A Swedish city is being moved — building by building — amid Europe’s minerals push

Sweden's northernmost city of Kiruna is on the move because of ground subsidence from the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine.

Grenfell firms still receiving multimillion-pound public contracts, analysis finds

Survivors urge government to stop using suppliers cited in public inquiry into fire in which 72 people died

Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have called on the government to stop companies implicated in the disaster from receiving public contracts, after it was revealed several were still in receipt of multimillion-pound deals.

New analysis found at least 87 contracts across the public sector in the government’s own database involve companies criticised in the phase 2 report into the Grenfell fire, published in September 2024, though some contracts may have since expired.

Trump and Netanyahu to meet in Florida at a crucial moment for the Gaza ceasefire

President Trump could use the face-to-face at his Mar-a-Lago estate to look for ways to speed up the peace process, as Israel's leader has been accused of not pushing his side to move fast enough.

‘They want to destroy my career’: Kiwi Chow on life as a dissenting director in Hong Kong

With his new film rejected by official censors, the award-winning film-maker says he is being punished for his outspoken views

In Hong Kong, where dissent is now characterised by silence, few dare openly criticise the government or the Chinese Communist party (CCP) that controls it. Film-maker Kiwi Chow is one of the few.

“The Chinese Communist party’s practice is to try and destroy history and truth,” the 46-year-old director says from his home in the region. “It’s ridiculous that I can still live in Hong Kong without being in jail.”

‘Too important not to fight for’: Spain’s wine industry seeks infusion of new blood

Rural depopulation compounding challenges of climate emergency and changing technologies in drawing young people to sector

The huge concrete vats that have held countless litres of verdejo white wine in the 90 years since the Cuatro Rayas cooperative winery was founded are dwarfed by the stainless steels tanks that sit opposite and serve as reminders that, even in an enterprise as ancient as winemaking, times change.

Outside, a chilly but welcome rain falls on the surrounding vines, autumn-brown after another furnace-hot summer in the northern Spanish province of Valladolid. But changing technologies and the vagaries of the climate emergency are not the only challenges facing Spain’s €22.4bn (£20bn) wine industry.

Netanyahu to meet Trump in US amid fears of Israeli regional offensives

Israel’s PM travels to Mar-a-Lago as US administration reported to be running out of patience over Gaza ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday evening amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.

The Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday on his fifth visit to see Trump in the US this year.

The BBC tells the story of Britain in a way Netflix simply cannot. In the year to come, please remember that | Tony Hall

I love many shows on the streaming channels, but the BBC is our storyteller. It defines a nation and its culture – and we must defend it

• Tony Hall was director general of the BBC between April 2013 and August 2020

Don’t let President Trump cloud the real debate about the BBC. Of course, his demand for damages of no less than $5bn has dominated our thinking about the corporation over the past few weeks, as has its cause. But let’s get this into perspective. This was a serious own goal and journalists make mistakes. Salvation in this case would have been a line of script between the clips, or once a mistake had been discovered, a very speedy public acknowledgment. Now, though, the BBC is right not to yield on this. It has apologised. And, unlike other broadcasters and institutions in the United States, it doesn’t need the president’s support. This is a chance to demonstrate the BBC’s independence. Fight on.

But we must not let this cloud the debate here about the sort of BBC we all want and need, and I hope that is what dominates our conversation in the coming crucial year. The government’s green paper, published in December, starts off with a reminder of what, despite all its travails, the BBC delivers for the country. “It’s not just a broadcaster,” says the introduction, “it’s also a national institution … if it did not already exist, we would have to invent it.” The secretary of state, Lisa Nandy, is even more forthright: “I believe the BBC, alongside the NHS, is one of the two most important institutions in our country. While one is fundamental to the health of our people, the other is fundamental to the health of our democracy.” Seeing the BBC not just as a media organisation, but as a cultural organisation helping to define who we are is crucial to next year’s debate about what we want the BBC to be. It should be seen as part of our social infrastructure.

Georgina Hayden’s quick and easy recipe for pimento cheese and pickle loaded crisps | Quick and easy

Move over, nachos: a loaded crisp platter is the new party snack in town

Pimento cheese, a much-loved American spread, has been a permanent fixture in my kitchen this month. Whether it’s a quick sandwich filling in times of chaos or an effortless party dip, I am addicted. My favourite way to serve it, though, is as part of a loaded crisp platter. Use salted or pickle crisps, and load them up with spoonfuls of pimento cheese, sliced pickles, herbs and heat. Move over nachos, there’s a new crisp platter in town.

From data center spas to servers in space: How the energy crunch is reshaping cloud computing

Data centre developers and designers are starting to get creative.

China launches live-fire drills around Taiwan simulating blockade of major ports

Taipei condemns exercise that Chinese army calls ‘a stern warning against “Taiwan independence” separatist forces and external interference forces’

China has launched live-fire military drills around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of major ports, attacking maritime targets, and fending off international “interference”, in what it calls a warning to “separatist” forces in Taiwan.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – the military wing of the ruling Communist party in China – said it had sent naval, air force and rocket forces to surround Taiwan on Monday morning. Chinese coast guard vessels were also sent out to conduct “law enforcement inspections” at sea around Taiwan’s outer islands.

‘My target was just to take the gun’: wounded hero Ahmed al-Ahmed speaks of saving lives at Bondi beach

‘I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost,’ Ahmed tells CBS News of those who died in Bondi attack on 14 December

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Ahmed al-Ahmed, who disarmed one of the Bondi gunmen before being shot five times, says he knows his bravery saved many lives but is sad for those who were killed in the attack.

In an interview with CBS News, Ahmed said he “didn’t worry about anything” except for the lives he could save as he disarmed Sajid Akram on 14 December. The act was caught on camera and shared around the world.

