Grok let users post altered photos of minors in "minimal clothing"

Grok, the chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, said it is fixing "lapses in safeguards" after social media users said it was generating sexualized photos of minors.

Stefon Diggs makes first comments amid criminal charges

Stefon Diggs, the New England Patriots' wide receiver, spoke to the media for the first time since it was revealed he is facing criminal charges.

Ohio police seek suspect in fatal shooting of dentist and his wife

Officers in Columbus, Ohio, were dispatched to the couple's home on the morning Dec. 30 for a welfare check and found them dead at the scene.

PDC World Championship darts semi-finals: Van Veen v Anderson, Littler sees off Searle – live

• Defending champion fights back to win 6-1

• Follow us on Bluesky | And get in touch: email Niall

First set: *Littler (0) 0-1 Searle (0) *denotes next to throw first Searle gets down to 56 and takes it out with Littler waiting on double top. “Ryan, Ryan, Searle” chant the crowd, to the perhaps overused tune of KC & the Sunshine Band’s “Give it Up.”

Ryan Searle to throw first, as the crowd remind the rest of us that “there’s only one Luke Littler …”

Yemen's separatists announce a constitution for an independent south

The move comes as an escalation of a confrontation that has pitted Gulf powerhouses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against each other.

California could impose a billionaire tax. Here's how it would work.

Proposed California ballot initiative would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires, with the revenue funneled toward health care and education.

Saks Global CEO steps down as luxury retailer reportedly preparing for bankruptcy

Executive chair Richard Baker to replace Marc Metrick after company misses $100m interest payment on debt

Saks Global said on Friday that its CEO, Marc Metrick, has stepped down and named executive chair, Richard Baker, as his successor, amid reports that the luxury retailer is preparing for bankruptcy.

The change at the top comes days after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Neiman Marcus parent company is preparing for bankruptcy after missing an interest payment exceeding $100m on debt from its Neiman merger.

We Bury the Dead review – Daisy Ridley tackles the undead in solid zombie twist

Star Wars alum gives an impressively modest performance in this slightly smarter-than-average survival tale

Unlike some other less resilient horror subgenres, the zombie movie is, fittingly, never going to really die. Neither will film-makers attempting to add their own twist, understandable given how repetitive the die, wake up, lumber, bite and repeat formula has become. Australian director Zak Hilditch’s attempt, the rather buried We Bury the Dead, is therefore not quite as striking as it might have seemed a decade and change ago. Using words such as “contemplative” and “mournful” to describe a film that includes its fair share of gnarly head-smashing has become something of a cliche, so much so that last month’s meta-comedy Anaconda reboot had its characters joke that these days, even a film about a giant snake needs “intergenerational trauma” to work.

But Hilditch mercifully avoids drowning his film in drab self-seriousness. Yes, it’s a zombie survival thriller that’s also about grief – but it’s also just a zombie survival thriller, albeit one with less carnage than some might expect. Those gearing up for gore would be forgiven for expecting such given the film’s cursed 2 January release date, typically handed over to the silliest of studio horror, from One Missed Call to Texas Chainsaw 3D to Season of the Witch (they’ll likely be satiated by next week’s killer chimp schlocker Primate instead). We Bury the Dead, which was part funded by the Adelaide film festival before premiering at SXSW, is less focused on death toll and more on the toll left on those who’ve lost someone, in this iteration as the result of a US government blunder.

Potential ISIS-inspired attack thwarted in North Carolina, officials say

The FBI's field office in Charlotte, North Carolina, said the potential attack was inspired by ISIS.

Tesla reports 418,227 deliveries for the fourth quarter, down 16%

Tesla's fourth-quarter deliveries report follows a steep rally in the company's stock in the last few months of 2025.

