DOJ releases huge new set of Epstein files with many mentions of Trump

The Justice Department early Tuesday released more than 11,000 additional documents and photos from the Jeffrey Epstein files.

2 killed, several missing after nursing home explosion in Pennsylvania

Two people are dead after an explosion at a nursing home in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and several are still missing, Gov. Josh Shapiro said. CBS Philadelphia reporter Nikki DeMentri reports.

Great Barrier Reef’s Hamilton Island to be bought by US private equity firm in reported $1.2bn sale

Blackstone says it has agreed to buy popular Whitsundays island from Australian winemaking family

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Hamilton Island, a popular tropical holiday destination on the Great Barrier Reef, has been sold to a US private equity firm, reportedly for $1.2bn.

New York-headquartered Blackstone – which owns the casino-hotel chain Crown Resorts – released a statement on Tuesday night announcing it had entered into an agreement to acquire the Hamilton Island resort from the Oatley family, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

At least 6 people killed in crash of medical flight near Galveston, Texas

A small Mexican navy plane on a medical mission crashed Monday near Galveston, Texas, killing at least six people.

Holiday train delivers Christmas cheer to U.S. and Canada

When the Canadian Pacific Kansas City holiday train rolls into town, the tracks transform into a holiday festival. Lana Zak has the story.

Explosion at a Pennsylvania nursing home kills at least 2, governor says

The explosion collapsed a part of the building and happened just as a utility crew had been on site looking for a gas leak at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, just outside Philadelphia.

Rare footage from trial of Chinese general who defied Tiananmen crackdown order leaked online

Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations

Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history.

General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades.

Former EU commissioner and activists barred from US in attack on European tech regulators

State department accuses group of pressuring tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints through regulation of disinformation

The state department has barred five Europeans from the US, accusing them of leading efforts to pressure tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints, in the latest attack on European regulations that target hate speech and misinformation.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio said the five people targeted with visa bans – who include former European Commissioner Thierry Breton – have led “organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.”

Mom opens up about financial strain of caring for both teen daughter and aging parent

Between now and 2030, about 10,000 Americans will turn 65 every single day, giving rise to a term known as the "sandwich generation" -- adults who find themselves caring for their aging parents while still raising their own children. CBS News spoke to one woman about her struggles.

FDA approves weight loss drug in daily pill form

Regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication approved to treat obesity. Dr. Jon LaPook has more.

Sivert Guttorm Bakken, Winter Olympics hopeful, dies at training camp aged 27

• Norwegian biathlete found dead in hotel room in Italy

• Bakken, 27, was 13th in this season’s overall standings

Norwegian biathlete Sivert Guttorm Bakken has been found dead in his hotel room in Lavaze, Italy. The Norwegian Biathlon Association said the cause of the 27-year-old’s death was unknown.

The International Biathlon Union, the sport’s governing body, said the athlete’s death had been confirmed by Italian authorities.

Ukraine war briefing: Pope Leo expresses ‘great sadness’ at Russian rejection of truce calls

Pontiff calls for ‘day of peace’ on Christmas Day after huge Russian attack in Ukraine kills three and cuts power to several regions. What we know on day 1,400

Pope Leo XIV has called for a global truce on Christmas Day, expressing “great sadness” that “apparently Russia rejected a request” for one. “I am renewing my request to all people of good will to respect a day of peace – at least on the feast of the birth of our saviour,” Leo told reporters at his residence near Rome on Tuesday. Russia has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire in its war on Ukraine, saying that would only give a military advantage to Kyiv. The pope said: “Among the things that cause me great sadness is the fact that Russia has apparently rejected a request for a truce.” Referring to conflicts in general, Leo said: “I hope they will listen and there will be 24 hours of peace in the whole world.”

A massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine has killed three people and cut power to several Ukrainian regions two days before Christmas and as the country enters a period of very cold weather, report Shaun Walker and Pjotr Sauer. Russia sent more than 650 drones and more than 30 missiles into Ukraine in the attack, which began overnight and continued into Tuesday morning, local officials said. At least three people were killed, including a four-year-old child. Poland scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace during the strike, the country’s army said. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram: “A strike before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, in safety … Putin cannot accept the fact that we must stop killing.”

Ukraine struck Russian oil and gas infrastructure, hitting a petrochemical plant in southern Russia’s Stavropol region. Regional governor Vladimir Vladimirov said a fire had engulfed the industrial area, while footage on Russian media channels showed towering flames there.

The attacks came after weekend talks in Miami involving Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian and Ukrainian representatives in separate meetings, which Witkoff called “constructive” but that showed no apparent breakthroughs. Zelenskyy said he was briefed on the state of the talks on Tuesday and that “several draft documents have now been prepared”, including an outline for ending the war, options for Ukraine’s future security guarantees and plans for the country’s postwar reconstruction.

Russia opened a criminal case on Wednesday after an incident in southern Moscow injured traffic police officers, the country’s State Investigative Committee said. Several explosions were heard in the area where a Russian general was killed by a car bomb on Monday, the Telegram channels Baza and Shot Telegram reported. The channels, which have sources in Russia’s law enforcement agencies, said that according to witnesses, a car detonated. The reports could not be independently verified. Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov was killed on Monday when a bomb exploded under his car in southern Moscow, Russian investigators said, adding they were looking at possible involvement by Ukrainian special services.

Ukraine pulled out troops from a town in the east after fierce battles, the military said on Tuesday. Kyiv had to withdraw the forces from Siversk, a town in the embattled Donetsk region on the way to two last strongholds held by Ukraine. Russia announced the capture of Siversk almost two weeks ago. The Ukrainian army said that “to preserve the lives of our soldiers and the combat capability of our units, Ukrainian defenders have withdrawn from the settlement” of Siversk, adding that fighting was still ongoing on the outskirts.