‘I tried. I felt everything’: readers tell us how they would use their last chance to send a letter

With the Danish postal service ending its letter deliveries, we asked what you would put in your final envelope

At the end of December, the Danish postal service will deliver its last letter, focusing on packages, citing the “increasing digitalisation” of society.

While the public will still be able to send letters through the distributor DAO, it made us think about how we would use that last chance to send a letter.

The mystery of flight MH370: will a new search find the missing airliner after more than a decade?

In 2014 the Malaysian Airlines jet vanished over the Indian Ocean. Now the team that located Shackleton’s Endurance is looking again with the latest undersea robots

More than a decade after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing after veering thousands of miles off course, its location remains unknown.

The Malaysian government has promised to pay a private company, Ocean Infinity, $70m (£56m) to search for the plane on a “no find, no fee” basis.

Search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 expected to resume on Tuesday

Marine robotics firm to renew its search more than decade after plane disappeared with 239 people onboard

The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is expected to resume on 30 December, more than a decade after the plane disappeared with 239 people onboard in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

A renewed search by Ocean Infinity, a UK and US-based marine robotics company, had begun earlier this year but was called off in April because of bad weather.

What happened next: Maggots, rats and growing despair – a year of the Birmingham bin strike

Action began in January, before an all-out strike in March. For locals, the flytipping, vermin, maggots and mess are taking a huge environmental and emotional toll

It’s an icy cold winter morning, and 80-year-old Mohammed Bashir is armed with a broom, tackling the large pile of rubbish that has accumulated outside his terraced house in Small Heath, Birmingham.

This has become an almost daily activity for Bashir since the city’s bin strike started 50 weeks ago and, like many in the city, he is starting to lose patience.

‘That video saved our lives’: how women are defying the Taliban’s brutal crackdown on protest

The activist Zarmina Paryani speaks from exile in Germany about how Afghanistan has tried to silence the voices of women and girls since the 2021 takeover

It was nearly dark on 19 January 2022 when the knocking began. At first soft, then insistent, the sound echoed through the flat in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Zarmina Paryani and her sisters froze. They had known this day was coming.

“We always knew the risks of protesting and we were prepared to die on the streets,” the 26-year-old activist told the Guardian. “But I never imagined they would come for us like that – in the middle of the night, breaking into our home.”

The mood was jubilant at Italy’s far-right Atreju festival. But has Meloni’s success peaked? | Jamie Mackay

The prime minister has been lauded for her country’s growing role on the world stage. But poverty and precarity are forcing vast numbers to emigrate

Earlier this month, the gardens of Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo were filled with families enjoying some unseasonably warm sun by a pop-up ice rink. Teenage couples skated hand in hand, while the watching crowds sipped mulled wine and hot chocolate to a soundtrack of Nat King Cole. At first glance, it looked like a normal Christmas market. The stands, however, revealed a different reality. Among the nativity displays and kitsch decorations were adverts for nationalist newspapers and something called “patriot radio”. On a wall near the kids’ play area, a mural depicted an unlikely cast of characters, tracing a lineage from the fascist poet Gabriele D’Annunzio to the late American Maga influencer Charlie Kirk.

This was the setup I witnessed at this year’s Atreju, Italy’s biggest rightwing festival, which has been running since 1998 as an annual celebration of patriotism and nationalism. During the early editions, proud neo-fascists, including black-hooded thugs from street movements such as CasaPound and Forza Nuova, made up a visible portion of the attenders. At this year’s event, however, the Celtic crosses and odal rune tattoos were tucked under well-ironed shirts. The crowd was made up of nerdy students, gen-Z influencers, civil society campaigners and passersby who had been lured off the street by the glittery lights.

Jamie Mackay is a writer and translator based in Florence

Heat, drought and fire: how extreme weather pushed nature to its limits in 2025

National Trust says these are ‘alarm signals we cannot ignore’ as climate breakdown puts pressure on wildlife

Extremes of weather have pushed nature to its limits in 2025, putting wildlife, plants and landscapes under severe pressure, an annual audit of flora and fauna has concluded.

Bookended by storms Éowyn and Bram, the UK experienced a sun-soaked spring and summer, resulting in fierce heath and moorland fires, followed by autumn floods.

Passengers on cruise ship that ran aground off PNG to be flown home after refloat efforts fail

Coral Adventurer, being investigated for allegedly leaving behind passenger who died, ran aground with 124 people on board on Saturday

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An Australian cruise ship remains stuck on a reef off Papua New Guinea despite efforts to free it, with passengers set to be flown home early.

The Coral Adventurer, which ran aground on Saturday morning, was already under investigation as a result of an unrelated incident in October, in which a passenger died after being allegedly left behind on an island. It was on its first voyage since the passenger’s death when it ran aground.

Here are some people you’ll find in every local community Facebook group | Jess Harwood

Some of them are exactly the kind of members you want to meet, others … not so much

12/24: CBS Evening News

Her Altadena home survived a wildfire, but now she faces the threat of mudslides; Why flamingos are returning to Florida

Tracking winter "bomb cyclone" snarling flights. Maps show the latest forecast

More than 51 million Americans live in areas under winter storm alerts stretching from northern Minnesota to the Eastern Seaboard.

Grave fears for woman missing in SA outback for 16 days as search renewed

Police are expanding aerial searches near where the abandoned car of 41-year-old Trisha Graf was found

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South Australian police hold grave fears for a woman missing in the outback for 16 days and have renewed search efforts near where her car was found abandoned.

Trisha Graf was last seen in the early hours of Friday 12 December in the Roxby Downs area, 510km north of Adelaide.