Best-on-best hockey returns as US and Canada unveil Olympic squads

• NHL players return to men’s Olympic ice hockey

• US, Canada unveil rosters packed with star talent

• Knight leads US women as PWHL era reaches Games

The return of ice hockey’s biggest stars to the Winter Games could spark a renaissance for the sport on the global stage, as gold-medal favorites United States and Canada handpicked top NHL talent for the Milano-Cortina Olympics.

The National Hockey League has not permitted its athletes to participate in the Games since 2014, putting a damper on the men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament as the world’s best players were forced to stay home in 2018 and 2022.

College freshman identified as one of three hikers found dead on California’s Mount Baldy

Marcus Alexander Muench Casanova, 19, died on the Devil’s Backbone trail after reportedly falling 500ft

A 19-year-old college freshman has been identified as one of the hikers whose remains were found on California’s Mount Baldy on Monday.

The San Bernardino county sheriff announced this week that Marcus Alexander Muench Casanova, a resident of Seal Beach, California, was discovered along a mountain trail known as the Devil’s Backbone.

Judge orders alleged D.C. pipe bomber to remain detained pending trial

The suspect, Brian Cole, has not yet entered a plea to the charges stemming from two bombs found near Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters nearly five years ago.

DC pipe bomb suspect must remain in jail before trial, judge rules

Brian Cole, accused of planting bombs before Capitol attack, presents ‘intolerable risk of danger’, court finds

A federal magistrate judge has ruled that the man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican headquarters the night before the 6 January Capitol attack must remain in custody while awaiting trial.

In a memorandum opinion, the court determined that Brian Cole Jr, 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, “poses an intolerable risk of danger to the community if released”, granting the government’s motion for pretrial detention.

Ilya Lichtenstein, Bitcoin hacker behind massive crypto theft, credits Trump for early prison release

Ilya Lichtenstein had been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty and admitting to the hack of crypto assets valued in the billions of dollars.

US homeland security condemned for using Japanese artist’s work without consent

Hiroshi Nagai, in a post on X, has objected to his artwork being used by the agency to promote its deportation agenda

The US Department of Homeland Security is facing backlash once again, this time from a Japanese artist who has condemned the agency for using, without permission, his work to promote deportations.

In a post on X on New Year’s Eve, the department posted a photo featuring a pristine and empty beach with palm trees and a vintage car. Written across the photo was “America after 100 million deportations,” along with a separate caption that said: “The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world.”

What to know about Greg Abel, the new CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Abel, 63, takes the helm of Berkshire Hathaway after a six-decade run by Buffett.

DHS pauses immigration applications for an additional 20 countries

The Department of Homeland Security is pausing immigration applications from 20 additional countries following increased scrutiny on people who seek legal pathways for immigrating to the U.S.

Fresh bone analysis makes case for earliest ‘ancestor of humankind’, but doubts remain

Scientists argue ape-like Sahelanthropus tchadensis that lived in Africa 7m years ago is best contender but more fossils are needed

In the murky first chapters of the human story is an unknown ancestor that made the profound transition from walking on all fours to standing up tall, an act that came to define us.

The odds of stumbling on the fossilised evidence of such an evolutionary prize are slim, but in new research, scientists argue that an ape-like animal that lived in Africa 7m years ago is the best contender yet.

Reluctant trailblazer Khawaja confronts racial stereotypes before Sydney farewell | Taha Hashim

The first Muslim to play for Australia has been an inspiration for many in the way he has broken down barriers during his career

More than half an hour into the press conference, with his retirement from Test cricket confirmed, Usman Khawaja was asked about the role of opening the batting and its relevance in the modern game. He answered with ease, detailing the specific mental challenges of facing the new ball. Minutes later, he was asked how Australia can unite after last month’s terrorist attack at Bondi Beach. Again, there was little hesitation before the lengthy reply. He cited the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, politicians who “try to divide and conquer” and closed with his reflections on the tragedy itself. This was no ordinary sporting farewell.

