Trump welcomes MBS for White House visit with fanfare and military flyover

President Trump plans to seal major business and security deals during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's White House visit.

Trump, Saudi crown prince bin Salman brush off criticism of Khashoggi killing

The White House touted Saudi Arabia's commitment to investing $600 billion in the United States, which was announced earlier this year.

Woman's conviction for husband's murder overturned after 2 decades

Blaming an inadequate and incomplete investigation and unfair trial, Jane Dorotik pushed for a new examination of the evidence that helped convict her.

Judge blocks Texas from using new congressional map for 2026 elections

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown ordered Texas to use House district lines adopted in 2021 for next year's congressional elections.

Scotland v Denmark: World Cup 2026 qualifying – live

⚽ Live updates from the decisive qualifier in Glasgow
⚽ Football Daily | Live scores | Get in touch by emailing Rob

Wounding events in modern history mean Scotland can not be a football country that expects. It is, however, one on tenterhooks as the prospect of long‑awaited World Cup qualification looms so large.

On paper, the task is simple: beat Denmark at Hampden Park and the Scots will take a place in next summer’s tournament. It is the significance of progress that matters far more than the fact the Danes are ranked 18 places higher in the world.

Trump defends Mohammed bin Salman over killing of Jamal Khashoggi, claiming Saudi crown prince ‘knew nothing about it’ and ‘things happen’ - live

President blasts ABC News as fake news during Oval Office meeting with Saudi crown prince

• Trump says US will sell F-35 stealth jets to Saudis as Prince Mohammed visits

A reminder that Donald Trump’s family has a strong personal interest in Saudi Arabia. In September, London real estate developer Dar Global announced that it plans to launch Trump Plaza in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

It’s Dar Global’s second collaboration with the Trump Organization, the collection of companies controlled by the US president’s children, in the kingdom. Last year, the two companies announced the launch of Trump Tower Jeddah.

Cop30 live: Ministers from global north and south unite in call for a roadmap away from fossil fuels

Representatives from Germany, the UK, the Marshall Islands and a number of other countries came together to issue a call for a fossil fuel roadmap

We should not fear the forces of denial and delay, UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has warned, because “they are losing this fight”.

Speaking to delegates at Cop30, the Labour politician acknowledged the existence of climate deniers and delayers across the world – including in the UK – and described them as “well funded, well organised, and determined”.

Ukrainians working for Russia were behind rail blasts, says Polish PM

Donald Tusk says two saboteurs crossed border from Belarus hoping to cause divisive ‘catastrophe’

Polish authorities have identified two Ukrainian men, allegedly working for the Russian intelligence services, as the key suspects in two cases of rail sabotage, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, has said.

The men are alleged to have planted a military-grade explosive device and attached a steel clamp to rail tracks in two incidents on a strategic rail route used for aid deliveries for Ukraine.

10-year Treasury yield is little changed as investors navigate post-shutdown data deluge

The 10-year Treasury yield was flat on Tuesday as investors prepared for the release of delayed jobs data after the 43-day government shutdown ended.

Pension reform row threatens Germany’s coalition government

Youth wing of conservatives say younger people will be left carrying can for older generation

A row over pension reform is threatening the future of the German coalition government, with a youth wing of the conservatives of chancellor Friedrich Merz gaining support for an attempt to block legislation which they argue will leave younger Germans carrying the can for the older generation.

An 18-strong group of young MPs, the Junge Union, has been accused of holding Merz’s coalition government to ransom over its demands to revise proposed pension reforms, which would guarantee pension increases for the next six years.

11/17: CBS Evening News

Behind Trump's reversal on releasing Epstein files; Judge accuses DOJ of "disturbing pattern" of missteps in Comey case.

Sheinbaum again dismisses Trump’s threat of sending troops to Mexico: ‘We do not want intervention’

Mexico’s president responds to Trump’s latest warning that he could authorize strikes against drug cartels in country

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has again dismissed Donald Trump’s threat of military action against drug cartels inside her country, telling reporters: “It’s not going to happen.”

Sheinbaum made the comments on Tuesday morning in response to the US president’s latest warning that he could authorise strikes in Mexico.

Silver splitters: why divorced women are so happy

It’s not just Melinda French Gates. Many divorcees in their 40s to 60s are glad to be free – their male exes, less so

Name: Divorcees.

Age: Usually middle-aged, roughly between 45 and 65.

Layoff notices flared in October across much of U.S., Fed report shows

Nearly 40,000 Americans in 21 states received an impending layoff notice last month, new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland shows.

Epstein accusers speak ahead of House vote: "This is one demand we all share"

More than a dozen of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers stood alongside Democratic and GOP lawmakers and pressed Congress to look beyond politics.

Wicked: For Good review – Cynthia Erivo sweeps the field in explosive second chunk of Oz prequel

Bringing her black-belt screen presence to the role of Elphaba, Erivo leads a fine cast in a zingily scored conclusion to the hit origin story

Director Jon M Chu pulls off quite a trick with this manageably proportioned second half to the epic musical prequel-myth inspired by The Wizard of Oz – and based, of course, on the hit stage show. It keeps the rainbow-coloured dreaminess and the Broadway show tune zinginess from part one, and we still get those periodic, surreal pronouncements given by the city’s notables to the diverse folk of Oz, those non-player characters crowding the streets. But now the focus narrows to the main players and their explosive romantic crises, essentially through two interlocking love triangles: Glinda the Good, Elphaba the Wicked and the Wizard – and Glinda, Elphaba and Prince Fiyero, the handsome young military officer with whom both witches are not so secretly in love, as well as possibly having feelings for each other.

Jeff Goldblum is excellent as the Wizard, who pretty much becomes the Darth Vader of Oz: a slippery carnival huckster who is realising that his seedy charm is corroding his soul. Jonathan Bailey pivots to a much more serious, less campy, more passionate Prince and Ariana Grande is, as ever, delicate and doll-like as Glinda, though with less opportunity for comedy. But the superstar among equals is Cynthia Erivo, bringing her black-belt screen presence to the role of Elphaba, and revealing a new vulnerability and maturity. Elsewhere, Marissa Bode returns as Nessarose, Elphaba’s wheelchair-using half-sister; Ethan Slater is Boq, the Munchkin working as her servant; and Michelle Yeoh brings stately sweetness to the role of the Wizard’s private secretary Madame Morrible.

MI5 names two people in alert to MPs and peers about Chinese espionage

Spy agency says Amanda Qui and Shirly Shen have been using LinkedIn to ‘obtain non-public and insider insights’

MI5 has issued an espionage alert to MPs and peers warning that two people linked to the Chinese intelligence service are actively seeking to recruit parliamentarians.

The two people operated as headhunters on the LinkedIn professional networking website aiming to obtain “non-public and insider insights”, MI5 said. They are also said to be targeting economists, thinktank staff and others with access to politicians.

Microsoft unveils tool to help companies control, track AI agents

Microsoft has helped companies build AI agents that can do specific kinds of work. Now it has a way to spot and stop risky agents.

