Trump and Mamdani set to meet for first time at the White House

President Trump and incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani are set to meet at the White House for the first time. Follow live updates here.

Here's what experts say is behind bitcoin's $800 billion drop

Bitcoin has erased all of its 2025 gains and is on track for its worst monthly performance since 2022. Here's what experts say about the decline.

Air traffic controllers, technicians with perfect attendance in shutdown to get $10,000 bonuses, FAA says

Close to 800 air traffic controllers and technicians with perfect attendance will get $10,000 bonuses, the FAA said.

Trump claims he’s ‘not threatening death’ for Democrats but says ‘they’re in serious trouble’ as he prepares to meet Mamdani – US politics live

Chuck Schumer says Trump’s remarks amount to calls for ‘execution of elected officials’ as president also says he and Zohran Mamdani will ‘get along fine’ in meeting

Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House oversight committee, has sent a letter to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, urging the justice department to release the complete trove of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, despite the newly launched investigation into several Democrats’ ties to the late sex offender.

“There is already a concern President Trump will attempt, on dubious legal grounds, to exploit a provision which allows DoJ to withhold information relevant to ongoing investigations,” Garcia wrote.

Mamdani set to meet with President Trump at White House today

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to meet with President Trump on Friday afternoon, where he plans to discuss affordability​.

Tens of thousands of people were detained and deported during US government shutdown

As most government business halted during the shutdown, immigration agents continued their raids

US immigration officials arrested, detained and deported tens of thousands of people in operations nationwide during the federal government shutdown, new data reveals.

The arrests have led to a marked increase in the number of people held in immigration jails, with more than 65,000 currently detained nationwide – the highest number of people in immigration detention ever.

US transportation department unveils first female-modeled crash test dummy

Officials say the move is ‘long overdue’ and meant to close decades of safety gaps in vehicle crash testing

The transportation department has unveiled a first crash test dummy in the US modeled specifically on female anatomy, a move officials say is meant to close decades of safety gaps in vehicle testing.

Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, unveiled the THOR-05F, an advanced female design for a crash-test dummy with upgraded technical specifications. According to the transportation department, the dummy will be incorporated into federal vehicle crash testing once a final rule is published.

BBC board member quits after being ‘cut out’ of talks over liberal bias claims

Shumeet Banerji was away during crucial discussions that led to resignation of director general and BBC News chief

A member of the BBC’s board has resigned after saying he was cut out of the discussions that led to the shock resignation of its director general, Tim Davie.

Shumeet Banerji, a tech industry executive, was out of the country on the crucial days before the departure of Davie and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness.

One Fed official may have saved market from another rout. Why John Williams' remarks matter so much

With his position comes membership in the Fed's leadership troika, a group that also includes Chair Jerome Powell and Vice Chair Philip Jefferson.

The female crash test dummy has been a long time coming — but she isn't here yet

After years of limbo, the U.S. government has given the green light to a crash test dummy based on the female body. But will it be used right away? Not so fast.

Shocked US driver calls 911: ‘I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield’

Motorist told dispatcher ‘you may not believe me’ and said windshield was shattered while driving on North Carolina highway

A motorist in western North Carolina escaped injury when the carcass of a cat crashed into the passenger side of her front windshield along a highway near the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

In a call to 911, the unidentified driver on US Route 74 in Swain county, near Bryson City, told a dispatcher that a bald eagle dropped the cat. Bryson City is about 65 miles south-west of Asheville.

Putin says U.S. plan for Ukraine could form the basis for a final peace settlement

The plan includes many of Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that his country is at "truly one of the most difficult moments in our history."

Cop30 delegates ‘far apart’ on phasing out fossil fuels and cutting carbon

President of talks urges ministers and high-ranking officials to find common ground as conference nears its end

• Cop30 live – latest updates

Climate crisis talks look likely to stretch well into the weekend in Brazil, with countries still far apart on the crucial issues of phasing out fossil fuels and cutting carbon.

The Cop30 president, André Corrêa do Lago, urged ministers and high-ranking officials from more than 190 countries to find common ground: “We need to preserve this regime [of the Paris climate agreement] with the spirit of cooperation, not in the spirit of who is going to win or is willing to lose’” he said. “Because we know if we don’t strengthen this, everyone will lose.”

South Africa hosts G20 as tensions with U.S. flare amid boycott

The U.S. boycotts South Africa's G20 summit, sparking a diplomatic spat and throwing the global gathering into turmoil.

The week around the world in 20 pictures

A fire at Cop30 in Brazil, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, Russian missiles hit Ukraine and a giraffe on the move in Kenya: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Zelenskyy says Ukraine has impossible choice as Trump pushes plan to end war

US president demands that Kyiv accepts plan that would mean giving up territory to Russia

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine faces one of the most difficult moments in its history, after Donald Trump demanded Kyiv accepts within days a US-backed “peace plan” that would force it to give up territory to Russia and make other painful concessions.

Trump confirmed on Friday morning that next Thursday – Thanksgiving in the US – would be an “acceptable” deadline for Zelenskyy to sign the deal, which European and Ukrainian officials have said amounts to a “capitulation”.

Netflix’s Selena doc sensitively focuses on her incredible life over her tragic death

The 23-year-old ‘Queen of Tejano music’ was murdered just as her music was set to cross over and revealing new film Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy finds new ways to celebrate her

The tragic circumstances surrounding Selena Quintanilla’s death are well documented. In 1995, while on the verge of US pop crossover success, the 23-year-old Queen of Tejano Music was murdered by one of her employees, Yolanda Saldívar.

Selena’s life story has already been told in multiple ways, including through a movie, a musical and a podcast series. However, the touching Netflix documentary Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy is the most empathetic and personal look at her life and career to date. Working alongside Selena’s family, who generously opened their archive of rare photos and home videos and sat for extensive interviews, director Isabel Castro uses intimate recollections and vivid primary sources to trace the artist’s ascent.

The Guardian view on authentic casting in Wicked: finally a true celebration of difference | Editorial

The wider TV and film industries have a long way to go in including disabled actors and creators, and leaving stereotypes behind

While the entertainment industry has been at pains to address issues of diversity in race, gender and sexuality, disability remains shockingly underrepresented. It’s not just that disabled actors are discounted for many roles. As actors and activists have pointed out, “blacking up” might have become taboo, but “cripping up” is still a shoo-in for awards. In almost 100 years, only three disabled actors have won an Oscar, compared to 25 able-bodied actors who have won for playing disabled characters.