Those who have tracked the path of Khawaja’s career closely will not have been surprised by the openness in the 50-minute press conference on Friday and the lines to have come from it. Reflecting on his proud journey as a Muslim boy born in Pakistan “who was told he would never play for the Australian cricket team”, Khawaja claimed he was still subject to “racial stereotypes”, arguing they had re-emerged at the start of the Ashes when he was scrutinised for playing golf in the buildup before sustaining back spasms in the first Test.

11/30: Face the Nation

Rep. Mike Turner and CBS News contributor Samantha Vinograd discuss the Trump administration reexamining immigration priorities after an Afghan national was arrested in the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House. Sen. Tim Kaine, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot also join.

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.

‘Suspension of entry into the US’, paparazzi – and wine: three other reasons George Clooney moved to France

A UK government warning that Amal Clooney risks US sanctions over her role in the issuing of an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister is key among reasons the couple have sought French citizenship

The exodus from Hollywood to shores not presided over by Donald Trump has been busy and loud. Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Wright and Courtney Love moved to England; Rosie O’Donnell opted for Ireland; Eva Longoria, Spain. Other Trump critics, including Richard Gere, Lena Dunham and Ryan Gosling, have upped sticks without citing the re-election as a motivating factor.

In the case of Clooney, however, there has appeared little doubt that his decision to gain French citizenship was primarily because of Trump, whose re-election he energetically campaigned against. Yet amid the heat and headlines generated by the pair’s war of words, some of the actor’s reasons for relocating may have flown under the radar.

Another year, another manager – but it is unfair to paint Chelsea’s project as a flop | Jacob Steinberg

Enzo Maresca got the sack because of his actions. That does not mean the club’s structure needs a complete overhaul

Some clubs build around their manager. Eddie Howe is hugely influential at Newcastle and Aston Villa are pretty much Unai Emery FC these days. Chelsea, though, have adopted an alternative model. They have a team of five sporting directors, led by Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, and do not want one person to hold all the power.

Yet the question many are asking in the wake of Enzo Maresca’s demise is whether the template will yield success at the very highest level. It is never quiet at Chelsea. They are often busy in the transfer market, meaning there is an element of players coming and going, and they are now looking for their fifth permanent head coach since a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm run by Behdad Eghbali and José E Feliciano, bought the club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.

11/16: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, one of the Democrats who eventually voted with Republicans to fund the government after the GOP promised a vote next month on health care subsidies, joins to discuss, as does Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy. Plus, two members of the House Problem Solvers Caucus.

11/9: Face the Nation

New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill and Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger join to discuss the past week's state and local elections.

11/2: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as the government shutdown stretches on, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw join to discuss the impacts. Plus, Anthony Salvanto breaks down the latest CBS News poll.

10/26: Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, amid President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's trip to Asia, Bessent joins to discuss the Chinese tariffs, the TikTok deal and the government shutdown at home. Plus. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joins to discuss the government shutdown.

The Guardian view on Gaza’s winter: the world must take heed as Palestinian suffering deepens again | Editorial

Families are struggling to survive amid the devastation. Israel’s ban on international NGOs will worsen this disaster

As Gaza enters the bleakest period of winter, children are dying of hypothermia, drowning in flooded camps and burning to death as their families try to cook in flimsy tents. Israel destroyed nine out of 10 homes over more than two years of war. Camped amid the ruins, Palestinians struggle against strong winds, heavy rain and freezing temperatures. Aid deliveries resumed following the ceasefire, staving off the famine that had taken hold in parts of the territory, but remain wholly insufficient: 1.6 million people face acute food insecurity. The sanitation infrastructure has collapsed.

The UK, Canada, Japan, France and six other nations have jointly warned that the situation is catastrophic. Yet Israel is now deepening one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. On Tuesday, it announced that it is deregistering 37 NGOs active in Gaza. They must cease all operations there by 1 March unless they meet its new “security and transparency standards” – including by disclosing the personal details of staff. Many of the listed groups are among the best-regarded in their field, including Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières and the Norwegian Refugee Council.