The Kessler Twins sisters Alice and Ellen die together aged 89

German pop duo who last year said their wish was ‘to leave together’ had joint assisted death at their home in Grünwald

Alice and Ellen Kessler, the pop singing sisters who were famous in Europe in the 1960s, especially in Italy where they were credited for bringing glamour to the country’s TV network, have died aged 89.

The identical twins had chosen to have a joint assisted death at their home in Grünwald, close to Munich, on Monday, said Wega Wetzel, a spokesperson for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanes Sterben (DGHS), a Berlin-based assisted dying association.

Can ceramics be demonic? Edmund de Waal’s obsession with a deeply disturbing Dane

The great potter explains why he turned his decades-long fixation with Axel Salto – maker of unsettling stoneware full of tentacle sproutings and knotty growths – into a new show

Potter and writer Edmund de Waal, a dark silhouette of neat workwear against the blinding white of his studio, is erupting with thoughts, all of them tumbling out of him at once. He is giving me a tour of the former gun factory on a London industrial estate gently disciplined into architectural calm. It has work stations for his staff (it’s quite an operation); store rooms; and a main space nearly empty but for some giant black lidded vessels he made in Denmark, as capacious as coffins. At either end, up discreet sets of steps, are the places of raw creation. One, with its potter’s wheel, is where he makes; the other, with its desk and bookshelves, is where he writes.

He opens a door to the room housing his two mighty kilns, its back wall lined with rows of shelves with experiments in form and glaze, and tells me of his irritation when people comment on the sheer tidiness of the whole place. “It’s porcelain,” he says with passionate emphasis. Dust and dirt are the enemy. Potters, he points out, “have struggled for hundreds and hundreds of years to keep things clean so that they don’t blow up in kilns, or don’t bloat or don’t dunt or all the other myriad things that can happen”. He is old enough, he says, to have had the kind of potter’s apprenticeship that involved the endless sweeping up of clay dust. Dust is the traditional bringer of potter’s lung – the chronic condition, silicosis. Clouds of dust surround any pottery-making endeavour, if you’re not careful.

Cloudflare says outage that hit X, ChatGPT and other sites is resolved

OpenAI's ChatGPT and Elon Musk's social media platform X were among the sites impacted by the Cloudflare issues.

Roblox announces measures to strengthen protections for minors

Facing pressure from states and families, Roblox will require players to use AI-powered technology that helps verify their age.

House poised to vote to release Jeffrey Epstein files after Trump drops opposition

President Donald Trump, a former Epstein friend who had a falling out with him, recently dropped his opposition to the bipartisan bill to release the files.

Mahmood faces calls for compassion and clarity over hardline asylum policies

Home secretary urged to explain statement that asylum admissions will start at ‘a few hundred’ people

Shabana Mahmood is facing demands for compassion and clarity after it emerged that only a “few hundred” asylum seekers would initially be permitted to come to the UK under three new schemes for refugees.

The home secretary had justified a series of hardline policies – such as the deportation of families and the confiscation of assets from claimants – by saying she would also open the “safe and legal” routes for “genuine” claimants.

Stock market continues to fade as investors hedge against AI hype

U.S. stocks slumped in early trading on Tuesday as Wall Street questions the strength of AI-led rally.

Argentina judge fired after causing mistrial in case over Maradona’s death

Julieta Makintach’s role in a documentary series about negligence case over football star’s death led to mistrial

An Argentinian judge has been fired after causing a mistrial in the negligence case against the late football legend Diego Maradona’s medical team due to her involvement in a documentary about it.

A special panel of judges, lawyers and provincial legislators dismissed Julieta Makintach, 48, from her post and disqualified her from holding any other judicial position in the future.

Tell us your favourite late-arriving TV characters

We would like to hear your favourite characters whose gamechanging arrivals lifted the shows they were in

From Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones to the Hot Priest in Fleabag, we have picked our favourite 18 TV characters whose gamechanging arrival in later seasons have lifted their whole show. Now we would like to hear yours. Who is your favourite late-arriving TV character and why?

If you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

Jeep eyes U.S. comeback following yearslong sales troubles

Jeep has been in a rut. It has experienced six consecutive years of U.S. sales declines amid a leadership carousel, dearth of new products and push into luxury.

Stellan Skarsgård starrer Sentimental Value leads nominations for European film awards

Director Joachim Trier’s family drama has five nominations, including best actor for Skarsgård, while Oliver Laxe’s techno thriller Sirāt has four nominations

Norwegian director Joachim Trier is leading the race for a triumph at the European film awards, with five nominations in key categories for his family drama Sentimental Value.

The Cannes Grand Prix winner is nominated for best European film, best screenplay and best director, with further best actor and best actress nominations for Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve.

Surgeons reattach 10-year-old girl’s hand nearly lost in Florida shark attack

Leah Lendel was bitten by a bull shark as she was snorkeling with her family from a beach in Boca Grande

A 10-year-old girl whose hand was reattached after it was severed in a shark attack has spoken of her remarkable recovery after a “miracle” six-hour operation that has allowed her to resume knitting outfits for her beloved Barbie dolls.

Leah Lendel’s right hand was left hanging by shreds of skin after the bite by a 9ft bull shark as she was snorkeling with her family at a beach in Boca Grande, Florida, in June.

A real hoot and smart art – readers’ best photographs

Click here to submit a picture for publication in these online galleries and/or on the Guardian letters page

Jon Stewart on Trump’s Epstein files flip-flop: ‘This dude is flailing’

Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s aversions, denials and flip-flops on the release of the Epstein files

Late-night hosts tore into the next chapter of Donald Trump’s never-ending Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Venezuela’s top opposition leader claims ‘new era’ is coming despite lack of clear plan

María Corina Machado pens a ‘freedom manifesto’ as plan to force Nicolás Maduro from power remains unclear

Venezuela’s top opposition leader, the Nobel laureate María Corina Machado, has declared her country “at the edge of a new era” as Donald Trump refused to rule out a ground invasion to topple its authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, but also signalled he was open to talks.

Machado, who has lived in hiding since her movement’s candidate was widely believed to have beaten Maduro in last year’s presidential election, made her claim in a “freedom manifesto” that was published on Tuesday as uncertainty continued to shroud the South American country’s future.

BXP chief says the office sector has bottomed, but buildings still need to be demolished

BXP is almost entirely invested in the top tier of the market, with many of its tenants in financial and legal services.

Outages at X, League of Legends spike as Cloudflare reports problems

Web services company Cloudflare said it is aware of problems impacting "multiple customers" amid reports of outages at apps including X.

Ben Stokes the thunder god primed for Ashes series that may change his Australian legacy

Perth has some good memories for England captain at the culmination of a four-year project cast in his aggressive image

England hope to strike a healthy balance between work and play and at the start of this Ashes week: as Australia trained at the ground to prepare for the first Test, the tourists were being, well, tourists.

As well as the usual golfers, a handful of players took a boat trip out to Rottnest Island, with Brydon Carse later showing off an impressive fish he had caught. No doubt some of the grouchier past players would sooner his mind was on reeling in a far bigger one: Steve Smith.