The arrival this weekend of Wicked: For Good, the second part of a prequel story to The Wizard of Oz, has put the importance of authentic casting in the spotlight once more. The story of green-skinned witch Elphaba, and the prejudice she faces, Wicked is a celebration of difference. Yet since the hit musical opened in 2003, only able-bodied actors had played the part of Nessarose, Elphaba’s disabled sister. Last year, Marissa Bode became the first wheelchair-using actor to take the role, in part one of the film adaptation. The child Nessa is also played by a wheelchair user. The movies give the character greater agency and complexity, amending a scene that suggested she needs to be “fixed”.

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.

Transportation Department wants fliers to dress up. Will it work?

The agency's "Golden Age of Travel" campaign aims to restore civility to air travel. Experts say they have doubts.

Nigel Farage urged to root out Reform links to Russia after jailing of Nathan Gill

Party’s former leader in Wales admitted taking payments to make statements in favour of Russia

Nigel Farage is facing calls to investigate and root out links between Reform UK and Russia after one of his party’s former senior politicians was jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes from a pro-Kremlin agent.

Keir Starmer said Farage had questions to answer about how this happened in his party. Nathan Gill, a former leader of Reform UK in Wales, admitted taking payments to make statements in favour of Russia.

Amazon cut more than 1,800 engineers in record layoffs, despite saying it needs to innovate faster

Nearly 40% of the roughly 4,700 positions Amazon eliminated across Washington, New York, New Jersey and California were engineering jobs.

Eleven injured after grizzly bear attacks schoolchildren and teachers in Canada

Two critically hurt after attack on walking trail in British Columbia as police and conservation officers search for bear

Eleven people were injured, two of them critically, when a grizzly bear attacked a group of schoolchildren and teachers on a walking trail in British Columbia, Canada.

The attack happened on Thursday in Bella Coola, 435 miles (700km) north-west of Vancouver. The Nuxalk Nation said the “aggressive bear” remained on the loose and police and conservation officers were on the scene.

Vote for competent leaders, not entertainers – that’s what I wish the Covid report could say | Devi Sridhar

To prevent a future pandemic we’d need agile leadership, smart decision-making, humility and trustworthiness. How does one build those into a political system?

It feels as though a collective amnesia has set in around Covid-19. We all just want to move forward and pretend it didn’t happen. But, as the saying goes, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

On 20 April 2020 I tweeted, “At what point will the British public realise what has happened over the past 9 weeks?” On Thursday, the Covid inquiry published its module 2 report on the political response to the pandemic. The answer finally to my tweet, more than five years later.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Fit Forever: Wellness for midlife and beyond
On Wednesday 28 January 2026, join Annie Kelly, Devi Sridhar, Joel Snape and Mariella Frostrup, as they discuss how to enjoy longer and healthier lives, with expert advice and practical tips.
Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Man jailed for life for murdering ex-wife at their son’s grave in Hampshire

Judge sentences Martin Suter to minimum of 27 years for stabbing Ann Blackwood to death in 2023

A man has been jailed for life with a minimum of 27 years for murdering his ex-wife at their son’s grave on their late child’s birthday.

Martin Suter, 68, was rebuked by the judge and his former brother-in-law for “pitilessly extinguishing” the life of Ann Blackwood, 71.

The Disneyfication of F1: Goofy in the pitlane and Fantasia in Vegas underline sport’s US transformation

As little as a decade ago it would have been unthinkable that an American institution such as Disney would have chosen to hitch its wagon to F1

The remarkable nature of the transformation in Formula One’s fortunes in the United States could not have been better illustrated than by the incongruous sight of Mickey Mouse and an assortment of his Disney pals leading a gang of enthusiastic fans on a walk down the pit lane at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

F1 successfully hosting a race in Sin City and the US now boasting three sellout meetings is testament to the sport’s burgeoning prosperity. For all of the somewhat surreal edge of seeing Donald Duck and Goofy outside garages, the fact Disney has chosen F1 as a partner is indicative of the sea change the sport has brought about in a market it has long coveted.

Fed won't get key inflation data before next rate decision as BLS cancels October CPI release

The BLS said it was canceling the release of the October CPI, leaving the Fed without a key piece of inflation data before it next decides on interest rates.

Eli Lilly hits $1 trillion market value, a first for a health-care company

The pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly's stock has been riding the skyrocketing demand for its weight loss injection Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro.

Premier League news: Palmer breaks toe in freak home mishap and Iraola unfazed by Semenyo links

Around the Premier League’s press conferences, including Kolo Muani’s derby boost for Spurs and Howe demanding more of Woltemade

• Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

A new Miss Universe is crowned, weeks after she left a pageant event in protest

This year's Miss Universe competition, held in Bangkok, was marred by a series of dramatic incidents, from a contestant's livestreamed walkout to a now former judge's allegations of rigging.

‘I wouldn’t compare us’: Sindre Walle Egeli, the Ipswich teenager who has outscored Haaland

Record scorer for Norway’s age-group sides discusses his World Cup hope, being frozen out at 15 and fake tickets heartbreak at Anfield

Liverpool against Aston Villa on 18 January 2014. It was impossible to measure the excitement in a seven-year-old from Norway making his first pilgrimage to Anfield. Inside was the promise of watching his favourite player, Daniel Sturridge, and the rest of a freewheeling side throwing everything at a title push. But as Sindre Walle Egeli and his family reached the turnstiles, the cruelest of realities dawned.

“It’s not a good memory,” Walle Egeli says. “We showed up, ready to go, and it turned out we’d got fake tickets. I don’t know what happened, maybe my parents bought from some shady people. It was heartbreaking.”

Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in its roof | Jonathan Freedland

The autumn budget will mop up some damage, but the true source of the economic crisis is clear. The government should now fix it – don’t hold your breath

Imagine a family stuck in a house that constantly floods. The carpets are soaked, the walls damp. It’s always cold, no matter how much they turn up the heating.