A Russian strike could collapse the internal radiation shelter at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine, the plant’s director has said. Sergiy Tarakanov told Agence France-Presse that fully restoring the shelter could take three to four years and warned that another Russian strike could cause the inner shell to collapse. “If a missile or drone hits it directly, or even falls somewhere nearby – for example, an Iskander [short-range ballistic missile], God forbid – it will cause a mini-earthquake in the area,” he said in an interview conducted last week. “No one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing after that. That is the main threat.”

Bystanders pull survivors from wreckage of deadly plane crash

Federal investigators are looking into what caused a deadly plane crash in Galveston Bay, off the Texas coast. A medical plane transporting a child burn victim from Mexico went down with eight people on board. Five were killed, including the 2-year-old. Karen Hua has more on the rescue mission.

At least two people dead in Philadelphia nursing home explosion

Five additional people unaccounted for after partial building collapse at Silver Lake center in Bristol Township

An explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia collapsed part of the building and has left at least two people dead, and five others unaccounted for. The exact number of those injured and trapped inside has yet to be announced, authorities said.

The electric company Peco said in a statement that crews responded to reports of a gas odor at the site around 2pm. “While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility,” the statement said. “PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents.”

Millions flock to airports as Christmas travel hits peak

Since Friday, more than 11.1 million people have passed through TSA checkpoints at airports nationwide. Kris Van Cleave reports from Los Angeles International Airport.

TikToker arrested for alleged hit-and-run of pedestrian during livestream

Known as Tea Tyme, Tynesha McCarty-Wroten arrested over 3 November death of Darren Lucas in Zion, Illinois

The social media creator who allegedly hit and killed a pedestrian as she hosted a livestream while simultaneously driving through a Chicago suburb has been arrested, according to authorities.

Known best to her online followers as Tea Tyme, Tynesha McCarty-Wroten was arrested Tuesday for her role in the 3 November death of 59-year-old Darren Lucas, said Lt Paul Kehrli of the Zion, Illinois, police department.

California flooding threat grows as wildfire survivors face Christmas evacuation

Residents who survived this year's devastating wildfire in Altadena, California, and are still recovering from the shock now face severe floods and another evacuation. Andres Gutierrez reports.

After more than a decade of tragedy, Christchurch emerges as New Zealand’s most ‘vibrant city’

Christchurch now at the centre of the country’s fastest-growing region as lower house prices, job prospects and thriving cultural scene entice people to the city

From 2010, New Zealand’s second-largest city, Christchurch, became inextricably linked with crises. The city, which had been known for its gardens, gothic architecture and monochromatic culture was rocked by a decade of tragedy – devastating and fatal earthquakes, wildfires and a terrorist attack on two mosques that killed more than 50 people.

But in recent years, the city of crises has taken a surprising turn – shrugging off its once-conservative reputation and rebuilding from tragedy to become one of New Zealand’s most appealing cities.

D.C. National Guard shooting suspect facing 5 additional federal charges

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, is accused of fatally shooting Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and wounding Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.

Keir Starmer encourages Britons to ‘reach out’ to others this Christmas

Prime minister calls on people to show kindness to friends or family as leaders broadcast their festive messages

Keir Starmer has called on Britons to show kindness to struggling friends or family this Christmas, saying being in touch with those in need can make a big difference.

Starmer, whose brother died last Boxing Day, said people should channel the spirit of the many volunteers and public sector workers who are on duty this Christmas by resolving to get back in touch with those who might find the time of year difficult.

Libya’s army chief dies in plane crash in Turkey

Libyan PM says Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad died after aircraft lost radio contact above Ankara

The Libyan army’s chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, has been killed in a plane crash after leaving Turkey’s capital, Ankara.

The prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognised government confirmed on Tuesday evening that Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad had died and that four others were on the jet with him.

Brooks Koepka quits LIV Golf after three years but PGA Tour return uncertain

• The 35-year-old joined Saudi-funded tour in 2022

• ‘Brooks is prioritising the needs of his family’

Brooks Koepka, the five-time major champion, has become the first player to defect from LIV Golf, a significant blow to the league funded by Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund and raises questions whether the PGA Tour will find a way for him to return.

The 35-year-old American has made the decision in order to spend more time with his family. He joined the rival tour in 2022 and won five events over four seasons – he was also the first LIV player to win a major at the 2023 PGA Championship.

Van Gerwen shows his class but Peter Wright crashes out of PDC World Championship

• Van Gerwen looked in form in win over O’Connor

• Two-time champion Wright averaged just 79.20

Michael van Gerwen showed his class as he powered into the third round of the world championship. The three-time champion struggled in his opening match but brought his best to brush past William O’Connor 3-1.

It was an impressive performance by the Dutchman, who reminded everyone of his credentials after a difficult year on and off the oche. Luke Littler and Luke Humphries are the leading contenders for the title in January but Van Gerwen is a threat playing like this.

China’s mineral dominance gives Western magnet makers a moment in the sun

"Frankly, we were the solution to the problem that the world didn't know it had," Rahim Suleman, CEO of Canadian group Neo Performance Materials, told CNBC.

Pro-Palestine prisoners pause hunger strike as their health deteriorates

Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib, on remand at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, had refused food for almost 50 days in protest at the ban on Palestine Action

Two Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners have paused their hunger strikes due to deteriorating health but have vowed to resume the protest next year.

Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib have temporarily resumed eating, according to a statement released by Prisoners for Palestine group on Tuesday evening.

Motive, an Alphabet-backed fleet management software company, files for IPO

Motive says its products, including a dashboard camera for tracking truckers, have saved over 1,000 lives.

Afcon roundup: Nigeria squeeze past Tanzania as Jackson double helps Senegal win

• Group C: Nigeria 2-1 Tanzania; Tunisia 3-1 Uganda

• Group D: Senegal 3-0 Botswana; DR Congo 1-0 Benin

Ademola Lookman scored a superb second-half winner as Nigeria earned a 2-1 Group C victory against Tanzania in the pouring rain in Fes, a positive start for the silver medallists from the previous tournament, but one that was not without moments of alarm.

Nigeria were more dominant than the scoreline suggests in terms of possession and chances, but they failed to finish off the contest and were almost made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal.