‘I drove a tank and went to Bratislava with my hairdresser’: how Ian Smith turbocharged his standup

The Yorkshire comic was going nowhere with his act which relied on gimmicks, set-pieces and standing on tables. So he decided it was time to live a more interesting – and stressful – life

What’s the opposite of an overnight success? Should we call Ian Smith a slow burner, a sleeper hit? The Yorkshireman’s last two shows, both fantastic, were nominated for the Edinburgh comedy award, he has a popular Radio 4 series, Ian Smith is Stressed, and growing TV visibility. Now he’s embarking on a second UK tour. But breakout success was a long time coming for the 37-year-old. “I did my first gig when I was 17,” he tells me over coffee in London, “which I find horrific. It makes me feel old.”

What took him so long? Might one factor be that Smith’s is a traditional brand of standup – fretful everyman sends up his own anxiety – in a culture that prizes the new and different? That can’t be it, he says. “Because I had so many gimmicks! That was a big part of my standup.” He cites the high-concept shows (comedy in a bath; comedy on a bed) that made Tim Key’s name. “I loved standup with slightly theatrical set-pieces. That was my voice for four shows. I got a review that said, ‘Ian substitutes writing jokes with standing on tables and shouting at people.’ And it was fair enough. I went through a real standing-on-tables phase.”

Will Marjorie Taylor Greene turn the Maga movement against Trump? | Arwa Mahdawi

Whatever her motives, the Republican congresswoman’s ‘revenge tour’ against the president is proving surprisingly effective

There are 535 members of Congress; only a dozen or so are household names. If you want to achieve that sort of brand name recognition, there are a few tried-and-tested ways to do so. You can spend years working your way up the ranks until you’re a power-broker like Nancy Pelosi. You can burst on to the scene and dramatically unseat an incumbent like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did. Or you can go the Marjorie Taylor Greene route and achieve notoriety by being utterly unhinged.

Since becoming a congresswoman for Georgia in 2021, Greene has kept herself in the news by spouting conspiracy theories, fighting with colleagues, and being one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders. In recent months, however, something strange has been happening. Greene has continued to generate headlines, but largely because she has turned on her party and is part of a growing Maga civil war. Greene was the first Republican lawmaker, for example, to say that there is a genocide in Gaza and has been one of the loudest voices demanding that the Epstein files be released. She has also criticised the Maga movement for not focusing on affordability or putting America first. Now, things have escalated to the point where Greene is making Trump see red; the pair are in a full-blown feud.

Cloudflare outage causes error messages across the internet

US company that defends millions of websites against malicious attacks says it believes issue ‘is now resolved’

• Explainer: What is Cloudflare?

A key piece of the internet’s usually hidden infrastructure suffered a global outage on Tuesday, causing error messages to flash up across websites.

Cloudflare, a US company whose services include defending millions of websites against malicious attacks, experienced an unidentified problem that meant internet users could not access some of its customers’ websites.

Starmer pleads for government to unite in fightback after difficult week

Prime minister tells cabinet budget leaks and infighting are distracting from priorities and delivering change

Keir Starmer has warned senior ministers and officials to stop briefing against one another and leaking details of the budget as he pleaded for his embattled government to unite.

The prime minister told his weekly cabinet meeting that last week’s political turmoil had distracted from voters’ priorities, and ministers needed to work together and start delivering rather than talking about the government itself.

Roblox CEO responds to safety allegations and discusses new measures to protect kids

Roblox, the popular online gaming platform, is currently facing lawsuits from dozens of families who argue the platform doesn't do enough to shield children from harmful content and communication. Dave Baszucki, Roblox co-founder and CEO, joins "CBS Mornings" to discuss what safety measures the company is taking to protect children.

Panera lost diners by cutting portions and staff. It's reversing course to win them back

Panera Bread has unveiled a turnaround strategy to reverse years of traffic declines.

‘Deeply shocking’: Nigel Farage faces fresh claims of racism and antisemitism at school

Bafta-winning director among contemporaries urging contrition and apology from Reform UK leader, who denies the allegations
Portrait: Tom Pilston

It is the hectoring tone, the “jeering quality”, in Nigel Farage’s voice today that brings it all back for Peter Ettedgui. “He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers,” Ettedgui says of his experience of being in a class with Farage at Dulwich college in south London.

Ettedgui, 61, is a Bafta- and Emmy-winning director and producer whose credits include Kinky Boots, McQueen and Super/Man: the Christopher Reeve Story.

Bhutan PM on leading the first carbon-negative nation: ‘The wellbeing of our people is at the centre of our agenda’

Exclusive: Tshering Tobgay says his country is doing ‘a lot more than our fair share’ on climate and west must cut emissions ‘for the happiness of your people’

The wealthy western countries most responsible for the climate crisis would improve the health and happiness of their citizens by prioritising environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth, according to the prime minister of Bhutan, the world’s first carbon-negative nation.

Bhutan, a Buddhist democratic monarchy and biodiversity hotspot situated high in the eastern Himalayas, is among the world’s most ambitious climate leaders thanks to its people’s connection with nature and a strong political focus on improving gross national happiness rather than just GDP, Tshering Tobgay told the Guardian.

Judge criticizes DOJ and orders grand jury material be given to Comey

A federal judge in Virginia ordered all grand jury material be handed over to James Comey's team, citing a "disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps" by the Justice Department. Comey pleaded not guilty to charges he gave false statements to Congress in 2020.

Extortionate tickets and matches moved at Trump’s whim: are you ready for the ‘greatest World Cup ever’? | Marina Hyde

You may have thought Qatar and Russia were tournament lows. You didn’t account for the US president and his Fifa soulmate, Gianni Infantino

“It’s very clear,” claimed haunted Fifa cue-ball Gianni Infantino not so long ago, “that politics should stay out of football and football should stay out of politics.” But is it clear? Is it really? On Monday, the worst man in world sport was – yet again – to be found in the Oval Office, this time nodding along to Trump’s declaration that games could be moved from host cities for next summer’s World Cup if the US president deems there’s “a problem” with security or that the cities are non-compliant in some other way. In practice, that seems to mean if they’re run by a Democrat/“communist”. Amazing that the Fifa president will gladly allow his tournaments to be held in any old violent autocracy but, for the purposes of the White House cameras at least, might need to draw the line at Boston.

Honestly, the very sight of Infantino these days causes decades of writing about Fifa to flash before my eyes. How could it have happened? How could we have ended up with an even bigger horror in charge of world football’s governing body than the various ones who went before? When Sepp Blatter was thrown from a moving gravy train in 2015 amid an explosive corruption scandal, it would have felt like a genuine feat of sporting excellence to have beaten his record for craven awfulness.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

A year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar
On Tuesday 2 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back at another extraordinary year, with special guests, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Mahmood Mamdani on Zohran, Uganda and forced expulsion: ‘Who is part of the nation and who is not?’

After being expelled from his homeland in 1972, the academic has grappled with questions of political belonging – a major theme of his son’s mayoral campaign

The night before Mahmood Mamdani was expelled from Uganda in 1972, a senior professor from the university where he had been employed as a lowly teaching assistant wandered into his family home, looking for spoils. The rest of the family had already left – for the UK, the US and Tanzania – but 26-year-old Mamdani had decided to remain until the final day of the three-month period that Idi Amin, the Ugandan president, had designated for all Asians to leave the country. Passing over the furniture and other remnants of decades of family life, the professor hit upon a carton of Johnnie Walker Red, which Mamdani invited him to take home.