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.

Elon Musk’s Grok AI generates images of ‘minors in minimal clothing’

Lapses in safeguards led to wave of sexualized images this week as xAI says it is working to improve systems

Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok posted on Friday that lapses in safeguards had led it to generate “images depicting minors in minimal clothing” on social media platform X. The chatbot, a product of Musk’s company xAI, has been generating a wave of sexualized images throughout the week in response to user prompts.

Screenshots shared by users on X showed Grok’s public media tab filled with such images. xAI said it was working to improve its systems to prevent future incidents.

Anthony Joshua’s driver charged with dangerous driving after fatal crash in Nigeria

British boxer was injured in collision that killed his personal trainer Latif Ayodele and strength coach Sina Ghami

Nigerian police have charged Anthony Joshua’s driver with causing death by dangerous driving after a fatal crash that killed two people.

Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, 46, was also charged with driving without a valid driving licence and “driving without due care and attention, causing bodily harm and damage to property”. He is due to appear in court on 20 January.

FBI says it thwarted planned New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in North Carolina

FBI says teen was planning Islamic State-inspired hammer and knife attack on Jews, Christians and LGBTQ+ people

The FBI has said it thwarted an alleged plot to carry out a New Year’s Eve terrorist attack on a grocery store and restaurant in North Carolina in support of the Islamic State (IS).

Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint Hill – a town outside Charlotte – was arrested on 31 December as he was being released from a special medical facility. He was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the US attorney for the western district of North Carolina, Russ Ferguson, said at a press conference on Friday morning.

Prominent Jan. 6 defendants plan march to Capitol to mark 5 years since attack

House Democrats will also be holding a hearing on the five-year mark of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Yemeni separatists plan to hold independence vote within two years

Seven killed in strikes on south as Saudi-backed government moves to recapture key region from STC

Yemen’s southern separatists have announced plans to hold a referendum on independence from the north in two years, after their seizure of swathes of the country last month triggered a major feud between Gulf powers.

The Southern Transitional Council leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, called on the international community to sponsor talks between concerned parties in the south and north on a path and mechanisms that “guarantee rights of the people of the south”.

How to start … anything: expert tips for trying something new

From therapy to running and conversing with strangers, we asked experts what the basics are of starting anything new

The hardest part of any new habit or activity is starting it. Do you need special equipment? How do you know if you’re doing it right? What are the basics, and how do you take your practice to the next level?

In the series How to start, we ask experts to break down how to start, well, anything – including running, dating, cooking and lucid dreaming.

Figure out what you enjoy by checking out a variety of books from the library, but don’t force it. If you’re not enjoying a volume, put it down and move on to the next.

Start with short books and whichever medium – physical books, ebooks or audiobooks – works best for you.

Make reading fun and sociable by sharing books with friends, or joining a book club.

Think about your dreams more – way more. Start by keeping a dream journal and recording your dreams every day.

Cultivate the intention to lucid dream. While you’re awake, think: “The next time I have a dream, I’m going to figure out it’s a dream,” says Dr Ken Paller, professor of psychology at Northwestern University.

The Wake-Back-to-Bed (WBTB) and Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (Mild) techniques can be effective ways to try to lucid dream – but don’t try it more than two to three times a week as they can be tiring.

You don’t need to teach a dog as many commands – some trainers call them cues – as they might think. Two cues – “sit” and “come” – are essential for minimizing behavioral issues and recall.

Besides basic safety commands, think about training functionally.

There’s no need to spend hours on training. Sessa says she usually suggests her clients work with their dogs for no more than 10 to 15 minutes a day.

Begin in a plank position, with your hands and toes on the ground and feet set wide or narrow. Lower yourself until your body is almost touching the ground, keeping your elbows at a 45-degree angle. Then push yourself back up.