Arrizabalaga is Arsenal’s shootout hero at expense of Lacroix and Crystal Palace

This competition may not be Mikel Arteta or Oliver Glasner’s top priority this season but that didn’t stop their sides from producing a spectacle full of blood and thunder.

It was one-way traffic for Arsenal in the first half but they found Crystal Palace’s second-string goalkeeper Walter Benítez in an inspired mood as he kept his team in the contest with some fine saves.

Student loan borrowers in default could see wages garnished in 2026

The Education Department signaled earlier this year that it would move to resume wage garnishment, among other forms of involuntary collection, for those in default.

US supreme court blocks Trump bid to deploy national guard to Chicago

In a 6-3 decision, the high court sided with a lower court ruling that blocked deployment of troops to the Illinois city

The US supreme court refused on Tuesday to let Donald Trump send national guard troops to the Chicago area, in an important reining-in of the US president’s efforts to expand the use of the military for domestic purposes in historic moves against a growing number of Democratic-led jurisdictions.

The nation’s highest court denied the US justice department’s request to lift a judge’s order in October that has blocked the deployment of hundreds of national guard personnel in a legal challenge brought by Illinois state officials and local leaders, who had opposed any federalization of those troops to offer backup to immigration enforcement.

Supreme Court says Trump can't deploy National Guard to Chicago for now

President Trump invoked a law called Title 10 to bring members of the Illinois National Guard under federal service over the objections of state and local leaders.

Myanmar’s first election since the 2021 coup: everything you need to know

The ruling junta says the heavily restricted polls are a return to democracy but critics are wary

Five years after Myanmar’s junta ousted the country’s last elected government, triggering a civil war, voting is set to begin this week in national elections.

The junta claims the vote is a return to democracy, but in reality the one-sided and heavily restricted poll has been widely condemned as a sham designed to keep the generals in power through proxies.

Stuffed review – Guz Khan’s Christmas special is charming, funny and genuinely sweet

This joke-filled caper of a Muslim-Christian family going on a Lapland holiday after an unexpected bonus will leave your cockles well and truly warmed

A one-off Christmas special must have the following traditional ingredients to be entitled to the name. First and most vitally, it must have a grumpy character to soften over the hour. (And it must be an hour – 75 minutes, tops. Anything longer and we’re out of letting-the-children-stay-up-and-watch-as-a-treat territory and that disqualifies it as a contender. Yes it’s a hangover from the days when television was broadcast at fixed points, instead of thrown into the digital ragbag to be pulled out at any time, but what is tradition if not such harkings-back? Come on).

Second, there must be snow. I know the planet is burning now, but please see above re tradition and harkings-back.

In Israel, some Jews and Christians seek to build trust between their communities

Despite tensions between the Vatican and Israel's government over the Gaza war, some Jews and Christians living in Israel are trying to build trust between their communities.

Supreme Court rejects Trump's bid to send National Guard to Chicago

In an unsigned decision released on Tuesday, the court said Trump lacked the authority to federalize troops in Chicago.

Manchester City favourites to sign Antoine Semenyo after Chelsea withdraw interest

• Manchester City in advanced talks over £65m winger

• Bournemouth winger has release clause in January

Manchester City are in pole position to sign Antoine Semenyo after Chelsea cooled their interest in the Bournemouth winger.

Liverpool and Manchester United have also been pushing for Semenyo, whose contract contains a £65m release clause that becomes active for the first two weeks of January, but it is believed that the 25-year-old’s preference is to join City. The clause is made up of a £60m fixed fee and £5m in add-ons. Nothing has been agreed yet.

Newly released Epstein files include references to Donald Trump

Files also include details about Epstein’s relationship with Larry Summers and apparently fake letter to Larry Nassar

A newly released batch of the so-called Epstein files on Tuesday includes many references to Donald Trump, including a claim by a senior US attorney that the US president was on a flight in the 1990s with the now-deceased convicted child sex offender and a 20-year-old woman.

There is no indication of whether the woman was a victim of any crime, and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing.

Epstein files: Latest batch from DOJ includes a personal letter, emails and heavily redacted documents

The release comes amid intense scrutiny from congressional lawmakers and victims over the DOJ's handling of the Epstein files.

NWSL proposes $1m salary cap breach to keep players like Trinity Rodman in US

• Proposal meets with resistance from players union

• Guardian rankings will be among criteria for exception

The NWSL introduced a new “High Impact Player Rule” on Tuesday that allows teams to exceed the salary cap by up to $1m to help attract and retain star players. The rule goes into effect on 1 July 2026.

One of the first players who could potentially benefit from the new rule is Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman, who reportedly has received lucrative offers from teams in Europe.

Supreme Court rules against Trump in National Guard case

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against President Trump on Tuesday, refusing to reinstate, for now, Trump's ability to send National Guard troops into the state of Illinois over the objections of the governor.

60 Minutes episode on brutal El Salvador prison, pulled from air by CBS, appears online

Segment that Bari Weiss had removed provides in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison

A 60 Minutes episode investigating a brutal prison in El Salvador, which CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled from the air on Sunday, appeared online on Monday after appearing on a Canadian TV app.

The segment, which runs for nearly 14 minutes and was viewed by the Guardian, provides an in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison in El Salvador. It opens with footage of the mega-prison and shows detainees being shackled upon arrival in El Salvador.

Even store Santas are struggling to find a job these days

Job listings for store Santas have plunged in recent years as more families shop online and retailers look to contain costs, a new analysis found.

Bari Weiss yanking a 60 Minutes story is censorship by oligarchy | Margaret Sullivan

Weiss ought to cut her losses, green-light the piece, and try to start acting like an editor – not like a cog in the machine of authoritarian politics and oligarchy

One tries to give people the benefit of the doubt. But now, when it comes to Bari Weiss as the editor in chief of CBS News, there is no longer any doubt.