Man charged after migrant boat capsizes near San Diego, killing 4

The suspected captain faces up to life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.

Rep. Khanna calls for accountability amid Epstein files vote: "The facts need to come out"

Rep. Ro Khanna said "the facts need to come out" as he called for accountability with the House expected to vote Tuesday on a bill compelling the Justice Department to release more of the Epstein files. The congressman also told "CBS Mornings" he was surprised by President Trump's reversal on the issue after months of opposition.

Judge pauses release of grand jury material to Comey after magistrate hints at dismissal

President Donald Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to criminally charge former FBI Director James Comey shortly before he was indicted in Virginia.

UN plan just ‘first step’ toward peace in Gaza, says Palestinian foreign minister

Varsen Aghabekian Shahin backs resolution, while Hamas rejects idea of international force inside territory

• Analysis: One of the oddest UN resolutions in history

The Palestinian foreign minister has described the UN security council resolution endorsing Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza as a necessary first step on a long road towards peace, even as Hamas rejected it as a form of international guardianship with which it will not cooperate.

Arab state leaders who have reluctantly adopted the plan said the US urgently needed to set out the composition of the proposed Palestinian technocratic committee that is to deliver services inside Gaza, as well as the leadership of the international stabilisation force (ISF), which is supposed to oversee security. Membership of the board of peace, the body that is to oversee the ISF and a Palestinian civilian police force also remains unknown.

New Slovenian law treats entire Romany minority ‘as a security threat’

Parliament approves law giving police powers to raid and surveil homes in what are demarcated as security risk areas

Slovenia’s government has been accused of turning Roma neighbourhoods into “security zones” after the passing of a law giving police powers to raid and surveil homes in so-called “high-risk” areas.

At midnight on Monday, the country’s parliament backed the “Šutar law”, named after Aleš Šutar, who was killed in an altercation with a 21-year-old Romany man after rushing to a nightclub after a distress call from his son.

Il Makiage parent Oddity takes aim at Hims with new telehealth skincare platform Methodiq

Oddity is branching into medical skincare with a new telehealth platform Methodiq, which blends the retailer's investments into biotech and computer vision.

North by Northwest: Hitchcock’s funniest, most ambitious film

Every scene in Cary Grant’s mistaken identity caper is pure absurdity – including that famous cornfield chase. You can’t look away

Imagine: you’re a handsome and relatively successful ad man in idyllic 50s New York. You’re having a delicious mid-afternoon snack in the lobby of the Plaza hotel, which presumably cost all of $2.50, when suddenly you are abducted in broad daylight at gunpoint by two polite and well-dressed men. You don’t put up a fight. You merely walk with them to their car, trying to object in the only way you know how: asking nicely for them to stop. The kidnappers are gleeful; they’ve finally captured you, George Kaplan. That’s not your name, you exclaim, you’re Roger Thornhill! They must have the wrong man!

Thus begins Hitchcock’s funniest, most ridiculous and visually ambitious film, North by Northwest. All the hallmarks of a Hitchcock classic are here: Cary Grant as the leading man, a completely inexplicable MacGuffin (who is George Kaplan anyway? And more importantly, does anyone even care?), a director cameo, a mysterious and beautiful blonde (the darling and charming Eva Marie Saint), and a 20-minute opening so overstuffed with dialogue that you kind of tune out but it’s fine because once the inciting incident happens, you can’t look away. It’s so Hitchcockian that it borders on parody.

Why Australia will win v why England can win: two Guardian cricket writers make their Ashes cases

No 1-ranked Australia are favourites on home soil but through a forest of caveats for England, there is still a path to the urn

Even the greats of the Ashes have been weighed down by 143 years of shared history, tradition and controversy. For keen observers of Australia and England, Ashes anxiety can cloud judgments, hopes and dreams. Personally, a heart still bearing the scars from more than a decade spent living behind enemy lines as a once all-conquering Australia failed to tie – let alone win – an Ashes series in England, now insists on managing expectations. But as the ICC’s top two-ranked men’s Test teams prepare for a contest set to be shaped as much by endurance as execution, the head is ready to rule with a quiet confidence that Australia will triumph in a fourth straight Ashes as hosts.

Zoox begins offering robotaxi rides in San Francisco, facing off with Waymo

Riders can sign up to join the "Zoox Explorers" program to take free rides on the company's box-shaped vehicles in certain San Francisco neighborhoods.

John C Reilly wants to win hearts in Mister Romantic, a show that’s truly lovable

From Chicago to Stan & Ollie, the Oscar-nominated actor has sung on screen for years. Now he arrives on stage – inside a trunk – to serenade the audience

In one of Hollywood’s nicer ironies, character actor John C Reilly finally made it big with a song about being invisible. His Oscar-nominated performance as the duped and devoted schmuck Amos Hart in Kander and Ebb’s Chicago was defined by his solo, Mister Cellophane. Director Rob Marshall had him sing it in an empty theatre so Amos doesn’t even get an audience for his big number.

More than 20 years later, Reilly has dusted off a not dissimilar tailcoat and rouged his cheeks once more under a new moniker, Mister Romantic, and this time there’s a full house. Backed by a four-piece band he is here to win our hearts with 90 minutes of jazz standards and popular songs, plus the odd chanson and comic verse. After a dozen or so dates in the US, the show has a short run this week in London at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, whose beautifully restored interior and history as a music hall fits Mister Romantic like a glove.

David Byrne on the moon and a high-rise blaze: photos of the day – Tuesday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Four ‘active club’ members sentenced to prison in Sweden for racist assaults

Men aged 20 to 23 convicted at trial that showed pattern of far-right activists assembling in gyms

Four men from the Swedish branch of the international far-right “active club” network have been sentenced to prison after they were found guilty of several racially motivated assaults in Stockholm.

In a verdict handed down on Tuesday, Stockholm district court said the three violent attacks, which targeted three men in quick succession on the night of 27 August, constituted hate crimes.

Toyota to invest $912 million in U.S. plants to increase hybrid vehicle production

Toyota Motor on Tuesday announced plans to invest $912 million in U.S. manufacturing plants in five southern states.

Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink to make West End debut in Romeo and Juliet

The actor will appear opposite British film star Noah Jupe in a production directed by Robert Icke opening in March

Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink is to make her West End debut next year in Romeo and Juliet, opposite British film star Noah Jupe, in a production directed by Olivier award-winner Robert Icke.

Sink, who plays Max in the Netflix sci-fi hit, started her career on stage. She was cast in the lead role in the musical Annie when she was 10, and remained in it for 18 months in New York. “I was a Broadway kid, so I’ve always dreamed about doing a show in the West End,” she said. “To get to do that in one of Shakespeares’s most famous plays under Rob’s direction with Noah will be such an exciting challenge. London theatre has this incredible energy, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.” Sink becomes the latest in a line of US stars who have made their West End debuts in recent years, including Sigourney Weaver (The Tempest), Brie Larson (Elektra) and Susan Sarandon (Mary Page Marlowe).