The family try everything. They promise to replace the sodden carpets and find new, innovative ways to warm the house. Someone with a laptop wonders if AI might be the answer. But no one ever looks upwards and says: maybe we should just repair the giant hole in the roof.

Nigeria reels after second mass school abduction in a week

Students taken from Catholic school in Niger state amid threats from Trump to intervene over ‘Christian genocide’

Unknown gunmen have abducted an unidentified number of students from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, the second mass abduction in the country in a week.

The latest kidnapping, in Papiri community in Niger state, came against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threat to intervene militarily to end a “Christian genocide”, which the Nigerian government has denied is happening.

‘It’s incredibly useful’: why small talk is actually great

People love to complain about small talk – but it’s a great way to build rapport and dip your toe into deeper topics

• Tell us: what are the best and worst gifts you’ve ever received?

The holidays are around the corner. As we get ready to mix, mingle and carouse, I think it’s important to set the record straight on something: small talk is great!

People love to complain about small talk. On Reddit, people say it’s “painful”, “dishonest” and “a chore”. Some of my own friends have called it “boring” and “exhausting”. A 2016 Wired article titled “Small talk should be banned” argued that idle chit-chat “does not build relationships and does not make us happier”, but persists because “we actively seek the lowest common denominator”. Instead, the authors suggest deeper conversation topics, such as: “What is your relationship with God?” or What is something you fear in life?”

Universities blame ‘societal shift’ for axing foreign language degrees

Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says young people are using its app more than their elders

Universities are blaming a “societal shift” for the axing of dozens of foreign language degrees and even entire departments, citing a lack of demand among students – but can years of study be easily replaced by AI or online translation tools?

Not so, according to Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.

House Democratic leader gets in fiery clash as he defends ACA tax credit extension plan

The fight over the ACA tax credits was at the center of the 43-day shutdown, which ended last week without a clear solution on health care.

What Trump and Mamdani have said about each other

President Trump has called Zohran Mamdani "my little communist mayor." Mamdani has vowed to "Trump-proof" New York City. Today they meet at the White House.

Trump may yet impose a Ukraine deal – but it threatens to be a disaster for Kyiv

Ukraine could be forced into an agreement but plan as it stands seems too bizarre for Zelenskyy to sell to his public

We’ve been here before: the Trump administration announces a roadmap towards peace in Ukraine that seems to be dramatically skewed towards Moscow’s demands; Volodymyr Zelenskyy gets on the phone to alarmed European allies; they quickly call Trump to message him that the whole idea is unworkable; the plan quietly dies. Rinse and repeat.

This time it feels a bit different, however. Reports on Friday suggested the US has threatened that if Ukraine does not sign a hastily concocted peace plan, Washington could withdraw intelligence-sharing and other support critical to the Ukrainian war effort.

Nicolas Sarkozy to write prison memoir on his 20 days in jail

Former French president complains about noise in extract from A Prisoner’s Diary, to be released next month

Nicolas Sarkozy is to publish a book next month called A Prisoner’s Diary detailing his 20 days in jail.

The book was announced 11 days after the former French president was released from prison while he appeals against his conviction for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield obituary

Charismatic Stone Roses and Primal Scream musician acclaimed for some of the most memorable bass lines in indie music

The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album, released in May 1989, became a benchmark British record by blending anthemic, 1960s-evoking melodies and chiming guitar work with what Rolling Stone’s David Fricke described as “the blown-mind drive of British rave culture”. While John Squire took care of the band’s Byrds-like jangling guitar, it was Mani, who has died aged 63, who played the powerful, hard-edged bass lines that put the rocket fuel into tracks such as She Bangs the Drums and This Is the One. The first sound you hear on the disc is his bass emerging, both tantalisingly and menacingly, through the sonic fog at the start of I Wanna Be Adored.

It was a mixture that helped redefine the band’s home city of Manchester as “Madchester”, a place that had magically become “baggydelic”, through a club-indie crossover scene that emerged out of venues such as the Hacienda and included the similarly genre-straddling Happy Mondays.

Brandy and Monica review – 90s R&B heavyweights bring star-studded reunion to New York

Barclays Center, Brooklyn

The Boy Is Mine pair were joined by guests such as Kelly Rowland, Fat Joe, Ciara and Tyrese for a sometimes strange, sometimes soaring throwback night

Supposedly feuding for over 25 years might be bad karma, but it’s great for ticket sales. Of course, Brandy and Monica aren’t actually fighting, they just did such a good job of pretending to hate each other on their 1998 duet The Boy Is Mine that the world has been convinced of it ever since. The R&B legends have taken pains to point out that their relationship is harmonious in multiple interviews leading up to this 32-date co-headline tour, even making fun of the drama in a recent Dunkin advert that featured them fighting over a frappe.

Happily, Brandy and Monica’s sisterhood also means they’re playing their biggest venues in decades. After emerging on stage from a vintage elevator wearing sunglasses and scowling expressions, the duo launches into a kind of sing-and-dance-off, trading places and performing a trio of classics apiece as the other watches with disdain. It’s a knowing nod to their purported rivalry that begins to take on the feeling of a variety segment, which isn’t helped by the trimming of songs like What About Us? and Like This and Like That to 90 seconds apiece. Even so, their camaraderie shines through as Brandy quickly breaks character to sway and sing along to Monica’s Don’t Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days), a showcase for her slightly raspy, soulful vocals during which she winds her hips and aims gun fingers at the audience.

Amorim expects Sesko back before attacking duo depart for Africa Cup of Nations

• Manchester United centre-forward out for a ‘few weeks’

• Mbeumo and Diallo in line for Afcon trip in December

Ruben Amorim has revealed Benjamin Sesko’s knee injury will rule him out of action for “a few weeks” but Manchester United’s head coach is hopeful the striker can return before he loses Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Sesko sustained the injury after coming on as a substitute in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham prior to the international break. Asked how long the 22-year-old will be out of action, Amorim said: “He’s going to stay a few weeks out. I don’t know how long, but he’s not that serious. We have to be careful with him. He’s going to recover, he’s feeling better. So in a few weeks, I expect to have Ben.”

Stepbrother eyed in teen's cruise ship death may be called to testify, attorney says

A 16-year-old who is being eyed for possible involvement in the death of his stepsister on a Carnival cruise ship may be called to testify in person about the incident, an attorney said.