A broadcast-news neophyte, Weiss has no business in that exalted role. She proved that beyond any remaining doubt last weekend, pulling a powerful and important piece of journalism just days before it was due to air, charging that it wasn’t ready. Whatever her claims about the story’s supposed flaws, this looks like a clear case of censorship-by-editor to protect the interests of powerful, rich and influential people.

The 60 Minutes piece – about the brutal conditions at an El Salvador prison where the Trump administration has sent Venezuelan migrants without due process – had already been thoroughly edited, fact-checked and sent through the network’s standards desk and its legal department. The story was promoted and scheduled, and trailers for it were getting millions of views.

Call of Duty’s Vince Zampella was a video games visionary

Zampella created the template for multiplayer shooters that is still used today, and his cinematic and epic military, sci-fi and Star Wars games thrilled and moved millions

• Vince Zampella dies aged 55 – news

On Sunday, Vince Zampella, the co-creator of the Call of Duty video game series, died in a car crash in Los Angeles at the age of 55. Though best known for that series of blockbuster military shooters, Zampella touched a huge number of lives – not only the hundreds of people who worked at the game development studios he led under Activision and EA, but the millions of people who played the games that bore his imprint.

A lifelong gamer, Zampella had a Pong console as a child, then an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64. He told IGN in 2016 that his favourite game from childhood was Donkey Kong: “I would spend hours at the arcade playing it.” Zampella’s first job in the industry was at GameTek in Miami, which specialised in video-game versions of popular US quizshows. He described his role on the small team as: “producer slash customer services slash tester – whatever needed to be done.”

Southwest's profits are down 42% this year but it's the top U.S. airline stock

Southwest's stock has gained nearly 24% so far this year, more than any other airline.

A diplomat's tears, 200 snake bites, drone pix: Goats and Soda's top stories in 2025

Our most popular global health and development stories in 2025 covered the human impact of the upheaval in U.S. foreign aid, surprising news about familiar diseases and the beauty of earth captured by drone cameras.

Taylor Swift donates $1 million to Feeding America, group says

Feeding America's CEO said the organization is "incredibly grateful" for Taylor Swift's large donation.

The Guardian view on the festive season: a suffering world needs messages of peace, hope and goodwill | Editorial

The fracturing multilateral order has led to a new age of insecurity. But acts of courage and solidarity can point the way to a better future

In one of his last sermons, the great Christian theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich asked: “Do we have a right to hope?” As an army chaplain to German forces during the first world war and a refugee from Nazi Germany, Tillich had witnessed first-hand some of the horrors of the 20th century. But his answer to the question he posed in 1965 was yes. Nobody could live without hope, Tillich told his Harvard audience, even if it led “through the narrows of a painful and courageous ‘in-spite-of’”.

Sixty years on, a similar spirit of defiant optimism is needed to navigate our own era of conflict and anxiety. The fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is approaching, and dark political forces menace the social fabric of western liberal democracies. More widely, a fracturing multilateral order is delivering a more unstable and threatening world.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Gibraltar’s chief minister made ‘sinister’ interventions to protect friend from police

Inquiry finds Fabian Picardo was ‘grossly improper’ to protect James Levy from a search warrant

The chief minister of Gibraltar made a series of “grossly improper” and “sinister” interventions to interfere in a live criminal investigation in order to protect his friend, mentor and business partner from the consequences of a search warrant, a public inquiry has found.

The retired England and Wales high court judge and inquiry chair, Sir Peter Openshaw, concluded that Fabian Picardo acted to protect James Levy KC when police were at Hassans law firm, where Levy was a senior partner, with a search warrant.

Student loan borrowers in default may soon see their wages garnished

About 5.5 million borrowers are currently in default. They haven't risked wage garnishment since the beginning of the pandemic, when policymakers paused the practice.

Wounded England must salvage more than pride in MCG Boxing Day Ashes Test

Can McCullum’s ‘horse-whispering’ still register against a rampant Australia hungry for a series whitewash?

The world famous Boxing Day Test awaits England’s beaten cricketers and we are about to discover whether the mighty coliseum that is the Melbourne Cricket Ground becomes their arena of the unwell; whether pride can be salvaged or it is just another stepping stone for Australia in their pursuit of an Ashes whitewash.

Last year a record 373,691 spectators passed through the turnstiles across five days as Australia overcame India in a slow-burn thriller. This fourth Ashes Test was tipped to top that remarkable figure potentially but that will hinge on it similarly going the distance. It also needs the locals to be energised still by a series that has already been won by their team – even if simply beating the old enemy is usually enough.

Bitcoin’s buzz is gone. Investors chose real gold in 2025 | Nils Pratley

Gold is up 70% while the cryptocurrency is down 6% after it failed to bounce back from a rapid October sell-off

Another week, another record high for the price of gold. And another blow to the bitcoin fan club’s hopeful thesis about owning “digital gold”. This year has been hard for the bitcoin brigade: while real gold soared in value, their cryptocurrency didn’t. Correlation went out of the window. Gold is up 70% so far in dollar terms; bitcoin is down 6%.

In theory, conditions should have been perfect for bitcoin if, like gold, it is supposed to be a store of value in uncertain times. Geopolitical tensions have been high all year, with Donald Trump’s unclear intentions towards Venezuela now added to the mix. Or, if you take the view that bitcoin is a hedge against currency debasement by governments, the news flow ought to have been encouraging. The US budget deficit remains enormous: the International Monetary Fund predicts the country’s debts will climb from 125% to 143% of annual income by 2030, or more than Greece and Italy.

U.S. pushes additional tariffs on Chinese chips to June 2027

As part of an investigation that kicked off a year ago, the agency found that China is engaging in unfair trade practices in the industry.

Justice Department releases more Epstein files and some mention Trump

The Department of Justice has been publicly posting files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation since Friday.

Avengers: Doomsday – first official trailer for new Marvel film released online

Steve Rogers is back … in the 90-second trailer that is now online for all to see

The first official trailer for Avengers: Doomsday has been released online, in the run-up to the next outing from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The brief 90-second trailer shows Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America riding along a rural road on a motorbike, entering a house and picking up his superhero uniform, then holding a sleeping baby. A title then announces: “Steve Rogers Will Return in Avengers: Doomsday.”