1.7 million pills of fentanyl seized from abandoned storage unit that was auctioned off

A man bought an abandoned storage unit in Colorado at an auction, but called the local sheriff's office after discovering its contents. Inside was the largest fentanyl stash in the state's history - valued at around $8 million. CBS News' Andres Gutierrez has more.

As New York City builds flood resilience, a Queens neighborhood feels neglected: ‘We are forgotten here’

Decade after officials promised to cut flood risks, Edgemere residents and experts say it continues to be vulnerable

This article was produced in partnership between Floodlight, New York Focus and the Guardian.

Baba Ndanani has lived in one of New York City’s most flood-prone neighborhoods for more than 20 years, and he knows the risks all too well.

I’m vegetarian, he’s a carnivore: what can I cook that we’ll both like? | Kitchen aide

Mushrooms again come to the rescue for that meaty mouthfeel, but our panel also recommends the savoury flavours of Asia to sate those umami cravings

I’m a lifelong vegetarian, but my boyfriend is a dedicated carnivore. How can I cook to please us both?
Victoria, by email
“I have three words for you, Victoria,” says Anna Ansari, author of Silk Roads, who grew up in a predominantly vegetarian household: “Di si xian.” Typical of northern China, this stir-fry of aubergine, potato and peppers (otherwise known as the “three treasures”) is laced with soy, Shoaxing wine, white pepper, sugar, cornflour and, in Ansari’s case, doubanjiang. She also adds tofu (the fourth treasure, if you will) for “a rounded, one-pot/wok dinner” to eat with steamed rice. “It reminds me of being a teenager in Beijing, far from home and in need of warmth and comfort,” she says, and we could all do with some of that right now. “It’s also cheap as proverbial chips, not to mention quick to make, and it will knock both your socks off. Promise.”

Mushrooms could also pave the way to harmonious dining. “Surely they’re the closest thing to a natural meat substitute,” says Zak Hitchman, chef/owner of Other in Bristol. He’d be inclined to layer them up in a lasagne: “Slice a load of mixed mushrooms [chestnut, shiitake, oyster], then saute them in oil and butter with some seasoning.” Next, fry onion, garlic, celery, diced carrot, maybe some rosemary or thyme, until softened, then return the cooked mushrooms to the pot with some tinned tomatoes and tomato puree. “You could bulk it out with tinned lentils,” he says, but either way be sure to include a splash of soy and some miso for “that meaty flavour”, plus any vinegar you have knocking around “for balance”. Cook slowly until reduced, then layer between dried lasagne sheets. “Top that with bechamel [or simply dollop on some mascarpone] and lots of grated parmesan [a vegetarian one, if need be]. Drizzle with olive oil and bake until the pasta is soft, the sauce bubbling and the top golden.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]

‘Exactly where we wanted to be’: Canada hails NSL after inaugural season’s glittering finish | Sophie Downey

Vancouver Rise were crowned Canada’s first champions of the new professional league which has exceeded expectations in terms of tickets sold and viewing figures

In the words of Christine Sinclair, the all-time international top scorer for men or women: “What a difference a year makes.” On Saturday at BMO Field in Toronto, Vancouver Rise became the first champions of the inaugural Northern Super League season. It was a triumphant conclusion to a history-making campaign that has set the ball rolling for professional women’s football in Canada.

In front of 12,429 spectators, Anja Heiner-Møller’s side put on a display of perseverance to claw their way back to win 2-1 against AFC Toronto, the winners of the regular season’s Supporters’ Shield. A half-hour lightning break and deluge of rain did little to stunt the quality on show on the pitch and the enthusiasm off it.

Jeffrey Epstein files: Larry Summers steps back from public commitments over email fallout

Emails between Jeffrey Epstein and former Harvard President Larry Summers were among thousands of documents released by a House committee last week.

Tanzania’s descent into repression is a stark warning of how fast Africa’s progress can be eroded | Kenneth Mohammed

When she became president, Samia Suluhu Hassan offered hope. But the country’s sudden democratic decay is more than just a national tragedy

A renewed sense of hope has taken root across the African continent. It is an optimism resting on solid ground: a booming population expected to surpass 2.5 billion by mid-century; vast reserves of critical minerals, oil and gas; and unprecedented levels of infrastructure investment.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) projects that Africa’s combined GDP could reach $4tn (£3tn) by 2030, driven by green-energy investments, urbanisation and digital innovation. One of their senior economists told me confidently earlier this year: “The future will be written in Africa.”

Moving beyond bar lines: composer Nico Muhly on dancers reimagining his music

Choreographers hear, somehow, a larger heartbeat; it’s fascinating and revelatory to have them reinterpret your compositions, writes the US musician, ahead of a triple bill featuring his music coming to Sadler’s Wells.

When I’m writing music, one of the primary challenges is figuring out how to notate rhythm in a way that is clear to the interpreters. When I hear a phrase in my head it is free of the confines of bar lines, but, in practical application, eventually it needs to get squeezed into recognisable shapes and containers. Every composer has their own strategy (some eschew bar lines entirely, or use alternative notational strategies outside the traditional western systems), but it’s always a negotiation: does the way the composer notates the rhythm correspond to how it should best appear on the flute player’s music stand?

I have distinct memories of being 13, hearing a piece (specifically, Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements), basically memorising it from the recording, and then being absolutely shocked when I finally saw the score. “That’s where the downbeat is?!” Stravinsky’s sense of time and my understanding of the same were at variance in a way I still find exciting: the idea that there are infinite superimpositions of a practical system (notation) over a medium (sound) most often experienced by an audience without the score. Understanding that notating rhythm is artificial yet crucial requires both personal precision and empathy with future interpreters.

A trooper’s shove showed stardom doesn’t protect Black athletes from police | Etan Thomas

When I was a college basketball player, some believed we were treated differently from other Black and Brown people. An event last weekend suggests otherwise

It was 1996, my first day stepping foot on Syracuse University’s campus. I saw a big student protest was taking place so, with my freshman’s inquisitive mind, I ventured over to see what was going on.

I listened to a passionate sista named Kathy Ade, the president of Syracuse’s student African-American Society. She stood there with her Bantu knots and a megaphone addressing the crowd, discussing the fact that campus security was now going to be able to carry pepper spray. In the 90s – which my daughter Baby Sierra calls “the 1900s,” just to keep me humble – campus security carrying pepper spray was a big deal. Now, they all carry guns.

Crypto market sheds more than $1tn in six weeks amid fears of tech bubble

Bitcoin price at lowest level since April while FTSE 100 falls as Google boss warns there is ‘irrationality’ in AI boom

• Business live – latest updates

More than $1tn (£760bn) has been wiped off the value of the cryptocurrency market in the past six weeks amid fears of a tech bubble and fading expectations for a US rate cut next month.

Tracking more than 18,500 coins, the value of the crypto market has fallen by a quarter since a high in early October, according to the data company CoinGecko.