Make sure to maintain correct form, with a line from head to heels, and don’t rush through reps.

Make sure you have the basic tools for cooking: a chef’s knife, a cutting board, a a nonstick pan, baking sheets and spatulas.

Quality spices and pantry staples can improve your cooking. Stock up on good kosher salt, fresh black pepper, olive oil, a neutral oil (like canola oil or avocado oil) for high temperature cooking, a couple of vinegars, bags of rice and some beans.

Watch a knife skills class (many are free online) to master essential techniques.

Try recipes that will teach you core cooking skills, like a lentil soup, to learn how to time sauteing and simmering; or a three-egg omelet, to learn heat control.

Cleansers: Start and end your day with a gentle cleanser.

Moisturizers: For all skin types, moisturizers heal and protect the skin.

Sunscreen: No matter the weather, always apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen – at least SPF 30 or higher.

Alternate running and walking. Run for short periods, then walk to recover – this makes the workout more manageable. Over time, you can increase the period of time running, and aim to take fewer walking breaks.

Avoid running too fast or too much. Keep a conversational pace, where you can talk and run at the same time and be sure to take time off as your body adjusts to the new routine.

Get good running shoes. Buying in-person is best, especially if you can visit a running store where you can get properly fitted and try a wide variety of shoes.

Don’t push yourself to run as long and far as you can. It can be draining and lead to injury.

Sparklers held near ceiling started Swiss ski resort fire, investigators believe

Footage and witness statements show blaze that killed about 40 was ‘very rapid’, prosecutor says

Investigators believe fountain sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held too close to the ceiling sparked the deadly fire that tore through a crowded bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 100.

“Everything suggests the fire started from the burning candles or ‘Bengal lights’ that had been attached to champagne bottles,” the prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud said on Friday. “These went too close to the ceiling.”

From Donald Trump to Benjamin Netanyahu, let 2026 be a year of reckoning | Jonathan Freedland

These malign figures will do anything to avoid paying for the harm they have done, but accountability must eventually come to both

It’s not quite a new year resolution, and it’s certainly not a prediction. Think of it instead as a hope or even a plea for the next 12 months. May the coming year see those leaders who have done so much damage to their own countries, and far beyond, at last be called to account. Let 2026 be a year of reckoning.

Start with the man whose reach is longest, by dint of the mighty power he wields. Such is the nature of the US electoral system that Donald Trump, who returned to power less than a year ago, will face the judgment of voters in 10 months’ time. His name will not be on the ballot but, make no mistake, the midterm elections of 3 November will deliver a verdict on the second Trump presidency.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Guardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US?
On Wednesday 21 January 2026, join Jonathan Freedland, Tania Branigan and Nick Lowles as they reflect on the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency – and to ask if Britain could be set on the same path.
Book tickets here or at guardian.live

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.

Norway wraps up 2025 with 96% of its new car market fully electric, and Tesla's sales are surging there

Almost all new cars sold in Norway last year were fully electric, according to registration data published Friday.

Google AI Overviews put people at risk of harm with misleading health advice

Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation finds

People are being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in Google’s artificial intelligence summaries, a Guardian investigation has found.

The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”.

Your Guardian sport weekend: World Championship darts final, Ashes and Afcon

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s top EV seller for the first time

The milestone caps an extraordinary rise for BYD, a company Tesla's Elon Musk once dismissed by laughing at their products.

What happened in the Crans-Montana bar fire in Switzerland – visual guide

While the cause of the disaster is still under investigation, videos and photos suggest the blaze spread quickly

Switzerland is reeling from one of its worst tragedies after a fire ripped through an Alpine bar during a New Year’s Eve celebration, leaving more than 40 people dead and dozens of others with serious burn injuries.

The prosecutor in charge of the case said on Friday that initial investigations suggested the most likely cause of the fire was sparkling flares being carried too close to the ceiling.