Russell Brand charged with further sexual offences including rape

The former entertainer, 50, faces one count of rape and one of sexual assault of two more alleged victims

Russell Brand has been charged with further sexual offences, including one count of rape, the Metropolitan police have said.

The 50-year-old former entertainer has been charged with one count of rape and one of sexual assault of two further alleged victims.

Instacart to end AI price tests for retailers following investigation

Instacart had drawn criticism for testing an AI-based system that enabled retailers to charge different prices for the same grocery items.

Bold docuseries or dull branding exercise? What The End of an Era really told us about Taylor Swift

Swift’s six-parter charting her Eras tour began with some riveting revelations – but the drama ebbed away, leaving another piece of mere product for fans

In the behind-the-scenes documentary series Taylor Swift: The End of an Era, the singer Florence Welch ascends to the stage to perform their duet Florida!!! to a crowd of 90,000 people. Welch later reflects on their duet at Wembley Stadium with a mix of awe and bemusement. “Taylor is my friend,” she says. “I know her as this very cosy person, and I came out of that lift and I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s fucking Taylor Swift.’”

If Swift is a cosy person, The End of an Era – now complete, with its concluding episodes dropping today – is certainly a cosy watch; the sort of lighthearted, low-demand viewing that feels especially welcome in the lazy days leading up to Christmas and stretching towards the new year. Viewers will be familiar with the story. The Eras Tour was great, it tells us. It broke records, burst hearts and boosted the economy. We know she pulled it off. This is only a problem insofar as it means there is almost zero jeopardy in the series, which feels repetitive and thinly stretched over its six hour-long episodes.

Anaconda review – Jack Black and Paul Rudd charm in unusual meta-comedy remake

The 1997 creature feature gets a self-referential redo that works best when it allows its two stars to lean into silliness

Anyone rightly suspicious of comedies that try to make sure they have plenty of “heart” will rightly get their hackles up during the opening section of Anaconda, which sheds the skin of its 1997 horror-adventure namesake to reveal a self-referential goof on unnecessary reboots. After an absolutely woeful attempt at a horror-movie cold open where it becomes clear that director/co-writer Tom Gormican hasn’t the merest glimmer of talent for establishing mood, building suspense or even properly unveiling a crazy creature, the movie settles in for the true mission of any great broad comedy: uh, building pathos? After years as an aspiring film-maker, Doug (Jack Black) is succeeding-yet-languishing in his compromised hometown job as a wedding videographer. Meanwhile, his childhood bestie, Griff (Paul Rudd), is following the dream by working as an actor out in Los Angeles, but only just barely. We see him fired from a one-line role on a medical show because of his nerves, in a scene written for nagging sympathy first and comedy a distant second.

When the pair reunites for Doug’s birthday, Griff springs a post-party surprise: he has supposedly come into possession of remake rights to Anaconda, an eclectically cast creature feature that they loved as teenagers. Why not seize the opportunity by shooting their own version on a shoestring, and finally make movies together like they always dreamed? Despite a nagging feeling of responsibility to his family, Doug eventually warms to Griff’s idea, and their fellow friends Kenny (Steve Zahn) and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) join the crew. Soon they’re on a boat in the Amazon, dealing with eccentric snake handler Santiago (Selton Mello) and mysterious boat captain Ana (Daniela Melchior).

‘More complicated than it needs to be’: how to start hosting parties

Worried about cost, planning – or whether anyone will show up? We asked experts how to bring back parties

Several months ago, staring down another empty weekend, a friend texted me. “Why is no one having parties?” she fumed.

Some people were, we agreed, but not nearly enough. Indeed, in January, the Atlantic’s Ellen Cushing declared that “America is in a party deficit”, quoting a 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics report that found only 4.1% of Americans attended or hosted a social event on an average holiday weekend. That figure was down a whopping 35% since 2004.

Timing: Daytime or night-time? How long will it last?

Menu: Will there be food? If so, does that mean a sit-down dinner, only appetizers or a buffet? Will you have caterers? “Less is more when it comes to food,” Rhinehart says. “Keeping the menu simple yet delicious goes a long way.”

Bar: If serving alcohol, which kinds? Which non-alcoholic beverages will you have available? Don’t skimp on ice, says Rhinehart: “You can never have enough!”

Kids: Are they invited, or is it an adults-only affair?

Consumer confidence continues to fade despite heady economic growth

Concerns about inflation, tariffs and politics weighed on consumer sentiment in December, The Conference Board said.

Former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse says he has stage-four pancreatic cancer

Republican Ben Sasse represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 2015 to 2023, then became president of the University of Florida.

Trump administration seeks to cancel thousands of asylum cases

ICE has filed more than 8,000 requests to toss out asylum claims in immigration court, asking judges to send immigrants to third-party countries.

U.S. GDP grew at a blistering 4.3% pace in the third quarter

Economic growth blew past forecasts in the third quarter despite ongoing concerns about jobs, tariffs and inflation.

Vince Zampella, video game pioneer behind megahit Call of Duty, dies at 55

One of Vince Zampella's crowning achievements was the creation of the Call of Duty franchise, which has sold more than half a billion games worldwide.

Scientists create replica human womb lining and implant early-stage embryos

Studying chemical chatter as tiny balls of cells embed could shine a light on early pregnancy and glitches that lead to miscarriage

Researchers have created the lining of a womb in a dish, which promises to shed light on the mysterious early stages of human pregnancy and the glitches that can lead to miscarriage and medical complications.

In laboratory experiments, early-stage human embryos donated from couples after IVF treatment successfully implanted into the engineered lining and began to churn out key compounds, such as the hormone that results in a blue line on positive pregnancy tests.