Master System at 40: the truth about Sega’s most underrated console

Forty years ago, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the markets in Japan and the US. But in Europe, a technologically superior rival was making it look like an ancient relic

There’s an old maxim that history is written by the victors, and that’s as true in video games as it is anywhere else. Nowadays you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Nintendo Entertainment System was the only console available in the mid-to-late 1980s. If you were brought up in Nintendo’s target markets of Japan and North America, this chunky contraption essentially was the only game in town – the company had Mario after all, and its vice-like hold on third-party developers created a monopoly for major titles of the era. But in Europe, where home computers ruled the era, the NES was beaten by a technologically superior rival.

The Sega Master System was originally released in Japan in the autumn of 1985 as the Sega Mark III. Based around the famed Z80 CPU (used in home computers such as the Spectrum, Amstrad and TRS-80) and a powerful Sega-designed video display processor, it boasted 8kb of RAM, a 64-colour palette and the ability to generate 32 sprites on screen at one time – making the NES (based on the older 6502 processor) look like an ancient relic.

California farms applied millions of pounds of Pfas to key crops, study finds

‘Forever chemicals’ sprayed on almonds, grapes, tomatoes and other crops as activists warn of ‘obvious problem’

California farms applied an average of 2.5m lb of Pfas “forever chemicals” per year on cropland from 2018 to 2023, or a total of about 15m lb, a new review of state records shows.

The chemicals are added to pesticides that are sprayed on crops such as almonds, pistachios, wine grapes, alfalfa and tomatoes, the review of California department of pesticide regulation data found. The Environmental Working Group non-profit put together the report.

Better late than never! 18 characters whose late arrival lifted TV shows

From Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones to the Hot Priest in Fleabag and of course Dr Frasier Crane, we salute the game-changers who boosted later seasons of our favourite series

Welcome. Nice of you to finally join us. Hope it was worth the wait. Yes, sometimes a late addition can improve a drama or comedy so much it becomes hard to imagine the show without them. Not every series gets the casting chemistry spot-on straight away. A select few of our favourite TV characters weren’t even on the show when it launched.

We’ve selected 18 characters whose gamechanging arrival in later seasons lifted the whole show and added to its legacy. Behold the super-subs who came off the TV bench and scored a winner …

Why has former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina been sentenced to death? – video explainer

Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Dhaka for crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year. The Guardian's Hannah Ellis-Petersen describes the events leading up to the conviction and what this unprecedented sentencing means for the future of Bangladesh

• Ousted Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for crimes against humanity

Ofcom receives complaints over GB News item on defendants’ ‘foreign-sounding names’

Lib Dem MP says way figures were compiled on ‘non-British-sounding’ surnames in court was ‘frankly racist’

GB News has been accused of risking inflaming tensions over crime committed by migrants after presenting unscientific research that counted the number of defendants with “foreign-sounding names”.

Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator, has received complaints about a segment on the rightwing news channel last week that drew a link between “non-British” names and those in court charged with sex offences.

At least 15 English sewage plants use plastic beads spilled at Camber Sands

Exclusive: Experts urge water companies to update plants to avoid another catastrophe, as analysis reveals scale of use

At least 15 sewage plants on England’s south coast use the same contaminated plastic beads that were spilled in an environmental disaster in Camber Sands, Guardian analysis can reveal.

Environmental experts have urged water companies to update these old treatment plants to avoid another catastrophic spill, which can lead to plastic beads being permanently embedded in the environment and killing marine wildlife.

Israel needs to face accountability for our genocide. And so does the US | Yuli Novak

The international community allowed all of this to happen. We must not look away or move on

Genocide is a process, not an event. When genocide happens, its roots, and the conditions that allowed it, often become visible only in retrospect. If those conditions remain unchanged and there is no accountability, there’s every reason to believe the violence will return, perhaps even worse, especially if it was never fully halted. This is exactly what we are seeing in the case of Gaza. Demanding accountability from Israeli leaders isn’t just about the past, it’s the only way to challenge a system designed to repeat such violence.

A strange kind of calm has settled over Israel in the weeks since the Gaza ceasefire was declared. The sirens stopped. The hostages who survived the 7 October attack and nearly two years in captivity came home. But this calm – which has not been extended to Gaza, where more than 200 civilians have been killed since the ceasefire supposedly went into effect is built around an unclear plan by Donald Trump that does not address the root causes of the violence, and is merely a mirage. Nothing has changed in the violent political system that Palestinians and Israelis live under. The machinery behind the violence remains intact. The logic of domination still rules.

Yuli Novak is executive director of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem

The rainforest the world forgot: the Congo basin is the second largest on Earth, so why is it being neglected?

It is one of the world’s most vital carbon sinks, but this tropical rainforest is losing out when it comes to climate policy and funding

In October 2023, leaders, scientists and policymakers from three of the world’s great rainforest regions – the Amazon, the Congo, and the Borneo-Mekong basins – assembled in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. They were there to discuss one urgent question: how to save the planet’s last great tropical forests from accelerating destruction.

For those present, the question was existential. But to their dismay, almost no one noticed. “There was very little acknowledgment that this was happening, outside of the Congo basin region,” says Prof Simon Lewis, a lecturer at the University of Leeds and University College London, and co-chair of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI).

David Squires on … the history, histrionics and heroism of the Ashes

Our cartoonist looks back at cricket’s biggest rivalry as we gear up for seven weeks of joy, despair and animosity

• Buy a Squires cartoon in our Print Shop

• David’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Mind the glitch: is Hollywood finally getting to grips with movies about artificial intelligence?

As Gore Verbinski’s AI-apocalypse film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die hurtles towards us, it’s clear from the over-caffeinated trailer that we won’t be getting another ponderous parable about robot souls, digital enlightenment or the hubris of man

It’s easy to forget, given the current glut of robot-uprising doom flicks, that Hollywood has been doing the artificial intelligence thing for decades – long before anything resembling true AI existed in the real world. And now we live in an era in which a chatbot can write a passable sonnet, it is perhaps surprising that there hasn’t been a huge shift in how film-makers approach this particular corner of sci-fi.

Gareth Edwards’ The Creator (2023) is essentially the same story about AIs being the newly persecuted underclass as 1962’s The Creation of the Humanoids, except that the former has an $80m VFX budget and robot monks while the latter has community-theatre production values. Moon (2009) and 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey are both about the anxiety of being trapped with a soft-voiced machine that knows more than you. Her (2013) is basically Electric Dreams (1984) with fewer synth-pop arpeggios.

The Breakdown | Could new Nations Championship transform Test rugby? The jury is out

There is logic to the fresh international format, due to launch next year, but glaring issues and logistical challenges too

OK, let’s just pick the ball up and run with it for a little while. A reimagined global Test landscape pitching the northern hemisphere against the south commencing next July. Twelve men’s national sides playing six games each with a final playoff weekend. Concluding with one champion team hoisting a shiny trophy aloft in front of, hopefully, a worldwide television audience of millions.

On paper – and years of scribbling on the backs of envelopes have gone into this – there is some logic to it. Instead of seemingly random Tests scattered like distant dots on someone else’s map there is at least a discernible framework. Every game will, in theory, resonate. And, by virtue of pooling everybody’s TV rights, there are hopes of a collective commercial and promotional upside that can benefit the whole sport.