Helicopters collide above New Jersey, 1 pilot dead, another critically injured

One pilot is dead and another has life-threatening injuries after the helicopters they were operating collided in mid-air above New Jersey, about 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia. CBS Philadelphia's Ray Strickland has more.

Usman Khawaja locked in for fifth Ashes Test with ‘no indication’ of retirement plans

• Australia coach Andrew McDonald guarantees veteran will play at SCG

• 39-year-old’s future beyond series finale against England still in doubt

Australia coach Andrew McDonald has guaranteed Usman Khawaja will play at the SCG, but is unsure if it will be the veteran’s last Test.

After turning 39 earlier in December, Khawaja’s future will continue to be a talking point until he announces his retirement.

Inside the effort to bring back California condors

More than a dozen California condors born in captivity are getting their first flights of freedom. Joy Benedict reports.

Brazilian ex-president Bolsonaro’s treatment for persistent hiccups touches a nerve

Doctors say they blocked his right phrenic nerve in procedure that took place after jailed former president was hospitalised last week for hernia operation

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro underwent “a phrenic nerve block procedure” on Saturday to treat his persistent hiccups, his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, said on social media.

The doctors treating Bolsonaro said later that they blocked the right phrenic nerve and scheduled a new procedure in 48 hours to block the left one.

Large gas leak north of Los Angeles shuts down interstate

Utility crews in California are trying to determine the cause of a rupture in a massive natural gas line that forced a major interstate to shut down. Andres Gutierrez has more.

Trump meets with Zelenskyy, insists Putin is ready for peace

President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone before meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida on Sunday. Mr. Trump said he thinks both men are ready for peace. Willie James Inman reports.

Another massive storm snarling travel across the country

A new storm system is threatening to complicate post-holiday travel across the country. This weekend, messy weather delayed or cancelled thousands of flights, many of them in the Northeast. Shanelle Kaul reports from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport and CBS News meteorologist Andrew Kozak has a look at the forecast.

Humphries given almighty scare by Clemens magic at PDC World Championship

The 2024 world champion won but faced an unexpected test against a man whose game had basically been in hibernation for three years

Everyone says they want a good solid test at this stage of the tournament. Keep the skills sharp, keep the mind keen. But how big a test? How tough? How many beats per minute? How much spinal fluid do you want to shed? How close do you really want to get to smelling the paint on the exit door?

Luke Humphries reckons he got it about right here, and for now we will have to take his word for it. But the outpouring of emotion we saw at the conclusion of his 4-2 win over Gabriel Clemens was a measure of just how thoroughly the 2024 world champion had been rattled by a man whose game had basically been in hibernation for the past three years.

Trump says ‘a lot closer’ to Ukraine peace deal after Zelenskyy meeting, though thorny issues remain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was scheduled to arrive at Mar-a-Lago in President Donald Trump's latest attempt to end the war with Russia.

AI being used to help cut A&E waiting times in England this winter

Forecasting tool predicts when demand will be highest, allowing NHS trusts to better plan staffing and bed space

Hospitals in England are using articificial intelligence to help cut waiting times in emergency departments this winter.

The A&E forecasting tool predicts when demand will be highest, allowing trusts to better plan staffing and bed space. The prediction algorithm is trained on historical data including weather trends, school holidays, and rates of flu and Covidto determine how many people are likely to visit A&E.

Energetic Manchester City have lifted last season’s fog, says Pep Guardiola

• City second after six straight Premier League wins

• ‘We have to improve but this mindset is better’

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City have regained the energy that eluded them last season and lifted the “fog” that clouded a disappointing campaign. City finished without a major trophy for the first time since 2016-17, Guardiola’s first in charge, but are hunting a seventh Premier League title under him after six straight wins.

Rayan Cherki struck late on at Nottingham Forest on Saturday to maintain City’s impressive winning run, which extends to eight in all competitions. Second-placed City are two points behind leaders Arsenal, who host third-placed Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. City do not return to action until Thursday, when they face high-flying Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Afcon roundup: Mozambique stun Gabon to end 40-year wait for win

• Bangal, Catamo and Calila score in 3-2 victory

• Diallo on target as Côte d’Ivoire draw with Cameroon

Mozambique ended a 40-year wait for victory at the Africa Cup of Nations as they beat Gabon 3-2 in Agadir.

Goals from Faisal Bangal, Geny Catamo and Diogo Calila earned the southern African side a deserved victory in which they were led by 42-year-old winger Elias Pelembe. It is their first win at the continental finals since their debut in 1986 in what was their 17th game.

Titanic Sinks Tonight review – it’s like you’re reliving that terrifying night

Our grim fascination with the doomed ship shows no sign of abating – so here’s a four-parter which makes it feel like you’re onboard. A truly intense watch

April 2026 will mark 114 years since the night that the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg, but our grim fascination with the disaster shows no sign of abating. There was, of course, a surge of interest in the Titanic in the late 90s – thanks to James Cameron’s Oscar-bothering blockbuster – and there has been a steady stream of documentaries, dramas and podcasts about its demise ever since, some more sensitive than others (among the less tactful offerings: the 2010 film Titanic II – directed by Dick Van Dyke’s grandson Shane – a cash-in about a replica ship ravaged by a tsunami). Occasionally, the subject matter lurches starkly from the past back into the present. In June 2023, five people died on board an experimental submersible made by the company OceanGate; its passengers had hoped to see the liner’s rusting wreckage up close.

Titanic Sinks Tonight is a part-documentary, part-drama series playing across four nights, its episodes constructed from letters and diaries written by those on board, as well as interviews the survivors would give in the decades after. On the strength of the two episodes released for review, there’s no denying that it sates our appetite for Titanic-themed content. However, in centring the words and memories of those who lived through the terror of that night, it restores much-needed agency to those people. It also does well to bring a sense of reality to events that can sometimes feel unreal on account of their ubiquity, and that uncanny valley of Titanic-themed media. Central to its success is the presence of experts such as historian Suzannah Lipscomb and former Royal Navy admiral Lord West, to sharpen the corners of the story that Hollywood has sanded down.