It’s a Wonderful Life – the fart-along version! What Christmas TV insiders really watch every year

From a show so bananas it could blind people to a classic cartoon that guarantees tears – stars behind the best festive treats on telly reveal what they tune into without fail

Christmas is a time steeped in traditions. And one big tradition that exists in many of our homes over the period revolves around TV: rewatching old favourites, hunkering down for that special you’ve been dying to see or sitting in a post-lunch fugue with a beloved family film. And, as we published last week, there’s a bounty of Christmas telly to get stuck into this year.

But what about people involved in making TV? What do their Christmas viewing habits look like? Here, a variety of actors, writers, directors and comedians – many of whom may be popping up on your screens this year – share their Christmas TV favourites.

Scientists learn more about how human embryos implant using artificial wombs

Scientists have developed an experimental way to study how human embryos implant in a uterus, which may provide new insights into why miscarriages occur and how they can be prevented.

2025: The images that stayed with us

Photographs help us look back on the moments that defined the year. Taken by NPR photojournalists nationwide, this collection goes beyond the headlines to reveal quietly powerful human stories.

Here's how AI could influence the Fed's economic outlook

Artificial intelligence could produce faster gains in worker productivity, altering the U.S. labor market and the Federal Reserve's economic outlook.

Scottish whisky market slides into supply glut amid falling sales and US tariffs

Global sales fall by 3% in third consecutive year of decline as distilleries scale back production or expand storage

The Scottish whisky market has slipped into a supply glut as US tariffs and falling demand weigh on the country’s distilleries.

Global scotch sales fell 3% in the first half of 2025, marking the third consecutive year of decline after decades of growth, according to the alcohol data provider IWSR.

Now that phones alter our photos without us knowing, how do we know what’s real? | Isabel Brooks

Comparing the pictures taken with my camera’s automatic software to those taken with a ‘zero-processing’ app, the results are shocking. Is this a good idea?

I was flicking through a photo album at my grandma’s when I came across a picture of my mum as a child. I took a photo and sent it to her, but on my phone screen, it looked brighter and more vivid than the physical version in my hand.

Adding an Instagram filter is something I would now only do ironically. But is my phone increasing the contrast or making other tweaks without my knowledge? To find out, I downloaded an app with a “zero-processing” feature that claimed to take photos without any software alterations. When comparing the photos my camera takes automatically to the photos taken with this app, the results were shocking. The so-called “raw” photos that lack processing had subtle, muted colours, softer edges – a little grainy – while the processed photos were gorgeous and crisp like the inside of a marble. Why were they so different?

Isabel Brooks is a freelance writer

Flu season is ramping up, and some experts are "pretty worried"

Doctors and scientists say this year's influenza season could be tougher than usual, with a new version of the flu virus, called H3N2, spreading quickly.

Is Susie Wiles an innocent bystander in Trump’s White House? | Sidney Blumenthal

As chief of staff, she has stifled her temptation to intervene time and time again

Susie Wiles has the gimlet eye of an alcoholic’s daughter. She is always on edge, vigilant to the slightest movement, fearful of sudden danger, and has learned to withdraw herself from the chaos in order to survive. She is keenly observant, sees through people around her who are not drinkers to decipher their underlying motives that might flare into unexpected menace, and practiced in passive aggression of which her interview with Vanity Fair is a classic case study.

Wiles defines herself as the child of a raging drunk and it is through that singular lens of her formative experience that she defines her current boss. “I make a specialty of it,” she told the writer Christopher Whipple for his Vanity Fair profile of the Trump White House chief of staff in one of the eleven interviews she granted him. Donald Trump, she stated, “has an alcoholic’s personality,” though he does not drink. She didn’t stop there, but elaborated that “high-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.” Trump, she said, “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”

Saying Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality” reveals Wiles’ personal understanding about a megalomaniacal celebrity who fosters pandemonium around himself without any care for others. Her father, Pat Summerall, the great football placekicker and the play-by-play broadcaster of National Football League games on CBS for 40 years, was the original bad daddy. “Alcoholism does bad things to relationships, and so it was with my dad and me,” she said. She remembered him as a mostly absentee father and so drunk he “wouldn’t recognize” his granddaughter, which Wiles thought “horrifying.” Alcoholism, she said, is a “disease that clouds your judgment,” and no one, however smart they think they are can “out think addiction.” In 1992, Wiles and her mother staged an intervention to take him to the Betty Ford Drug Rehab Center. She gave him a letter reading, “Dad, the few times we’ve been out in public together recently, I’ve been ashamed we shared the same last name.” That is what she means when she says someone has an “alcoholic’s personality.”

Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist

CDs return to Christmas shopping lists as gen Z embrace ‘retro renaissance’

Demand for CD players rises 74% this year amid deluxe releases from artists such as Taylor Swift and Pink Floyd

Forget the vinyl revival. CD players and compact discs are back on Christmas lists this year amid a wave of 90s nostalgia and coveted “deluxe” releases from big acts such as Taylor Swift and Pink Floyd.

Demand for compact discs peaked in the mid-00s and many households ditched their systems and libraries as digital music took off. But the distinctive whirr is returning to bedrooms around the country, with retailers and marketplaces experiencing an uptick in appetite for vintage tech and music to play on it.

The U.S. economy grew robustly as Americans continued to spend

The data, which was delayed from October by the government shutdown, comes as the economy takes center stage for voters and the Trump administration.

Rob and Michele Reiner's children release new statement on memorial plans

The children of slain filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, have released another statement in the wake of their parents' deaths.

Small plane makes emergency landing with first use of Autoland system

For the first time, an automatic landing system called Autoland was used to land a plane in Colorado after pilots reported losing cabin pressure mid-flight. The safety system activated itself and took control of the aircraft to land it. Kris Van Cleave has more.

Did man stage a freak car accident to cover up wife's murder?

The couple's children say their father is innocent and point out that he had 28 guns in the basement if he really wanted to kill her.

Bolsonaro supporters ‘cancel’ Havaianas flip-flop brand over television ad

Son of jailed former Brazilian president says spokesperson for ‘national symbol’ sandals is ‘openly left wing’

Leaderless since its figurehead was jailed for attempting a coup, Brazil’s far right has found a new nemesis: the flip-flop brand Havaianas, which has been “cancelled” by Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters over a television advert.