‘Do we live in a war zone?’: how US schools prepare for a shooting

In the troubling HBO documentary Thoughts and Prayers, the $3bn active shooter preparedness industry shows the bleak reality of being a child in the US

Talking about changes experienced by kids today often runs the risk of sounding reactionary, not to mention naive. No, there wasn’t as much talk about autism, or transgender kids, or any number of topics growing up in the 80s and 90s, because they weren’t understood or discussed in the same way – not because they didn’t exist. But it’s striking, watching the new HBO documentary Thoughts and Prayers, the degree to which it shows a demonstrable change from the experiences of someone growing up 30 or 40 years ago versus today: the absolute universality of emergency action plans that go beyond the scope of the fire drills you might remember. Thoughts and Prayers surveys many of those lockdown drills, and the many supplements available to contemporary schools designed to offer further protection from an active shooter: bulletproof backpacks, in-classroom shelters and astoundingly elaborate real-life simulations, complete with stunningly realistic makeup for bullet wounds.

This change isn’t lost on directors Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock. “Zack and I have an eight-year-old daughter,” Dimmock said in a joint interview, “and the idea for this film came about because she was coming up in school, and we were facing the thing that basically every American parent faces. Almost every kid in America does drills like this, across the board. We definitely did not grow up doing this, either, and I think there will be a huge part of the audience that will look at this and be like, ‘wow, right, I knew this was happening, but [still surprised] to see it.’ And there will be this whole other part of the audience that will be like, ‘yeah, Mom, Dad, I do this three times a year and have since I was five years old.’”

Houseplant hacks: can you use banana peel to shine your plants’ leaves?

Rubbing the inside of the peel over leaves will leave a glossy sheen, but is it any more effective than a damp cloth?

The problem
Dust isn’t just unsightly; it also blocks light from reaching your plant’s leaves, slowing growth and leaving them looking dull. Plant forums are full of DIY polishing tips. One of the most popular? Banana peel.

The hack
Rub the inside of a banana peel on to your plant’s leaves to clean them and leave a glossy sheen. Some swear by it as a natural – and free – alternative to chemical leaf-shine sprays.

House set to vote on release of Epstein documents after Trump U-turn

Speaker says vote to release files held by justice department could be near-unanimous after president drops opposition

• US politics live: House to vote on release of Epstein files

The US House of Representatives is on Tuesday expected to pass a bill that will force the release of investigative files related to the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, after Donald Trump and his Republican allies backed down from their opposition amid a scandal that has dogged the president since his return to the White House.

Though the president has for months dismissed the uproar over the government’s handling of the Epstein case as a “Democrat hoax”, he signaled his support for the House bill over the weekend, and said he would sign the measure if it reaches his desk. On Tuesday morning, the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, said he would vote for it, making it nearly certain it will be passed when the chamber votes on the bill in the afternoon.

Football quiz: test your recall of World Cup qualifying shocks and drama

Late winners, controversies and England embarrassment all feature in this World Cup-themed quiz

‘Fear really drives him’: is Alex Karp of Palantir the world’s scariest CEO?

His company is potentially creating the ultimate state surveillance tool, and Karp has recently been on a striking political and philosophical journey. His biographer reveals what makes him tick

In a recent interview, Alex Karp said that his company Palantir was “the most important software company in America and therefore in the world”. He may well be right. To some, Palantir is also the scariest company in the world, what with its involvement in the Trump administration’s authoritarian agenda. The potential end point of Palantir’s tech is an all-powerful government system amalgamating citizens’ tax records, biometric data and other personal information – the ultimate state surveillance tool. No wonder Palantir has been likened to George Orwell’s Big Brother, or Skynet from the Terminator movies.

Does this make Karp the scariest CEO in the world? There is some competition from Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Palantir’s co-founder Peter Thiel. But 58-year-old Karp could give them all a run for their money in terms of influence, self-belief, ambition and – even in this gallery of oddballs – sheer eccentricity. In his increasingly frequent media appearances, Karp is a striking presence, with his cloud of unkempt grey hair, his 1.25x speed diction, and his mix of combative conviction and almost childish mannerisms. On CNBC’s Squawk Box, he shook both fists simultaneously as he railed against short sellers betting against Palantir, whose share price has climbed nearly 600% in the past year: “It’s super triggering,” he complained. “Why do they have to go after us?”

Seriously Silly: The Life of Terry Jones by Robert Ross review – portrait of a Python

An affectionate biography of the polymath includes details of never-produced gems such as Monty Python’s Third World War

Terry Jones was a Python, a historian, a bestselling children’s author and a very naughty boy. He loved to play women in drag, started a magazine about countryside ecology (Vole), founded his own real-ale brewery and was even once a columnist for this newspaper, beginning one piece in 2011 like this: “In the 14th century there were two pandemics. One was the Black Death, the other was the commercialisation of warfare.” He even used to write jokes for Cliff Richard.

It would be tempting in view of all this to call him a renaissance man, except that Jones rather despised the highfalutin Renaissance, preferring the earthiness of medieval times: his first published book was a scholarly reinterpretation of Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, arguing that the hero’s fighting and pillaging was being presented satirically by the poet as something deplorable. Later he raided the Norse myth-kitty for the beloved children’s book (and, later, film) The Saga of Erik the Viking. His illustrator told him that Vikings didn’t really wear those massive helmets with horns sticking out at the sides, but Terry insisted on them. Historical accuracy could only get you so far.

‘Smile? YOU smile.' A new generation of stars is overthrowing the old Hollywood system, one ‘no’ at a time | Priya Elan

Gen Z actors such as Millie Bobby Brown and Jenna Ortega are refusing to do what is expected of ‘the talent’

Last week, I saw a clip that made me want to stand up and cheer. It was of the actor Millie Bobby Brown talking back to a photographer on a red carpet. The paparazzi had been yelling at her to smile, and Brown retorted: “Smile? You smile,” before walking off. She refused to do what was expected of her.

It’s a similar story with the star of the recent TV series Alien: Earth, Sydney Chandler. The actor did not appear on the cover of Variety magazine alongside the show’s creator and one of her co-stars, after she said she didn’t want to take part in a video interview for a regular series called How Well Do They Know Each Other?. The interviewer spent the first half of the resulting cover story explaining the situation in a bemused, tut-tutting tone, noting all the stars who had been willing to take part in the franchise.

Priya Elan writes about the arts, music and fashion

Saudi crown prince to visit U.S. for the first time since Khashoggi scandal

The trip follows Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May in which the kingdom made a $600 billion trade and investment commitment to the U.S.

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn review – a visceral tale of witchcraft

The author of The Employees goes back to 17th-century Denmark for an intensely poetic portrait of everyday sorcery and female solidarity

On 26 June 1621, in Copenhagen, a woman was beheaded – which was unusual, but only in the manner of her death. According to one historian, during the years 1617 to 1625, in Denmark a “witch” was burned every five days. The first time this happens in Danish author Olga Ravn’s fourth novel, the condemned woman is “tied to the ladder, and the ladder pushed into the bonfire”. Her daughter watches as she falls, her eye “so strangely orange from within. And then in the heat it explodes.”