NFL round-up: Seahawks close in on NFC’s top seed with win over Carolina

• Ewers hits rookie deep ball as Dolphins edge Bucs

• Chase, Burrow power Bengals past lowly Cardinals

• Maye throws five as Patriots rout Jets, clinch mark

Zach Charbonnet ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns, and the Seattle Seahawks turned two third-quarter Carolina turnovers into TDs to beat the Panthers 27-10 on Sunday and close in on the No 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Sam Darnold threw an interception in the end zone but finished 18 of 27 for 147 yards with a touchdown for the Seahawks, who can wrap up the NFC West title and the top seed if the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams both lose or tie.

'Bomb cyclone' forecasted to bring heavy snow, blizzard conditions and dangerous travel

A 'bomb cyclone' is intensifying severe winter weather for millions of people across the U.S. The system is expected to knock out power and disrupt holiday travel.

Oliver Glasner suffering severe post-Christmas blues at Crystal Palace | Jonathan Wilson

Manager may have taken club as far as he can while Archie Gray offers hope to Tottenham and Thomas Frank

Perhaps it’s appropriate that the last Premier League game of the Christmas weekend shouldn’t be a thriller. You’ve spent four days eating and drinking, the belly is straining at the belt, work is looming on Monday and there’s a dreadful sense that the holiday is over and you’ll soon have to get back to mundane chores: defrosting the freezer, filing the tax return, shopping for real food that might actually have some nutritional value.

For neutrals, this was the ideal game for dozing through on the sofa. Very little happened, and almost none of what did was pleasing on the eye, with the possible exception of the two passages of play Tottenham put together that led to Richarlison scoring goals that were subsequently ruled out for offside. At the start of play it was ninth v 14th and in the first half especially, it looked like it. It was bitty, scrappy, ugly, and included many of the worst elements of Long Throw Britain.

One child dead and another in hospital after house fire in Kent

Emergency services say ‘intense fire’ spread throughout semi-detached property in Hamstreet near Ashford

A child has died after a house fire in Kent, emergency services have said.

Another child and an adult were taken to hospital after the blaze occurred in White Admiral Way in the village of Hamstreet, near Ashford, on Sunday.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Dec. 28, 2025

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, CBS News correspondents Major Garrett, Robert Costa, Jan Crawford, Jennifer Jacobs and Scott MacFarlane join Margaret Brennan.

Bernie Sanders criticizes AI as ‘the most consequential technology in humanity’

Republican senator Katie Britt also proposes AI companies be criminally liable if they expose minors to harmful ideas

US senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to economic insecurity for millions of Americans – and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democratic party, said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was “fearful of a lot” when it came to AI. And the senator called it “the most consequential technology in the history of humanity” that will “transform” the US and the world in ways that had not been fully discussed.

Ella Baron on Trump and Zelenskyy’s Ukraine peace talks – cartoon

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Kyrgios defeats Sabalenka but Battle of the Sexes veers too close to circus

Nick Kyrgios won 6-3, 6-3 against Aryna Sabalenka in an intriguing Dubai contest with celebrity interruptions

Nick Kyrgios won tennis’s latest Battle of the Sexes against Aryna Sabalenka in a dispiriting contest in Dubai that veered uneasily between exhibition, gimmick and outright circus.

The Australian, who has won only one competitive singles match since the end of 2022 and has slipped to 671 in the world rankings, was sweating heavily and breathing hard as early as the fifth game of the match. Yet to no one’s great surprise, the extreme power of his serve, combined with the spin and velocity of his groundstrokes, proved too much for the women’s No 1 player.

Brigitte Bardot’s image complicated by her controversial politics

Film star turned animal rights activist was anti-immigration and was repeatedly convicted of racial hatred, particularly towards Muslims

• Brigitte Bardot – a life in pictures

Brigitte Bardot, hailed as the French Marilyn Monroe, was the first major film star to channel her glamour and fame into supporting France’s far right, who she backed for more than 30 years.

Up until her death on Sunday, Bardot had expressed her contentment at Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party’s rising share of the vote before the 2027 presidential race.

England attack’s holiday fling might be the start of something more serious | Barney Ronay

If Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse can repeat their MCG displays, this may be more than a marriage of convenience

What does it mean? How should we feel? What are the roots that clutch? What branches grow out of this stony rubbish? For most of its combined 142 overs, watching England’s fourth Test victory in Melbourne felt like drifting in and out of a drunken sleep while trying and failing to follow the plot of a particularly gruelling action movie.

Why is this car chase happening? Why is The Rock defusing a torpedo inside a collapsing Maya temple? Why are they running to the top of the nearest generic tall building for this final, final, final showdown? Wait. Will Jacks is playing?

Russia sends 3 Iranian satellites into orbit, report says

The report said that a Russian rocket sent the satellites on Sunday from a launchpad in eastern Russia.

The Guardian view on the new space race: humanity risks exporting its old politics to the moon | Editorial

Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today we look skyward, where a new lunar contest mirrors humanity’s struggle to live within planetary limits

During the cold war’s space race, the Apollo moon missions were driven by the need to prove American superiority. Having made that political and technological point with the 1969 moon landing, the contest between Moscow and Washington petered out. A new dash across the skies kicks off in 2026, reigniting geopolitical competition under the guise of “peaceful exploration”. The moon’s south pole is emerging as the most valuable real estate in the solar system, offering “peaks of eternal light” for solar arrays and ice deposits in craters shielded from the sun.