The controversy stems from the actor Fernanda Torres – the star of I’m Still Here, the Brazilian film that won an Oscar for best international feature – saying in the ad that she hoped audiences would not start 2026 “on the right foot”, but “with both feet”.

A tent, an electric stove and -40C temperatures: the chefs who cook ‘on ice’ in Antarctica

During the southernmost continent’s darkest, coldest days, scientists and researchers turn to food for comfort

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Throughout his career, Al Chapman has spent several months cooking “on ice” – that is, in Antarctica. During the summer of 2021-22, the chef was one of three kitchen crew stationed at Scott Base, New Zealand’s only Antarctic research station. The dining hall was the hub of social activity, serving breakfast, morning tea, lunch and dinner for up to 85 people at its peak. It’s like working in a restaurant, Chapman says – one where you can sometimes see penguins from the kitchen.

Speaking of penguins: Chapman is adamant they aren’t eaten, unlike in the early days of Antarctic exploration. Not just because they’re protected under the Antarctic treaty, or that starvation is no longer a serious concern; Chapman says it’s important to serve food people like, especially when they’re working in such an isolated part of the world, in extreme conditions.

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‘I wouldn’t answer Stephen Graham’s calls’: Erin Doherty on dreams, danger and ghosting Adolescence’s creator

She won an Emmy for her electric performance in the Netflix smash hit, but the casting process wasn’t exactly hiccup-free. The actor opens up about a year of success, struggle – and how she nearly became a footballer

For a while, Erin Doherty ignored Stephen Graham’s calls. Not deliberately, she stresses with a laugh. “I’m just really bad at my phone. I’m such a technophobe, and he knew that,” she says. They had made the Disney+ show A Thousand Blows together, in which Doherty plays an East End crime boss in Victorian London, and Graham had talked about an idea he wanted to dramatise, about a teenage boy who is catastrophically radicalised by online misogyny. A couple of months after they’d wrapped A Thousand Blows, Graham and his wife and producing partner, Hannah Walters, kept trying to get in touch. “I was getting voice notes from him and Hannah being like, ‘Erin, pick up your phone!’” Doherty’s girlfriend told her to ring him back and Graham offered her the role in Adolescence. She said yes on the spot, without reading the script.

Since it was screened on Netflix in March, Adolescence has had nearly 150m views. It sparked a huge cultural conversation; it was shown in secondary schools and its creators were invited to Downing Street. Did they have any idea it would become such a phenomenon? “No, and I’m not sure you’re supposed to,” says Doherty when we speak. She is chatty and down-to-earth, even in the year her career went stellar. As well as starring in A Thousand Blows, her role in Adolescence – as Briony Ariston, a psychologist – won her an Emmy for best supporting actress. “But you do know when you’re a part of something that’s good and deserves to be seen, and we knew that about it. I think because it came from such a genuine place, a place of real purity and rawness, it [fed into] the making of it. From day one, it had that electricity.”

‘It contains the greatest song ever about an ice cream truck’: readers’ favourite albums of 2025

The beautiful despair of Cameron Winter, the perfectly imperfect life of Lily Allen, the maximalist R&B of Dijon and more: here’s what our readers have had on heavy rotation
• The 50 best albums of 2025

The production is uniquely rhythmic and layered, the instrumental performances are all pretty bulletproof, and Cameron Winter’s writing is just ridiculously good. He is able to show us beauty and despair, and the beauty in despair and the despair in beauty. The best track to me is Islands of Men, which builds over this hypnotic instrumental while Winter sings about isolation and self-illusion. Other highlights would be the title track and Half Real, which feels like a dizzy, intoxicated folk song. Geese are the next big thing. Freddie, 18, Surrey

Timothée Chalamet’s unhinged Marty Supreme promo tour is fun – but what really sells a film in 2025?

The actor has been doing it all to sell his 50s-set ping-pong epic but, as a year of A-list flops shows, there’s no formula for guaranteed success

On 15 November, without prior announcement, one of the defining comedies of the year was posted to Timothée Chalamet’s Instagram account. Captioned only “video93884728.mp4”, the 18-minute video at first appeared to be a leaked Zoom call in which the Oscar-nominated actor pitched marketing ideas for the movie Marty Supreme to bemused staff at the indie production house A24. It might take a few minutes, and at least one shock interjection of “schwap!” from the very serious-seeming star, to realize that it’s a joke. Well, sort of – the meta video, in which an egomaniacal Chalamet proposes they “highlight international cooperation” by painting both the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower a “very specific shade orange”, satirizes the tedium of movie marketing desperate to get people in seats, while also introducing a harebrained marketing strategy that’s unabashedly thirsty to get people in seats.

The “leak” heralded an unconventional and extremely committed press campaign for Josh Safdie’s 50s-set ping-pong epic that has turned movie marketing – so often formulaic, cloying or apathetic – into eye-catching performance art. “Movie marketing is trying to be passive, trying to be chic,” Chalamet says in the video, for which he wrote the script. “We’re not trying to be chic.”

Aubrey O'Day on Sean "Diddy" Combs and her desire to help others: "Speaking for the underdogs"

Singer Aubrey O'Day spoke exclusively to CBS News following the release of Netflix's documentary series, "Sean Combs: The Reckoning." In the documentary O'Day reveals that she learned about an affidavit from an unidentified witness who claims to have seen Combs and another man sexually assault her. Combs denies the allegations in the Netflix documentary and says he has never assaulted anyone.

Floods, protests and Christmas decorations: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Greenland PM rebukes Trump special envoy overture

President Donald Trump on Sunday appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as a "special envoy" to Greenland.

L.A. area braces for flash flooding, risk of landslides: "My biggest fear"

On Monday, the mountains of northern California were hit with heavy snow following days of rainfall at lower altitudes. Now, officials in L.A. are issuing evacuation warnings for sections of the city due to potential flooding concerns. Rob Marciano reports.