The child is watched, in turn, by a wax doll who sees everything: everything in this scene, and everything everywhere, through all space and all the time since it was fashioned. It sees the worms burrowing through the soil in which it is buried; the streets of the world in which it was made. It inhabits the bodies that walked those streets: “And I was in the king’s ear, and I was in the king’s mouth, and I was in the king’s loose tooth and in the quicksilver of his liver, and did hear.”

The wild old wicked gang: great Irish writers – in pictures

Edna O’Brien on her sofa, Joseph O’Connor in his garden, Seamus Heaney surrounded by books … British photographer Steve Pyke on capturing the greats of Irish literature

‘A drug that’s very safe and healthy‘: what ultrarunners can teach us about life | Sean Ingle

Caitriona Jennings ran 100 miles in just over 12 hours and wants other women to follow her example – ‘it’s not actually that difficult’

Imagine being able to run a marathon in three hours and 17 minutes. That is certainly no mean feat. But now think about trying to sustain that same pace for another nine hours. To most of us, the idea veers somewhere between the fantastical and the insane. Yet that is what Caitriona Jennings, a 45-year-old ultrarunner from Donegal, did this month when breaking the women’s world record for 100 miles.

Her time for the Tunnel Hill 100 Mile in Illinois was 12hr 37min 4sec – an average pace of 7min 34sec a mile. Incredibly, until then Jennings had never run more than 60 miles in one go. Having smashed the record, she then jumped on a red-eye economy flight from Chicago that landed in Dublin at 5am. Then she cycled straight to the office, where she works for a company that trades and leases planes to global airlines.

José Pizarro’s recipe for braised lamb and kale cazuela with beans

This warming casserole is melt-in-your-mouth tender, and comes with velvety white beans to soak up the rich meaty juices

My mum, Isabel, has always cooked slowly. Life on the family farm was busy, so a pot of lamb would often be bubbling away while she worked and, by the time we all sat down for lunch, the whole house smelled incredible. November takes me straight back there. It is the month for food that warms you, dishes made to sit in the centre of the table and to bring everyone close. Lamb shoulder loves a slow cook, turning soft and rich, especially when cooked with alubias blancas (white beans) to soak up the sauce, while a good splash of oloroso gives it a deeper, rounder flavour than any red wine ever could.

11/10: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," a look at what's next for America after former President Trump's decisive victory. Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California join to discuss what's next for their parties. Plus, Britain's ambassador to the U.S., Karen Pierce, discusses the international reaction to the election.

‘The haste feels contagious … I fear it’: a Xipai journalist on attending Cop30

An Indigenous journalist’s experience of entering the belly of Cop where time does not flourish, it is consumed

I feel as if I’ve been swallowed. And in the creature’s stomach, I walk with the sensation of being drowned. My nose hurts, with the same pain we feel when we are struggling to breathe. That’s my perception of the blue zone of Cop30, the official area for the negotiations. The architecture makes me think of the stomach of an animal.

My eyes hurt, seeing so many people coming and going through the main corridor. This is the scene of a makeshift forest. On the walls are large paintings of a jaguar, a monkey, an anteater and a lizard. In the middle of the corridor are plants that resemble açaí palm trees, and below them, small shrubs. The place of nature within the blue zone is ornamental.

Untie me! Why big bows are everywhere – feminine, ironic and strangely subversive

They can be garish and ostentatious, or a sign you are softer than you might first appear. From the catwalk to the high street to the big screen to the rugby pitch, you just can’t miss them right now

Wuthering Heights is a story about pain, revenge and the Yorkshire moors as a metaphor for bad life choices. But if Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming adaptation is anything to go by, it’s also about bows.

In the two-minute trailer for the film, Cathy wears red bows and black bows, navy bows and pink bows. There are bows around garden pots, and bows around “baddy” Edgar Linton’s throat. Some bows flutter in the fell wind, others are unlaced at speed. In one memorable shot straight from the Jilly Cooper precoital playbook, a pretty white bow is cut from Cathy’s bodice using a labourer’s knife, which would be unforgivable hamminess were it not incredibly hot. Never mind that Emily Brontë rarely mentions bows in the book; that one is an entire plot device.

What AI doesn’t know: we could be creating a global ‘knowledge collapse’ | Deepak Varuvel Dennison

As GenAI becomes the primary way to find information, local and traditional wisdom is being lost. And we are only beginning to realise what we’re missing

• This article was originally published as ‘Holes in the web’ on Aeon.co

A few years back, my dad was diagnosed with a tumour on his tongue – which meant we had some choices to weigh up. My family has an interesting dynamic when it comes to medical decisions. While my older sister is a trained doctor in western allopathic medicine, my parents are big believers in traditional remedies. Having grown up in a small town in India, I am accustomed to rituals. My dad had a ritual, too. Every time we visited his home village in southern Tamil Nadu, he’d get a bottle of thick, pungent, herb-infused oil from a vaithiyar, a traditional doctor practising Siddha medicine. It was his way of maintaining his connection with the kind of medicine he had always known and trusted.

Dad’s tumour showed signs of being malignant, so the hospital doctors and my sister strongly recommended surgery. My parents were against the idea, worried it could affect my dad’s speech. This is usually where I come in, as the expert mediator in the family. Like any good millennial, I turned to the internet for help in guiding the decision. After days of thorough research, I (as usual) sided with my sister and pushed for surgery. The internet backed us up.

‘No safe place to go’: people sent back to France under ‘one in, one out’ deal tell of desperation

In Paris, a group of those returned from UK as part of the immigration scheme say they feel frightened and hopeless

Afran, an Iranian asylum seeker, sits forlornly across the road from a Paris shelter, hemmed in between vast slabs of concrete and thundering trains above. He has been here before – seven weeks ago, to be precise. The second time, he says, is as terrifying as his first.

Afran – not his real name – hit the headlines when he became the first asylum seeker to return to the UK in a small boat after being removed to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme on 19 September. He was sent back to Paris for the second time on 5 November.

This Nepal village has survived for 1,000 years. Now recurring floods threaten its future

Til, the remotest of three villages in the Limi valley on the Tibetan border, was already wrestling with a dwindling population but a series of natural disasters has led many to consider where their future should be

On the night of 15 May this year, the usual quiet of the Himalayan village of Til in the far north-west of Nepal was broken by a strange rumbling. Pemba Thundup came out of his house, barefoot, to see a deluge of earth, water and rocks coming down the mountainside towards the flat-roofed mud houses. The whole village was soon awake and, carrying the elderly people on their backs, members of 21 families scrambled to safety in a nearby field.

After two weeks of sheltering in tents, with no sign of any government help to rebuild or resettle, they reluctantly moved back into their broken homes, but unanimously agreed to leave the centuries-old settlement for a safer location by the end of the year.

Homeowner charged in shooting death of house cleaner who went to wrong address

An Indiana prosecutor has charged a homeowner who shot and killed a house cleaner earlier this month, when she showed up at his property by mistake.