The US and a China-led bloc are eyeing the lunar surface and its potential to control a post-terrestrial economy. Space had been humanity’s last commons, supposedly shielded by the 1967 UN outer space treaty that bans state exploitation of the heavens. It is vague, however, on private claims – a loophole that is now fuelling a tycoon-led scramble for the stars. The aim is obvious: to act first, shape norms and dare others to object. Two lunar missions launching next year– Nasa’s Artemis II and China’s Chang’e 7 – are competing for strategic supremacy.

Affordale Fury holds off Cheltenham Gold Cup and Aintree winners to take Savills Chase

• Seven-year-old makes Leopardstown breakthrough

• Galopin Des Champs and I Am Maximus beaten

The two most recent winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup were among the 11 runners for the Grade One Savills Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday but neither could match the strength and resilience of a resurgent Affordale Fury, as Noel Meade’s seven-year-old made his breakthrough at the highest level after an injury-plagued career to date.

Affordale Fury was the 150-1 runner-up in the three-mile Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in March 2023, but his career since has included breaks of 438 and 241 days and Sunday’s race was just his fifth chase start outside novice company.

Family pay tribute to man who died after assault outside Leicestershire pub

David Darke sustained fatal injuries in incident outside the Crown Inn in Appleby Magna, police say

The relatives of a 66-year-old man who died days after being punched outside a village pub have paid tribute to the “devoted family man”.

David Darke, who died in hospital on Saturday, was injured outside the Crown Inn in Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, on 21 December.

Tories and Labour face questions over support for activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah

Dissident was freed by Egypt after campaign by successive UK governments but offensive posts have surfaced

The decision by successive UK governments to campaign for the release and return of British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been called into question after past violent and offensive social media posts came to light.

The dissident’s historical remarks – in which he appeared to call for violence towards “Zionists” and the police – have prompted a widespread backlash since his return from detention in Egypt on Friday.

Airlines cancel 1,400 more flights but disruptions from winter storm ease. Here’s what to know

Airlines waived change fees ahead of a large winter storm and low temperatures after Christmas holiday.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Dec. 28)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

‘Rise in deaths’ predicted as amber cold health alerts issued in northern England

UKHSA warns vulnerable and elderly people may be at risk with temperatures to drop severely overnight

Amber cold health alerts have been issued for northern England, with low temperatures predicted to cause a “rise in deaths” among vulnerable and elderly people.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued two amber warnings for north-east and north-west England, which will be in place between 8pm on Sunday until midday on Monday 5 January.

11/23: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as Secretary of State Rubio and other administration officials meet with European allies in Geneva about the administration's 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Olga Stefanishyna and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul join. Plus, Sen. Mark Kelly and Rep. Jason Crow, two of the Democrats who President Trump accused of "seditious behavior," join.

Nature: Sunrise in Texas

We leave you this last Sunday of 2025 with sunrise at the Great Trinity Forest in Dallas, Texas. Videographer: Scot Miller.

2025: The year in photos

"Sunday Morning" looks back at some of the most memorable news images of the past year.

Elon Musk warns of impact of record silver prices before China limits exports

Metal ‘needed in many industrial processes’, says Tesla boss as supply fears grow over price surge and new rules

A surge in the price of silver to record highs this month has prompted a warning from Elon Musk that manufacturers could suffer the consequences.

Silver has risen sharply during December, part of a precious metals rally that also pushed gold and platinum to record levels on Boxing Day.

"Hail and farewell": A tribute to those we lost in 2025

"Sunday Morning" looks back at some of the newsworthy men and women who passed away this year – from musicians and storytellers, to activists and statesmen – who touched us with their creativity and humanity.

South Korean mine could soon supply the U.S. with a critical mineral

The Sangdong mine contains millions of tons of tungsten, known as a war metal that can withstand extraordinary temperatures, something the U.S. desperately needs for defense.

"Hail and Farewell": A tribute to those we lost in 2025

"Sunday Morning" correspondent Lee Cowan remembers some of the newsworthy men and women who passed away this year – musicians, artists and storytellers who surpassed the ordinary; politicians who defied expectations; and activists who fought for justice – all touching us with their creativity and humanity.

Luke Burbank on making realistic New Year's resolutions

Forget about hitting the gym, or signing up for a foreign language app. Luke Burbank resolves to do far better with his New Year's resolutions in 2026 by committing to goals he can actually keep … probably.

Luke Burbank on making realistic New Year's resolutions

Forget about hitting the gym, or signing up for a foreign language app. Luke Burbank resolves to do far better with his New Year's resolutions in 2026 by committing to goals he can actually keep … probably.

New York snow and baby gibbons: photos of the weekend

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

The history of the New Year's Eve ball drop

Since 1907, New Yorkers have marked the New Year with the ceremonial dropping of a huge ball in Times Square. Now, a brand-new ball, covered with more than 5,000 handcrafted Waterford Crystal discs, will help ring in 2026.

These United States: New Year's Eve ball drop

Since 1907, New Yorkers have marked the New Year with the ceremonial dropping of a huge ball in Times Square. Mo Rocca examines the new Constellation Ball, covered with more than 5,000 handcrafted Waterford Crystal discs, that will help ring in 2026.

Texas father rescues kidnapped 15-year-old daughter after tracking her phone’s location

Authorities say they arrested a man, 23, for kidnapping teen in a Houston suburb as she walked her dog on Christmas

A Texas father used the parental controls on his teenage daughter’s cell phone to find and help rescue her after she was kidnapped at knifepoint while walking her dog on Christmas, authorities allege.

The 15-year-old girl at the center of a case, which quickly gained national attention in the US over the weekend, was reportedly kidnapped in the Houston suburb of Porter. Her parents said she took her dog for a walk and had not returned by the time she was supposed to, according to a statement from the Montgomery county sheriff’s office.