Canada bill targeting refugees feared to signal new era of US-style border policy

Bill C-12 includes many changes around border security along with new ineligibility rules for refugee claimants

Canada’s Liberal government is pushing through sweeping new legislation targeting refugees that observers fear will usher in a new era of US-style border policies, fueling xenophobia and the scapegoating of immigrants.

Bill C-12, or Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, includes many changes around border security along with new ineligibility rules for refugee claimants.

Two men found guilty of Manchester plot to ‘kill as many Jewish people as they could’

Preston jury finds Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein guilty of preparing acts of terrorism after buying AK-47s from undercover officer

Two men who swore allegiance to Islamic State have been found guilty of plotting to “kill as many Jewish people as they could”, in what detectives believe would have been the UK’s worst terror attack if it had not been thwarted.

Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were found guilty at Preston crown court on Tuesday of preparing acts of terrorism between 13 December 2023 and 9 May 2024.

Aubrey O'Day opens up about disturbing Sean "Diddy" Combs affidavit

Aubrey O'Day discusses the disturbing witness affidavit involving Sean "Diddy" Combs in a "CBS Mornings" interview on Tuesday.

‘I’ve waited for this movie my whole life’: Guardian readers’ best films of 2025

From the surreal fairytale The Ice Tower to the revenge western Tornado, our readers share the films that had the biggest impact on them this year

• The 50 best films of 2025

• Peter Bradshaw’s film picks of the year

• More on the best culture of 2025
  

I still can’t get over Sinners. It’s what the cinema was made for. It looked amazing; its sound was so rich and textured; and the juke joint dance sequence was a genuine WTF surprise that could have been grim but was utter genius. And if you haven’t seen it, please stay for the scene that comes mid-credits: it has to be my favourite five minutes of film all year. Michael, Manchester

My big night out: I raced for the train with my bladder bursting – and it was the start of a disastrous journey

If the train had had a single working toilet I would have been fine. Ditto if it had been the fast route. But I was on the slow train to Derby and knew I was in trouble ...

I had been visiting my boyfriend in London for the weekend. He was a hard-up student and I was still at sixth-form, but beer was pretty cheap in 2000, so we had been out for a few pints. Now we were racing to St Pancras so I could get the last train home to Derby.

I legged it through the station and made it on to the train with seconds to spare. No time for the loo, but I’d relieve myself on the train. Or so I thought.

‘Gunboat diplomacy on steroids’: US signs security deals across Latin America

Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro warns Trump administration may ‘destabilise the entire region’ amid rising tensions

While all eyes are on the four-month-long US military campaign against Venezuela, the White House has been quietly striking security agreements with other countries to deploy US troops across Latin America and the Caribbean.

As Donald Trump announced a blockade on oil tankers under sanctions and ordered the seizure of vessels amid airstrikes that have killed more than 100 people in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the US secured military deals with Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago in the past week alone.

‘This is the Costco of energy, man!’: author Bill McKibben on the promise of renewables

The activist and author of Here Comes the Sun discusses rapid advances in solar and wind power and how the US ceded leadership in the sector to its main rival

Bill McKibben’s book The End of Nature, published in 1989, warned early of the dangers of climate changes and he has been campaigning and writing ever since. His most recent book, Here Comes the Sun, takes a look at the soaring potential of renewable energy

Is your latest book a more optimistic take on this world?

‘It’s sad we have to do this’: the US citizens carrying passports out of fear

Across the US, people have been carrying their passports amid reports of ICE detaining citizens. Five people explain what living this reality is like

Across the United States, citizens say they have started carrying their passports with them through their daily activities as widespread immigration raids create a pervasive climate of fear, and reports of citizens being detained circulate in the media.

The Guardian talked to people living this reality.

My weirdest Christmas: I sat on a desk chair watching the strangest film I’ve ever seen

Away from our families, my flatmate and I hung out in his bedroom, Christmas lunch on our laps, watching a poorly written, jarringly inappropriate movie

In 2022, I was living in a flat in north London above a chicken shop, with two flatmates and a cockroach infestation (what did we expect, said the landlord, living above a takeaway?). My flatmate was from Lithuania, and was due to go home in January, and our other flatmate, his girlfriend, was away for Christmas. I’d been home to Canada the month before, so for Christmas Day itself it was just the two of us.

I bought a small chicken to roast, and served it with stuffing I’d brought back from Canada – it’s the same concept as the stuffing in the UK but somehow fluffier and with more texture – and some pasta. I made brussels sprouts, trying to recreate a dish I like from a restaurant in my home town by cooking them with bacon, maple syrup, parmesan and a mayonnaise drizzle. It wasn’t very nice. We had some prosecco that my flatmate had won in a competition, even though neither of us really liked prosecco. It felt like we should, because it was Christmas.

What to read in 2026: recommendations from booksellers and publishers in Abuja, Nairobi and Brighton

A snapshot selection of some of the best African and black diaspora writing from 2025 – and some to look out for next year

From the richness of Nigeria’s modern literary scene, to the thriving publishing ecosystem of Kenya and the booming creativity coming from black British and African American writers, we asked an African publishing house, a UK bookshop dedicated to black authors and Nairobi’s oldest bookshop for some recommendations on what to read in the coming year.

EV realism is here. How automakers react in 2026 will be telling

Detroit automakers are refocusing on large gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, and many have admitted that policies, not consumers, were driving the charge for EVs.

The Breakdown | Chile coach Pablo Lemoine: ‘Rugby is in trouble, even in countries like Wales’

Former Uruguay prop has praise for new World Cup format but wants more help for developing nations

How did Pablo Lemoine, Chile’s head coach, react when they were drawn with Australia and New Zealand for the 2027 Rugby World Cup? The answer is perceptive and somewhat surprising.

“When countries like Chile play in a World Cup, you need a general vision,” he says. “Thinking only of sport it’s fantastic, it’s awesome. But thinking of the real impact Chile needs: development programmes, political impact, social impact … for our fans, it’s much more difficult to find tickets when you play the All Blacks or Australia.”