Dubai bank is behind British businessman’s 30-year jail sentence, family claims

Ryan Cornelius was arrested in 2008 over a bank loan and will be 84 years old when he is due to be released

A Dubai bank is instrumental in the long-running detention of the 71-year-old British businessman Ryan Cornelius, who is serving a 30-year sentence that will keep him in jail until he is 84, his brother-in-law claims.

Recent accounts show the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), which claims to be the trailblazer in championing Islamic values in banking, is on course to make more than $2bn in profit this year.

Not just for Paddington: is the humble duffel coat having a fashion moment?

Worn by everyone from Tyler, the Creator to Cole Palmer and Joe Wilkinson, duffels are back in demand

It’s the coat most associated with a beloved children’s character, so it makes sense that the duffel is a familiar sight in playgrounds across the country. But this year it is also – once again – quietly enjoying a moment on grownups.

In the Christmas advert for Waitrose, comedian Joe Wilkinson wears a duffel coat while in the supermarket with Keira Knightley. Footballer Cole Palmer wore one in 2024’s Burberry campaign, subtitled “It’s Always Burberry Weather”, and Tyler, the Creator wears a short one in the recent video for Darling, I.

Driver says eagle dropped cat through car's windshield on highway

Bald eagles are predatory birds that can stand up to 3 feet tall and have a wingspan stretching more than 8 feet.

EU imposes sanctions on Russian prison officials responsible for death of Ukrainian journalist

Viktoriia Roshchyna died aged 27 after a year in extrajudicial detention at a jail notorious for torture

• Europe live – latest updates

The European Union has imposed sanctions against Russian prison officials responsible for the death of the Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna.

Roshchyna was reporting on Russia’s systematic policy of extrajudicial detention and torture in occupied parts of Ukraine, before falling victim to it herself. She died at the age of 27 last year after more than a year in Russian captivity. Her body was returned earlier this year with some of the internal organs missing.

Oil prices and energy stocks fall sharply on Trump’s new Ukraine peace plan

Oil prices and energy stocks fell sharply on Friday morning as the U.S. pushed for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

Can vaping help wean people off cigarettes? Anti-smoking advocates are sharply split

Many think it's a dangerous ploy by the tobacco industry. But some say, with millions of deaths each year attributed to smoking cigarettes, it's the lesser of two evils.

England’s fab five bully Australia’s finest with faultless display of raw aggression | Simon Burnton

By the time Mark Wood replaced Jofra Archer the only thing Steve Smith seemed to know for certain was that he wanted to be at the non-striker’s end

After freewheeling at increasing pace for 16 giddy months, the Ashes hypemobile had to run out of road. But instead of letting it come to a juddering halt, the 22 players somehow managed to conjure a fresh acceleration.

It is implausible for something as anticipated as this not to produce disappointment, as anyone who follows England knows far too well. Those memories will have flooded miserably back when Zak Crawley nicked the sixth ball of the day to slip. His wicket marked the start of not only the sudden whoosh of optimism leaking from the English balloon, but of a day of 19 wickets, bowling of impeccable quality (with exceptions) and absurd entertainment.

Flash flooding overwhelms parts of Texas after powerful storm drops inches of rain

A powerful storm system slammed Texas on Thursday, causing flash flooding and dropping more than 10 inches of rain on some parts of Central Texas. Jason Allen has the latest.

Thanksgiving travel rush kicks off with more than 31 million travelers expected to fly

Thanksgiving travel rush has kicked off. More than 31 million travelers are expected to fly leading up to Dec. 1. Kris Van Cleave has more.

TNT that Europe needs to defend itself is being used on Gaza, Polish MP claims

Maciej Konieczny claims Europe’s sole supplier, in Poland, sends much of its production to US, which exports it for use by Israel

Europe cannot supply enough TNT to defend either itself or Ukraine largely because its monopoly supplier of the explosive is contracted to send much of its production to the US, which then exports it for use by Israel in Gaza, a Polish MP has claimed.

Maciej Konieczny, a member of the leftwing Razem party, said the Polish company Nitro-Chem, owned by the Polish Armaments Group, could not keep up with demand partly because it had signed successive contracts to supply TNT to the US, where it is used in bombs supplied to Israel.

Germany to classify date rape drugs as weapons to ensure justice for survivors

Classification plan will create basis for ‘significantly stricter’ prosecutions, says interior minister

Germany plans to treat the use of date rape drugs like the use of weapons in prosecutions as part of measures to ensure justice for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“We classify date rape drugs, which are increasingly used as a widespread tool in crimes, as weapons. This creates the basis for significantly stricter prosecutions,” Alexander Dobrindt, the interior minister, said on Friday. “We are committed to clear consequences and consistent enforcement. Women should feel safe and be able to move freely everywhere.”

Man shot and killed at St. Louis airport after wielding knife, police say

Video showed the man reveal a knife and advanced on officers before he was fatally shot, according to a police spokesperson.

Is Avatar’s main villain about to become a good guy? All the signs are pointing that way

Will Quaritch, the square-jawed representative of military-industrial destruction befriend the Na’vi in James Cameron’s forthcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash? And if so, what other unlikely character about-turns should we be prepared for?

It’s almost possible to feel a little sorry for Colonel Miles Quaritch, the main villain of Avatar. Imagine: first you’re sent light years from Earth to hang out with 14ft blue space hippies, then you’re suddenly dead. Then you’re resurrected as one of the 14ft blue space hippies. And now, according to James Cameron, you might just be starting to realise that the giant tree-hugging freaks you’ve spent two films trying to erase are your kind of people after all.

Speaking to Empire in an interview last week, Cameron revealed that the Quaritch we will meet in the forthcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash (although still played by Stephen Lang) is no longer the same person we first saw stomping through the rainforest in the original 2009 film. Yes, he’s a “recombinant” – a lab-grown Na’vi reboot of a man carved out of granite and patriotism – but he’s also going through a full-blown existential wobble after discovering in the last instalment that he has a human son, Spider. “Quaritch is undergoing an identity crisis,” said Cameron. “His interest in the biological son of his biological precursor form is all about trying to define, ‘Am I a completely new person? Am I bound by the rules and the behaviours of the person whose memories and personality I was imprinted with?’ It’s a true existential dilemma for him in the philosophical sense.”