Josh Seftel's mom on cannabis

Filmmaker Josh Seftel's mother, Pat, is having trouble sleeping. Could marijuana gummies be the answer?

US strikes on IS targets in Nigeria may only fan the flames of insurgent violence | Onyedikachi Madueke

The public is looking for relief from terrorism and violence. But Donald Trump’s words bolster narratives of foreign ‘crusader’ aggression

The response of Nigerians to the airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Sokoto state, north-western Nigeria are complicated. The rationale behind them has been widely opposed, but the strikes themselves have been welcomed.

The airstrikes were framed as a response to what have been described as genocidal attacks on Christians in the country. But the Nigerian authorities have consistently rejected this narrative, arguing that armed groups in the country do not discriminate based on religion, and that Christians and Muslims largely coexist peacefully. Ironically, it was Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in November that deepened Muslim-Christian tensions. Many northerners, who are predominantly Muslim, blamed southern Nigerians for championing a narrative that ultimately resulted in US sanctions and international stigma.

Onyedikachi Madueke is a security analyst at the University of Aberdeen

Top news headlines of 2025 month-by-month

From political upheavals and gun violence, to the first American-born pope, "Sunday Morning" host Jane Pauley looks back at key events of a transformative year in U.S. history.

Top news headlines of 2025 month-by-month

From political upheavals and gun violence, to the first American-born pope, "Sunday Morning" host Jane Pauley looks back at key events of a transformative year in U.S. history.

Good news you may have missed in 2025

The bad news from the past year (and there was a lot of it) drowned out much of the GOOD news that made smaller headlines. David Pogue reports on some of 2025's best underreported stories.

Good news you may have missed in 2025

The bad news from the past year (and there was a lot of it) drowned out much of the GOOD news that made smaller headlines. David Pogue reports on some of 2025's best underreported stories, from biodegradable plastics to aiding migratory birds.

On these in-between days I’m ‘growing down’, sinking into the present moment and savouring small delights | Nadine Levy

My centre of gravity has shifted. The holidays are no longer something to construct but something to receive

• Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life

Just over a year ago, my mother died. It was a few months after my second baby was born and a month before Christmas. She was the last in the generation above me, and this fact reordered things in ways that are only just revealing themselves.

This time last year, I was still unravelling – months of hospitals, grief and the unmanageable weight of suffering pressing into my postpartum body.

Viral global TikToks: A twist on soccer, Tanzania's Charlie Chaplin, hope in Gaza

TikToks are everywhere (well, except countries like Australia and India, where they've been banned.) We talk to the creators of some of the year's most popular reels from the Global South.

‘You know what I like’: Epstein files reveal disgraced financier’s routine abuse of girls

Released documents detail the assembly line-like process with which Jeffrey Epstein procured underage victims

By the mid-2000s, Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teen girls was routine. From 2002 to 2005 alone, the late financier victimized “dozens” of underage teens by luring them into sex acts for payment under the auspices of massage work, some as young as 14, prosecutors said.

Epstein leaned on a coterie of employees and associates – including British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – to secure a “steady supply of minor victims”. He also enlisted his victims to recruit other girls under the false pretense of providing massages, prosecutors said.

New Year’s easy: Honey & Co’s one-pot chicken and rice with amba

Swerve the stress on New Year’s Eve and serve up a buffet comprising one big dish with plenty of sides, like this chicken and rice with amba, an amazing, tangy Iraqi condiment

New Year’s Eve has always struck me as the most treacherous of nights. Not because of the drink, or the fireworks, or the pressure of staying awake past midnight (although that alone should qualify as an endurance sport). Like Valentine’s Day and your birthday, what makes New Year’s Eve perilous is the collective insistence that this night has to deliver: the best meal, the best party, the best version of ourselves. High expectations that will inevitably lead to disappointment, and haven’t we had our fair share of that already?

There was one year in the restaurant when we convinced ourselves that the only way to rise to the occasion was a set menu of showstoppers. We thought we had predicted everything, and we assumed (boldly, wrongly) that everyone would choose the chocolate dessert. It made sense: who wouldn’t want chocolate on the most celebratory night of the year? So the tarte tatin went on the menu as a polite alternative, a back-up singer, not the star. Except, of course, everyone wanted the tarte tatin.

Restaurants' hottest menu item in 2025 was 'value.' That won't change next year

Restaurant chains bet on value in 2025, and they're not likely to ditch the strategy next year.

Trump says Ukraine peace deal ‘closer than ever’ after meeting with Zelenskyy in Florida

US president said ‘thorny’ questions over territory have yet to be resolved and expressed sympathy with Russia not wanting a ceasefire

Donald Trump has said a deal to end the war in Ukraine is “closer than ever” but has admitted that “thorny” questions over the future of the eastern Donbas region have yet to be resolved, after a two-hour meeting on Sunday with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida.

Trump said a draft agreement to end the war was nearly “95% done”. “I really think we are closer than ever with both sides,” he said, adding that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, also wants to “see it happen”.

Book excerpt: "Black Moses" by Caleb Gayle

The award-winning journalist's latest book recounts the rise of Edward McCabe, an activist who, during Reconstruction, lobbied for a Black-governed state in the Oklahoma Territory.

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.

Man says wife was killed by pipe coming through car windshield

Todd Kendhammer said his wife Barbara was killed in a freak accident, but a Wisconsin jury didn't believe him. Can his new attorneys upend the case with what they say is critical new evidence?

Dining across the divide: ‘There’s nothing more irritating than being told you’re an idiot by a teenager’

Two film producers discuss second homes, the use of the word ‘woke’, and the importance of the BBC. Could they find any common ground?

