapt our relationship to our situation. Over time, we have developed codes, so we can communicate our sexual activities almost as a secret language.

Any reference to “ice-cream”, for example, implies a recent orgasm. I write her love letters and send her handmade jewellery, and we are constantly sharing images and videos as a way of staying connected. We have built up a collection of more than 10,000 images that we refer to as our “archive”. If she mentions the colour red, in passing, for example, I might send her an image of her red-painted nails from several years ago. Updating and returning to our archive is more than just a way of keeping a record, it is our way of giving our relationship reality and history. I don’t see my messaging with Viviana as impinging on my relationship with my wife – I feel like that communication is going on in a parallel universe to my existence at home.

Whereas other partnerships calm down over time, ours has maintained an intensity comparable with a new, budding relationship. Of course we miss each other, but the flirting, planning and anticipation keeps the passion level high. It was desperately disappointing when we missed seeing each other last summer, but while the distance is a challenge, it has also become a part of our ongoing dance.

Several people have been injured after an explosion destroyed a three-storey apartment block in The Hague.

The cause of the explosion in the Mariahoeve neighbourhood of the Dutch city was unclear. Emergency authorities said four people had been rescued and taken to hospital, but could not say how many people may still be under the rubble.

Ambulances could be seen lining up in anticipation of more victims. The spokesperson for the local hospital said they were on standby to deal with injuries.

Residents of the north-eastern neighbourhood said they heard a huge bang and screams before dawn. One woman told local media she thought there had been an earthquake.

The Hague’s fire service said: “At this moment, the emergency services are busy rescuing and searching for people and fighting the fire.”

An Agence France-Presse reporter on the scene said there were dozens of fire engines as firefighters battled the blaze from the ground and from higher positions. Debris was strewn across the street and several windows in the vicinity had been blown out, the reporter said.

Huge plumes of smoke were billowing from a large hole where the building stood, with an acrid smell in the air.

City officials said: “The fire is releasing a lot of smoke in the immediate vicinity. Residents are advised to close windows and doors and turn off ventilation.”

The Hague’s mayor, Jan van Zanen, was on site to coordinate rescue efforts, according to the Regio15 news website.

Homes on several floors appeared to have been destroyed by the explosion, said Regio15. Early images from the public broadcaster NOS showed several dozen firefighters tackling a large blaze and breaking down doors to gain access to the block.

A picture from the local news agency ANP showed one person being taken away on a stretcher into an ambulance.

Dutch authorities deployed a specialised urban search and rescue team to the scene, including four dogs trained to find victims. The team was previously used during the devastating earthquake in Turkey in 2023.

Moammar Ali has been searching for his older brother for 39 years.

In 1986, Syrian soldiers arrested the university student Ali Hassan al-Ali, then 18, at a checkpoint in north Lebanon. Moammar has not heard from him since.

He spent the next three decades visiting different security branches in Syria, where he would receive conflicting information on the whereabouts of his brother.

“There was no place in Syria we didn’t visit. We went around the whole country asking what happened to him. One day they would admit they had him in prison, the next day they would deny it,” Ali, a resident of Akkar, north Lebanon, said.

The last information Ali received about his brother was that he was being held in a military security branch in Damascus on charges of political agitation. Then, Syria’s revolution and subsequent civil war began and Ali no longer received any updates on his brother’s status.

Until Thursday night, when Ali’s phone started to buzz. Friends, relatives and family members began sending him the same picture: a bedraggled man in his late 50s, standing dazed in front of the Hama central prison in north Syria.

“They said he resembled me. I told them: ‘this is my brother!’ The feeling … it’s indescribable. Imagine that I haven’t seen him for 39 years and then all of a sudden his picture is sent to you, how would you feel?” Ali said.

His brother, who entered prison as an 18-year-old, was now 57. “He has come out of prison as an old man.”

Ali’s brother was one of the thousands of prisoners released from Syrian government prisons in Aleppo and Hama after Islamist rebels led by Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured the city. In the last week, HTS-led forces have routed those of the Syrian army in north Syria in a stunning offensive – the most serious challenge to Bashar al-Assad’s control of Syria since the revolution in 2011.

One of the first actions rebels took in newly captured cities was to release detainees from government detention centres. Videos showed stunned-looking people emerging from prisons, where joyous crowds awaited them.

Syrians prisons, where an estimated 136,000 people were detained up until this week, are to many emblematic of the government repression that earned Syria the title of the “Kingdom of Silence”. Thousands of protesters were arrested during the revolution for speaking out against the government.

Leaked documents showed the Syrian security apparatus viewed prisons as a key way to crush dissent and stop the momentum of peaceful protests. The vast network of security branches, detention centres and prisons grew notorious for their brutal torture methods, which rights groups said were applied on an industrial scale.

“A lot of those who had been forcibly disappeared previously, we discovered that they had been killed. A considerable amount had been killed under torture,” said Fadel Abdulghany, the founder of the Syrian Network for Human Rights who is originally from Hama.

Abdulghany said that while the release of political prisoners should be celebrated and encouraged, indiscriminate, mass release of prisoners could carry significant risk – particularly if violent offenders were also let out.

The sudden release of thousands of prisoners created renewed hope for families who had heard nothing about the fate of their loved ones for years. Grainy screenshots of released detainees circulated on WhatsApp groups around Syria and neighbouring countries, as family members tried to see if their relatives were among those released.

“You can’t imagine how it was yesterday; a lot of friends contacted me to ask about my father,” said Jinan, a resident of a border village in south Lebanon who spoke under a pseudonym for fear of security repercussions for her family.

Jinan’s father was arrested in 2006 after crossing into Syria during the Hezbollah-Israel war to find refuge for his family. “As soon as he arrived at our relatives’ house, there was a knock at the door and he was arrested,” Jinan said. She had not heard from her father since.

Jinan and her family made several visits to Syria to inquire about her father’s release. After paying about $5,500 (£4,300) to various intermediaries, she was told her father was either being held in Branch 235 or Sednaya prison – two detention centres in Damascus infamous for torture.

“We still have hope, I feel like he’s still alive and I think he will come back and live with us. I don’t support any armed groups that are killing people, but if my father comes back … We need him,” Jinan said.

Confusion has reigned as the fast-changing political dynamics in northern Syria make it difficult for authorities to identity who has been released – and return them to their families.

Ali has still not been able to make direct contact with his brother and has spent the past 24 hours trying to track down who took the photo of him after his release from prison.

“When he comes home, we will have a big celebration. But until I smell him, until I can say, ‘Here he is, my brother,’ nothing counts,” Ali said.