Sports quiz of the week: Ashes sledging, Arsenal v Spurs and a young world No 1

Have you been following the big stories in football, rugby, tennis, cricket, basketball, darts and other mystery sports?

‘The sword swung so close to her head!’ What it’s like to commit one of TV’s most unforgivable murders

From Claire Foy’s Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall to Adriana in The Sopranos, we meet the actors who had to bump off TV legends … and then face the wrath of the public

Talk about being a pantomime villain. It’s unpopular enough playing the antagonist who murders a long-running TV character. When your victim is a fan favourite, though, you risk being vilified even more. So what’s it like being the ultimate baddy and breaking viewers’ hearts? Do they get booed in the street or trolled online? We asked five actors who killed off beloved characters – from Spooks to The Sopranos, Wolf Hall to Westeros – about their experiences …

‘There are many zoos I would like to see closed’: world zoo chief plans shake-up

As debate continues to rage over the welfare of animals in captivity, David Field is hoping to drag the sector forward

He has loved zoos all his life, but would close many of them down if he could.

David Field, who this month became head of the world’s zoo industry group, said of zoos that treat animals badly: “It makes me feel desperate. I’ve probably in my life tried to close down more zoos than open them.”

Amazon issuing Prime refunds after $2.5B settlement. Here's what to know.

After FTC settlement, eligible Amazon Prime customers will automatically receive refunds between Nov. 12 and Dec. 24.

What’s the secret of the ‘Mar-a-Lago face’? | Fiona Katauskas

It’s not just skin deep

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

Two Australian police officers were killed in an ambush. It was deemed terrorism – but an inquest says otherwise

Six people died during the shootings at a remote property in Wieambilla, Queensland. A coroner says a family’s shared paranoid delusions drove their attack

Three years ago on a remote Australian property, a trio of paranoid, deluded conspiracy theorists lay in wait.

The three members of the Train family spent a year preparing ambush positions for a confrontation with Queensland police at their home in Wieambilla, 270km west of Brisbane, believing the battle marked the end of the world.

AI is changing the relationship between journalist and audience. There is much at stake | Margaret Simons

There is no point pretending that change is not happening, or that it can be avoided. But these are the risks we must address

The idea of serving the public has been baked into the bones of journalism ever since the profession was created.

Whether it was quality information to inform the citizenry, or sensationalism and gossip, newsrooms and editors have had the desires and needs of their audiences, noble and ignoble, front of mind.

How NWSL is preparing for incoming expansion teams

Around 18,000 fans are going to fill the stands at San Jose's PayPal Park on Saturday to watch the Washington Spirit vs. Gotham FC NWSL championship matchup. Looking to build on this season's record success, the league is now adding two new teams -- the Denver Summit and the Boston Legacy. CBS News MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O'Grady has an inside look.

Covid bereaved call for Boris Johnson to lose ex-PM benefits over inquiry report

Campaign group says it will pursue all legal means to ensure personal accountability for ‘grave betrayal’

Covid-bereaved families have called for Boris Johnson to lose access to public funds and said they will pursue all legal options for personal accountability after a damning report into his handling of the pandemic.

The families said they wanted all privileges Johnson received as a former prime minister – including his ministerial pension, his place on the privy council and access to the public duty costs allowance – to be withdrawn.

US men indicted for alleged coup plot to kill and rape people on Haitian island

Texans planned to utilize unhoused US people to take over Gonâve and fulfill ‘rape fantasies’, justice department says

The Department of Justice has alleged that two Texas men plotted a murderous coup d’etat on the island of Gonâve, the largest in Haiti, “for the purpose of carrying out their rape fantasies”.

The two men, 21-year-old Gavin Rivers Weisenburg and 20-year-old Tanner Christopher Thomas, have been accused of plotting to take the island by force, utilizing the homeless population of Washington DC, then killing all the men on the island and “using the women and children as sex slaves”, according to an announcement by the US attorney’s office of the eastern district of Texas on Thursday.

Top Democrats condemn Trump after he accuses 6 lawmakers of "seditious behavior"

Top Democrats condemned President Trump after he accused six lawmakers of "seditious behavior," a crime he said is "punishable by death." The lawmakers posted a video telling military members to disobey illegal orders. Ed O'Keefe has more.

Golovkin to be elected World Boxing president and lead buildup to 2028 Olympics

• Former world champion promises to restore trust in sport

• World Boxing replaced IBA as governing body this year

The former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is to be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result he will take charge of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing this year.

Europe’s economy is geared towards a disappearing world, says ECB’s Lagarde

Central bank chief warns that the bloc’s dependence on third countries for trade and security has left it vulnerable

Europe’s economy is “geared towards a world that is gradually disappearing”, according to a warning from Christine Lagarde that the EU needs reforms to spur growth.

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) said the EU’s dependence on international trade had left it vulnerable, as major partners had turned away from the trade that made the bloc’s exporters wealthy.

Inseparable, sensuous and confident, the Kessler twins were pioneers of variety show culture

Alice and Ellen Kessler, who died by joint assisted suicide this week, entertained – and occasionally scandalised – Europe with their glitzy and subversive pop music and classically informed dance

• The Kessler twins die together aged 89 – news

When Dean Martin announced the Kessler sisters’ appearance on his show in 1966, he remarked that he had been desperate to book them not just because the German-born dancer-singers were “so pretty and so talented”, but “also because they’re twins, that means there are two of them”. “They’re a double,” he added with a nod to his half-drunk crooner persona, “and there’s nothing I like more than a double”.

The two sisters, who died by joint assisted suicide earlier this week, also performed with Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte and Fred Astaire, but the American market never impressed them much. In 1964 they turned down a role in Elvis’s Viva Las Vegas for fear of being pigeonholed in American musical comedies.

South Africa’s dispute with US escalates amid row over G20 handover event

Trump press secretary accuses Cyril Ramaphosa of ‘running his mouth’ after US boycott of summit in Johannesburg

The dispute between South Africa and the US over the Trump administration’s decision to boycott the G20 in Johannesburg has continued, with South Africa objecting to a US plan for a junior embassy official to take part in the closing ceremony meant to mark the handover to the next summit, which will take place in Florida.