Alex, 28, London

Occupation Assistant producer for documentaries

‘It’s no romcom’: why the real Wuthering Heights is too extreme for the screen

The new film adaptation by Saltburn director Emerald Fennell looks set to be provocative – but nowhere near as shocking as Emily Brontë’s original

The most astonishing thing about the first trailer for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is not the extreme closeup of dough being kneaded into submission. It’s not that in the lead roles Margot Robbie is blonde and 35, and Jacob Elordi is white, when Emily Brontë described Cathy as a teen brunette and Heathcliff as “a dark-skinned gypsy”. It’s not the gaudy splendour of the interiors – silver walls, plaster Greek gods spewing strings of pearls, blood-red floors and a flesh-pink wall for clutching and licking. It’s not Robbie’s gobstopper diamonds or her scarlet sunglasses or her stuffing grass into her mouth or the loud snip of her corset laces being slashed with a knife or her elaborately – erotically – bound hair as she contemplates multiple silver cake stands stacked with vertiginous fruit puddings. It’s not any of her dresses – the red latex number or the perfectly 1980s off-the-shoulder wedding dress topped by yards of veil half-wuthered off her head. Nor is it any of the times Elordi takes his top off.

The most astonishing thing is that the trailer says Wuthering Heights is “the greatest love story of all time”. Which is almost exactly how the 1939 Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon film was trailed – as “the greatest love story of our time … or any time!” Have we learned nothing? I am not talking about the fact that (like Oberon’s!) Robbie’s wedding dress is white, which is not period-correct. This has exercised many people on the internet. I’m more worried about the fact that almost a century since Olivier’s film, we are still calling it a love story – a great one! The greatest! It’s being released the day before Valentine’s Day! – when what actually happens is that Cathy rejects Heathcliff because she’s a snob, and he turns into a psychopath.

Could AI relationships actually be good for us?

From companionship to psychotherapy, technology could meet unmet needs – but it needs to be handled responsibly

There is much anxiety these days about the dangers of human-AI relationships. Reports of suicide and self-harm attributable to interactions with chatbots have understandably made headlines. The phrase “AI psychosis” has been used to describe the plight of people experiencing delusions, paranoia or dissociation after talking to large language models (LLMs). Our collective anxiety has been compounded by studies showing that young people are increasingly embracing the idea of AI relationships; half of teens chat with an AI companion at least a few times a month, with one in three finding conversations with AI “to be as satisfying or more satisfying than those with real‑life friends”.

But we need to pump the brakes on the panic. The dangers are real, but so too are the potential benefits. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that – depending on what future scientific research reveals – AI relationships could actually be a boon for humanity.

‘When you plant something, it dies’: Brazil’s first arid zone is a stark warning for the whole country

The Caatinga in the north-east has been transformed by the heating climate in just a generation and could become the country’s first desert

Every Tuesday at dawn, Raildon Suplício Maia goes to the market in Macururé, in Brazil’s Bahia state, to sell goats. He haggles with buyers to get a good price for the animals, which are reared in the open and roam freely.

Goats are the main – and sometimes only – source of income for the people of Macururé, a small town in the Brazilian sertão. This rural hinterland in the country’s north-east is known for its dry climate and harsh conditions.

Raildon Suplicio Maia, a goat farmer from Macururé sells his animals at the market. Grazing has disappeared and he now spends any profit on feed

This is how we do it: ‘As we’re newlyweds there’s a pressure to always be at it. We’ve even had sex in a train toilet’

Maddy feels insecure if Luke isn’t in the mood, while he worries that he doesn’t measure up to her exes. But ultimately, their marriage has given the couple new freedom

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I would tell him about my hook-ups, including a threesome I’d had

Memory loss: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too.

Brigitte Bardot, sex goddess of cinema, has died

Legendary screen siren and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91. The alluring former model starred in numerous movies, often playing the highly sexualized love interest.

Snow-covered Mount Etna erupts spewing lava and ash – video

Italy's most active volcano erupted on Saturday, prompting scientists to issue a red Volcano Observatory notice for aviation, signalling a potential risk for aircraft. Despite the alert, authorities said flights continued operating normally at Catania-Fontanarossa airport, adding that no disruption was expected unless ashfall increased

For Ukrainians, a nuclear missile museum is a bitter reminder of what the country gave up

The Museum of Strategic Missile Forces tells the story of how Ukraine dismantled its nuclear weapons arsenal after independence in 1991. Today many Ukrainians believe that decision to give up nukes was a mistake.

Saving Kyiv’s heritage: a city rebuilding itself in the shadow of war

Volunteers and neighbours are restoring the century-old homes as an act of defiance against Russia’s assault

Lesia Danylenko proudly showed off her new front door. Volunteers had nicknamed its elegant transom window the “croissant”, a nod to its curved shape. “I think it’s more of a peacock,” she said, admiring its branch-like details. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who celebrated with two pavement parties.

It was also an act of resistance against Russia, she explained: “We are trying to live like normal people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way. We’re not afraid of staying in Ukraine. I could have left the country and moved away to Italy or Germany. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance shows our commitment to our homeland.”

‘We are no longer apologising’: Éanna Hardwicke on Ireland’s cultural confidence and what it’s like to play Roy Keane

Currently on stage in a play that provoked riots, the rising Irish actor is also stepping into Keane’s boots to replay a notorious footballing feud. But, he says, his country feels more empowered than ever before

Éanna Hardwicke cannot really remember Saipan. Not Saipan the place, a small Pacific Island 200km north-east of Guam. Nor, thankfully, Saipan the film, in which he stars, and which I’m hoping to discuss with him at length this afternoon. No, he means Saipan the incident, Saipan the event, Saipan the crisis that has baffled and incensed Ireland’s population for a quarter of a century.