The two-day summit, which opens on Saturday, comes at a febrile moment in global politics. The US has proposed a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it agreed with Moscow without the involvement of Ukraine or the EU.

Digested week: Trump’s weird ‘piggy’ jibe expands his cutesy-sinister lexicon

Plus Vanity Fair’s plucky decision to feature only men in its Hollywood Issue and the reporter fired after RFK Jr ‘sexting scandal’

We’ve all said things that didn’t come out right, and it’s my instinct – stand by for some counter-intuition! – that Donald Trump’s “quiet, piggy” admonishment of a female reporter on Air Force One this week was a very weird attempt at affection, or possibly flirtation. As with everything the man does, the effect was disastrous and totally inappropriate. But rewatching the video, I saw from the president less an example of his usual bigotry and more an attempt at what looked like “OK, kiddo” cuteness that, catastrophically, and before I could nip it in the bud, had triggered a tiny sprig of sympathy.

‘Justin Bieber is an insanely courageous artist’: Tobias Jesso Jr on how he became the songwriter to the stars

He has penned hits for Adele, Dua Lipa and Bieber, but the sought-after Canadian pop songwriter has only ever released one album himself. Now, 10 years on, comes a second –and it’s a scorching account of a breakup

Goon, the 2015 debut album by Canada-born LA musician Tobias Jesso Jr, was one of the revelations of the 2010s. An album of heartfelt, earnest ballads in the vein of 70s singer-songwriters such as Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, it instantly established Jesso as a rising indie star and was one of the year’s most acclaimed records. The problem was that Jesso didn’t care much for the attention: he struggled to feel like a genuine performer, leading him to drink heavily before shows, and felt he was playing a version of himself in interviews. “I was forced to do all these things I wasn’t really confident in,” he says. “I was just like … I don’t know what I’m doing, anywhere.” So, toward the end of his breakout year, he cancelled all future shows and, in essence, put his career on ice.

In the decade that followed, he kept himself behind the scenes, in the process becoming one of the world’s most successful and in-demand pop songwriters – thanks, in no small part, to his focus on simple, emotions-first songwriting. He co-wrote Adele’s hit When We Were Young and a handful of tracks on Dua Lipa’s 2024 album Radical Optimism; has collaborated with Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, FKA twigs and Haim; and in 2023 won the first ever Grammy for songwriter of the year.

Cocktail of the week: Farzi’s monk mule – recipe

A dark’n’stormy rides a moscow mule to an Indian restaurant …

Serves 1

Sai Pawan, head of bar, Farzi, London SW1

Are there lessons for the U.S. in this European country's struggle with measles?

In 2024, Romania, an upper middle income European country, had over 30,000 cases — putting it on the world's top ten measles list. Its vaccination rate hovers around 60%. How did this happen?

CDC claims vaccines may cause autism. And, Trump and Mamdani to meet today

The CDC claims, without evidence, that vaccines may cause autism. And, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani heads to the White House, where he will meet the president for the first time.

Restored VW "Magic bus" that survived California wildfire makes public debut

A vintage blue VW "Magic bus" that became an unlikely symbol of resilience when it survived a major California wildfire has made its public debut after Volkswagen restored it.

Colombian scientists recover first treasures from ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’

Cannon, three coins and a cup taken from San José, a 1708 wreckage that could hold items worth billions of dollars

A cannon, three coins and a porcelain cup are among the first objects recovered by Colombian scientists from the depths of the Caribbean Sea where the legendary Spanish galleon San José sank in 1708 after being attacked by a British fleet.

The recovery is part of a scientific investigation authorised by the government last year to study the wreckage and the causes of the sinking. Colombian researchers located the galleon in 2015, leading to legal and diplomatic disputes. Its exact location is a state secret.

Would South Africa look enviously at England’s game? Probably not, but the gap is closing | Ugo Monye

Springboks are the standard-bearers in world rugby but Steve Bothwick has developed a side that is improving in all the key areas

Be careful what you wish for. That would be my message to England supporters getting a little bit ahead of themselves and wishing South Africa were due at Twickenham on Sunday. By all means get a little carried away – that’s the beauty of following a team on a winning run and it’s a demonstration of the confidence surrounding England at the moment – but the Springboks can wait until next summer.

They remain the standard-bearers in world rugby. They are perfectly placed to achieve their goal of finishing the year as the No 1 team in the world and given South Africa have never won in Dublin under Rassie Erasmus there will be plenty of motivation to create another piece of history against Ireland on Saturday. The question is, have England closed the gap this autumn? And if so, by how much.

‘I still see title as quite distant’: F1 leader Norris not hedging bets for Las Vegas GP

• McLaren driver feels title race ‘can easily go opposite way’

• Norris unmoved by being booed after last two wins

For all the sound and fury of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris is refusing to get excited about the prospect of putting one hand on a first drivers’ championship trophy in Sin City.

Norris leads his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by 24 points in the title race and Max Verstappen by 49 with a maximum of only 83 on the table over the three remaining meetings. But with the 26-year-old Briton having wrought an extraordinary comeback from 34 points behind Piastri after August’s Dutch Grand Prix, he is determined to focus on executing with the clinical calm that has put him into the lead in the standings, not the potential outcome of the race.

Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

The return of Charlie and Lola; the second lives of trees; the dangers of time travel; a YA Bluebeard retelling and more

The Street Where Santa Lives by Harriet Howe and Julia Christians, Little Tiger, £12.99
When an old man moves in on a busy street, only his little neighbour notices; with his white beard and round belly, she’s convinced he’s Santa. But when Santa falls ill, other neighbours must rally round to take care of him. Will he be better in time for Christmas? This sweet, funny, acutely observed picture book is a festive, joyous celebration of community.

I Am Wishing Every Minute for Christmas by Lauren Child, S&S, £12.99
Twenty-five years after their first appearance, this delightful, engaging new Charlie and Lola picture book is filled with Lola’s excited impatience as she and her big brother get everything ready for Christmas.

'I'm not going to be intimidated': Rep. Crow responds to Trump's sedition threat

NPR's Leila Fadel asks Democratic Congressman and former Army Ranger Jason Crow for his response to President Trump after Crow participated in a video urging U.S. troops to refuse illegal orders.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says Kyiv ‘geared up for clear and honest work’ as U.S. pushes for progress on peace plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects to speak with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in the coming days.

‘We’ve been eating it for more than 100 years’: how one community turns stink bug infestations into lunch

In India’s Mizoram state, people have an intricate system of harvesting and consuming the pungent and nutritious bugs

Every few years when Udonga montana, a bamboo-feeding stink bug, erupts in massive swarms, the people of the Mizo community in northern India don’t reach for pesticides. Instead, they look for baskets.

Locally, this small brown stink bug is called thangnang. Outsiders see them as an infestation but in the bamboo forests of Mizoram state this small brown bug has long been woven into the food culture.

Brain scientists are seeking weight-loss drugs without the nausea

Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound often cause nausea and other side effects. Brain scientists are looking for ways to solve this problem.

This weekend, artists are speaking out across the country

Artists in more than 40 states are spending Friday and Saturday participating in the "Fall of Freedom" – which they say represents a creative resistance to authoritarianism.

Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius album review – Gardner and the LPO’s reading is bold and dramatic

(LPO)
Recorded live at the BBC Proms, Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s propulsive performance, with soloists Allan Clayton, Jamie Barton and James Platt, is one to cherish

The Dream of Gerontius may be the unlikely star of Alan Bennett’s The Choral, but it’s hardly in need of a popularity boost: Edward Gardner’s vibrant new recording is one of three released in the last two years, with another due in January.

Recorded live at the 2022 BBC Proms, this propulsive reading has a great deal going for it. Allan Clayton captures the febrile nature of the dying man whose every sensation is both a terror and a fascination. His heroic tone thrills in the great prayer, Sanctus Fortis, while an expressive use of text illuminates the philosophical question and answer session in Part Two. Jamie Barton’s luxurious mezzo-soprano possesses a tangible immediacy as well as offering ample reserves of comfort. James Platt’s craggy bass is well-suited to the Angel of the Agony.

Sophie Hannah: ‘I gave up on Wuthering Heights three times’

The crime writer on actor Frances Farmer’s life-changing story of survival, her favourite self help and discovering Agatha Christie’s alter ego

My earliest reading memory
I was six, and in the lounge in my first home in Manchester. I was sitting cross-legged on the grey carpet, in 1977, when I finished reading whichever of Enid Blyton’s brilliant Secret Seven mysteries contains the mind-blowing (genuinely, for a six-year-old) twist that “Emma Lane” turns out to be a road and not a person.

My favourite book growing up
Up to the age of 12, Blyton’s Secret Seven and Five Find-Outers mysteries; from 12 onwards, it was Agatha Christie. Growing up, I was certain that no other kind of story could ever hope to be as satisfying as the very best mystery story.

‘Bull riding is a drug’: rodeo embraces its sports science era – in pictures

The sport is rooted in the culture of rugged individualism and has been slow to adopt modern techniques. That state of affairs is slowly changing

Boosted by cultural phenomena like the hit series Yellowstone and Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album and tour, rodeo and all things Western are enjoying a cultural resurgence. Attendance, broadcast and streaming viewership are at all time highs. So is the prize money, which is attracting more and more young athletes seeking a chance to make a name for themselves.

But while rodeo is booming, athlete development remains antiquated.

A lot of axolotls: the amphibian-themed banknote Mexicans don’t want to spend

Nearly 13m people are hoarding millions of dollars’ worth of the stylish 50 peso note, featuring Mexico’s cutest critter

For most of her life, Gorda was just an axolotl who lived in a museum in Mexico City – that is, until she became the star of the country’s favourite banknote.

The note, which features a depiction of Gorda as the model for Mexico’s iconic species of salamander, went into circulation in 2021, dazzling the judges of the International Bank Notes Society, who declared it the Note of the Year.

11/20: CBS Evening News

President Trump accuses some Democrats of “seditious behavior;” Walmart beats earnings expectations.

Cop30 draft text omits mention of fossil fuel phase-out roadmap

Exclusive: Summit leadership releases new text despite 29 nations threatening to block progress without commitment

A new draft text on the outcome of the Cop30 climate talks has been published that contains no mention of a phase-out of fossil fuels, despite countries supporting such action having threatened to block any agreement without it.

The Guardian revealed on Thursday night that at least 29 nations supporting a phase-out of fossil fuels at the climate summit had sent a letter to the Brazilian Cop presidency threatening to block any agreement that did not include such a commitment, in a significant escalation of tensions at the crunch talks. The leaked letter demanded that the roadmap be included in the outcome of the talks, which are due to end on Friday but are likely to continue into the weekend.

Debit: Desaceleradas review | Ammar Kalia's global album of the month

(Modern Love)
The producer’s second album is a granular dissection of cumbia rebajada, forcing the listener to focus on the strangeness of every moment in her ambient soundworld

Mexican-American producer Delia Beatriz, AKA Debit, has a talent for making historical sounds her own. Her 2022 breakthrough, The Long Count, featured woozy, ambient soundscapes made from electronically processed samples of ancient Maya flutes. On her latest record, Desaceleradas (Decelerated), Beatriz turns her attention to the 90s trend of cumbia rebajada. Slowing the Afro-Latin dance genre of cumbia to a sludgy tempo, cumbia rebajada is a dub-influenced take on a typically upbeat, party-driven sound. DJ Gabriel Dueñez popularised the style with his bootleg cassettes; two of his earliest releases now form the basis of Beatriz’s experiments.

Landing somewhere between composer William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops and DJ Screw’s chopped’n’screwed production style, Desaceleradas slows the shaker-rattling, synth syncopations of cumbia rebajada into unrecognisable ambient territory. La Ronda y el Sonidero and Vinilos Trasnacionales contain hints of the signature cumbia shuffle and twanging synth melody, but Beatriz’s added tape hiss, reverb and melodic warping transform the style into an eerie, ethereal soundworld of nightmare fairground music and yearning drones.

U.S. greenlights AI chip exports to Gulf tech giants after Saudi Crown Prince's Washington visit

The approval marks a major reversal for the U.S., which had previously balked at the idea of direct exports to state-backed AI companies in the Gulf.