We are sitting in a pleasantly boxy meeting room deep within the lungs of the National Theatre, a space so starkly concrete that the current king of England once described it as a clever way of building a nuclear power plant in the middle of London without anyone objecting. Hardwicke himself sports the quiet, thoughtful presence of a literature student, at times speaking like a particularly articulate MA who’s popped round to deliver a treatise on some dramatic works he just happens to be starring in. He’s here rehearsing a play that forms another contentious landmark in Ireland’s cultural history, but we’ll get to that once we move past the summer he turned five.

Through the lens of history, Trump's legacy will be more of a blotch than a Maga masterpiece | Simon Tisdall

Take this hopeful thought into 2026: the tyrants we endure always falter, and their ‘seismic’ upheavals are usually false dawns

For those who lived through the cold war, the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, was an unforgettable moment. The sinister watch towers with their searchlights and armed guards, the minefields in no-man’s land, the notorious Checkpoint Charlie border post, and the Wall itself – all were swept aside in an extraordinary, popular lunge for freedom.

Less than a month later, on 3 December 1989, at a summit in Malta, US president George HW Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that after more than 40 years, the cold war was over. All agreed it was a historic turning point.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Brigitte Bardot: the zeitgeist-force who was France’s most sensational export | Peter Bradshaw

Bardot titillated the world for five decades, but the controversy and voyeurism surrounding her shouldn’t overshadow an intriguing film career

• Brigitte Bardot dies aged 91

• A life in pictures

Bardot … there was a time when it couldn’t be pronounced without a knowing pout on the second syllable. French headline-writers loved calling the world’s most desirable film star by her initials: “BB”, that is: bébé, a bit of weirdly infantilised tabloid pillow-talk. When Brigitte Bardot retired from the movies in the mid-70s, taking up the cause of animal rights and a ban on the import of baby seals, the French press took to calling her BB-phoque, a homophone of the French for “baby seal” with a nasty hint of an Anglo pun. But France’s love affair with Bardot was to curdle, despite her fierce patriotism and admiration for Charles de Gaulle (the feeling was reciprocated). As her animal rights campaigning morphed in the 21st century into an attack on halal meat, and then into shrill attacks on the alleged “Islamicisation” of France, her relations with the modern world curdled even more.

In the 1950s, before the sexual revolution, before the New Wave, before feminism, there was Bardot: she was sex, she was youth, and, more to the point, Bardot was modernity. She was the unacknowledged zeitgeist force that stirred cinema’s young lions such as François Truffaut against the old order. Bardot was the country’s most sensational cultural export; she was in effect the French Beatles, a liberated, deliciously shameless screen siren who made male American moviegoers gulp and goggle with desire in that puritan land where sex on screen was still not commonplace, and in which sexiness had to be presented in a demure solvent of comedy. Bardot may not have had the comedy skills of a Marilyn Monroe, but she had ingenuous charm and real charisma, a gentleness and sweetness, largely overlooked in the avalanche of prurience and sexist condescension.

Trump says Ukraine and Russia 'closer than ever' to peace after talks with Zelenskyy

President Donald Trump's comments came shortly after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort. But he acknowledged talks could still break down.

‘Almost collapsed’: behind the Korean film crisis and why K-pop isn’t immune

Both industries dominate the world but now face fundamental transformation and uncertainty at home

South Korea’s entertainment dominance appears unshakeable. From BTS conquering global charts to Parasite sweeping the Oscars in 2020 and Korean dramas topping Netflix, Korean popular culture has never been more visible. Exports driven by the country’s arts hit a record $15.18bn (£11bn) in 2024, cementing the country’s reputation as a cultural superpower.

But inside South Korea, the two industries that helped build the Korean Wave – cinema and K-pop – are now experiencing fundamental transformations, with their survival strategies potentially undermining the creative foundations of their success.

Nepal TV host and ex-rapper mayor form alliance for election after youth revolt

Kathmandu mayor Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah will run for prime minister with presenter Rabi Lamichhane’s party after deadly protests that ousted government

Two of Nepal’s most popular political leaders have formed an alliance ahead of next year’s election in the wake of deadly youth-led protests earlier in the year that ousted the government.

Television host Rabi Lamichhane, the 51-year-old chairperson of the Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP), and the 35-year-old rapper turned Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah pledged to address the demands of the younger generation following September’s deadly anti-corruption protests.

The Cat by Georges Simenon review – Maigret author’s tale of a toxic marriage

The Belgian author’s genius comes to the fore in a dark domestic drama

The more one reads of Georges Simenon, the stranger the writer and his writings become. His novels, most of them composed in a week or two, are simple, straightforward, shallow-seeming even, but below the surface lie dark and fathomless depths.

Many readers will know him as the creator of Commissioner Jules Maigret of the Paris Police Judiciaire, the most unpretentious, humane and convincing of the great fictional detectives. However, his finest work is to be found in what he called his romans durs, or hard novels, including such masterpieces as Dirty Snow, Monsieur Monde Vanishes and the jauntily horrifying The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By. Now, Penguin Classics has launched a series of 20 of the romans durs in new translations, starting with The Cat, originally published in French in 1967.

Baggy, carrot, flared or barrel – which were the jeans of 2025?

If you think a year is a long time in politics, it’s even longer in the world of denim. Where once there was a universal shape that was ‘trendy’, now jeans of all shapes and sizes are enjoying moments in the saddle

Never has there been a more fickle or divisive piece of clothing.

Jeans, patented 152 years ago as workwear, have the power to make a wearer feel either on-trend or old fashioned, depending on their cut, wash and length and, most importantly, timing. As we bid farewell to 2025, it’s hard to decipher what exactly the jean of the year has been.