Chess outsiders triumph at World Cup in Goa and battle for Candidates spots

The four semi-finalists, led by Wei Yi, will battle for three 2026 Candidates places – none of them has reached this stage before

The $2m (£1.53m) World Cup in Goa will be remembered as an event where established stars were humbled and knocked out by supposedly lesser lights.

At 26, China’s Wei Yi is the oldest in Friday’s semi-finals. He was once a prodigy, renowned for his brilliant attacking style and the youngest to surpass an elite 2700 rating, but then opted to take a six-year break from chess to study economics and management, which he says he does not regret. He made a statement return in 2024, winning the “chess Wimbledon” at Wijk aan Zee, and the 2026 Candidates is his main target.

There’s a catastrophic black hole in our climate data – and it’s a gift to deniers | George Monbiot

Climate sceptics tell us that more people die of extreme cold than extreme heat. What’s the truth?

I began by trying to discover whether or not a widespread belief was true. In doing so, I tripped across something even bigger: an index of the world’s indifference. I already knew that by burning fossil fuels, gorging on meat and dairy, and failing to make even simple changes, the rich world imposes a massive burden of disaster, displacement and death on people whose responsibility for the climate crisis is minimal. What I’ve now stumbled into is the vast black hole of our ignorance about these impacts.

What I wanted to discover was whether it’s true that nine times as many of the world’s people die of cold than of heat. The figure is often used by people who want to delay climate action: if we do nothing, some maintain, fewer will die. Of course, they gloss over all the other impacts of climate breakdown: the storms, floods, droughts, fires, crop failures, disease and sea level rise. But is this claim, at least, correct?

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

‘We’ve got to release the dead hand of the past’: how Ireland created the world’s best alternative music scene

Irish indie acts used to be ignored, even on Irish radio. But songs confronting the Troubles, poverty and oppression are now going global – and changing how Ireland sees itself

On a hot Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury, while many are nursing halfway-point hangovers, the Dublin garage punk quartet Sprints whip up a jubilant mosh pit with their charged tune Descartes, Irish tricolour flags bobbing above them. As summer speeds on, at Japan’s Fuji rock festival, new songs from Galway indie act NewDad enrapture the crowd. Travy, a Nigerian-born and Tallaght-raised rapper, crafts a mixtape inflected with his Dublin lilt, the follow-up to the first Irish rap album to top the Irish charts. Efé transcends Dublin bedroom pop to get signed by US label Fader, and on Later … With Jools Holland, George Houston performs the haunting Lilith – a tribute to political protest singers everywhere – in a distinctive Donegal accent.

From Melbourne to Mexico City, concertgoers continue to scream to that opening loop on strings of Fontaines DC’s Starburster, and CMAT’s viral “woke macarena” dance to her hit single Take a Sexy Picture of Me plays out in festival pits and on TikTok. You might have heard about Kneecap, too.

‘It’s like stepping into a Renaissance masterpiece’: readers’ favourite unsung places in Italy

The country has so many cultural and historical treasures that relatively few are known to tourists. Our tipsters share their discoveries, from ancient hill towns to a mini Venice

• Tell us about your favourite travel discoveries of the year – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher

Approaching the town of Brisighella in Emilia-Romagna, it feels as though you are rapidly incorporating yourself in the backdrop of a Renaissance masterpiece, with dramatic rocky hills with singular trees perched upon them, and mysterious towers standing in solitary self-possession – leaving you to wonder what they must have witnessed over the years. The town is the perfect launchpad to explore such remarkably beautiful scenery, but it is also absolutely worth exploring its many medieval alleyways and its particularly unique elevated path, granting private nooks to take in the town’s charm.
Gioia

Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck review – a kaleidoscopic study of transience

A collection of columns by the German Booker winner reveals a keen eye for details that mark the passing of time

Jenny Erpenbeck wrote the pieces collected in this compact yet kaleidoscopic book for a column in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; published in German in 2009, they now appear in an English translation by Kurt Beals, following the immense success of Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos, which won the 2024 International Booker prize.

It’s interesting and instructive to reflect on what German newspaper readers made of the column in the early years of the new millennium, nearly two decades on from the fall of the Berlin Wall. For while Erpenbeck adopted some of the features of the form – apparently throwaway observations on daily life, such as minor irritation at the difficulty of sourcing proper splitterbrötchen, an unpretentious pastry now pimped for a more elaborate and wealthy clientele – she consistently enlarged and complicated it. Into that recognisable tone of ennui and mild querulousness with which journalists hope to woo a time-pressed but disenchanted or nostalgic readership, Erpenbeck smuggled metaphysics, politics and history.

Falls, feuds and fury: Miss Universe crowned after chaotic – and controversial – pageant

Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch has been crowned the 74th Miss Universe, after accusing an organiser in Thailand of insulting her

As contestants prepared to walk the runway for the 74th Miss Universe competition on Friday, the pageant’s organisers were in damage control.

“In light of recent public statements and social media posts, the Miss Universe Organization considers it necessary to clarify certain inaccuracies,” a statement by the organisation began. It was addressing allegations of vote rigging – but it could just have easily been referring to a myriad of other scandals the event has seen over recent weeks.

Winter has finally kicked in – it’s time to crack out the casserole dish and get stewing

The temperature has truly dropped, so get a pot of something warming and delicious going on the stove. Plus: Amy Poon’s perfect post-pub fare

• Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast

At the risk of sounding like a British cliche, can we take a moment to discuss the change in the weather? This week’s sudden drop in temperature has our house excited for potential snow (the children are giddy), with everything suddenly feeling a lot more wintry. New coats are on the hooks, thermals are being dug out and a casserole dish filled with some sort of soup, stew or stock seems to be permanently ticking away on the hob. These range from quick, warming weeknight dinners to leisurely, slow-cooked weekend meals.

Whatever the time of year, I always have speedy packets of wontons and gyozas in the freezer, and cook them depending on how I feel (fried and steamed versus boiled and soupy). At the moment, I am craving warmth and nourishment, and Meera Sodha’s quickish vegan wonton soup hits all the right spots; an added bonus is that it is a soup my children can get on board with, too. I rely on my brothy braised chicory and beans (pictured top) to get me through working-from-home lunches, when I don’t have much time, as well as Rukmini Iyer’s spiced black bean and tomato soup, which is equally speedy and comforting.