10/19: Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Republican Sen. Katie Britt discuss the government shutdown as an impasse in Congress nears the three-week mark, and weigh in on the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats. Plus, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde joins.

China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s biggest electric car seller

Sales at Elon Musk’s company slump after Donald Trump’s withdrawal of EV subsidies

China’s BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest electric carmaker in 2025, after the US company run by Elon Musk reported a slump in deliveries at the end of the year.

BYD sold 2.26m battery electric cars during the year, easily outstripping the 1.63m deliveries reported on Friday by Tesla for the same period.

Sydney’s tradition of goodbyes coincides with Bazball reckoning

England have a final chance to salvage something from tour but must accept Ashes defeat was self-inflicted and changes, however limited, must be made

As well as being a bucket list venue for players and supporters, the Sydney Cricket Ground has a reputation in England as the ground of the one-cap wonders. This is based on Mason Crane, Scott Borthwick and Boyd Rankin getting a go at the end of recent Ashes tours, rather than anything more historically substantial.

If anything, as the traditional scene for the final Test of the Australian summer, the SCG is more like the Oval – the ground where careers often come to an end. And on Friday, surrounded by his family and with a fair bit to get off his chest, Usman Khawaja confirmed the final instalment of this Ashes series, starting on Sunday, will be his international farewell.

The secret to a perfect nap: when, where and for how long?

Many athletes and professional musicians swear by getting some shut-eye during the day, but what’s the best way to ensure you don’t end up feeling groggy?

• Sign up here to get the whole series straight to your inbox

Listen to enough productivity podcasters, and it’s easy to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers are all at it – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions and Arianna Huffington. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a job that encourages regular snoozing, are there really enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, not worse?

“There are three main reasons for napping among most adults,” says Clare Anderson, the University of Birmingham’s professor of sleep and circadian science. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, which is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. The second is prophylactic napping, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which basically comes down to desire: you have an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”

Crystal Palace seal club-record £35m Brennan Johnson transfer from Spurs

• Manager Glasner pleased club got deal done swiftly

• Johnson says he is ‘super excited’ to make move

Oliver Glasner credited Crystal Palace’s hierarchy for completing the signing of Brennan Johnson from Tottenham for a club record £35m on the second day of the transfer window.

The Wales forward has a four-and-a-half-year deal and is expected to be part of Palace’s squad that will face Newcastle on Sunday. Glasner has made no secret of his desire to bolster the FA Cup winners after a demanding debut campaign in Europe and has criticised Palace’s lack of preparedness in previous transfer windows. However, the Austrian manager said he was delighted with the signing of the 24-year-old after Palace saw off competition from Bournemouth.

George Clooney gets French citizenship — and another dust-up with Trump

The French government says it granted George and Amal Clooney citizenship because of their contributions to its international influence. Their family has primarily lived in France since 2021.

After Swiss Alps bar fire, a look at America's past nightclub and bar fires

A look at bar and nightclub fires in the United States with significant death tolls and similar risks that led to the tragedies.

Tesla sales drop for a second year in a row amid headwinds

Tesla's electric vehicle sales fell 9% in 2025 from a year ago amid the expiration of a $7,500 EV U.S. tax credit.

Israel accuses Mamdani of antisemitism on first day as New York mayor

Foreign ministry says mayor has poured ‘antisemitic gasoline on an open fire’ by scrapping IHRA definition

Israel’s foreign ministry has accused the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of pouring “antisemitic gasoline on an open fire” after he reversed a recent order by the outgoing mayor, Eric Adams.

“On his very first day as @NYCMayor, Mamdani shows his true face: he scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel. This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire,” the foreign ministry said in a post on X.

The best concealers: eight favourites for camouflaging blemishes and dark circles – tested

Searching for a concealer that can do it all? From creamy to crease-resistant, brightening to hydrating, these are the formulas that impressed us most

• The best mascaras for longer, fuller and fluttery lashes

When life gets stressful, your face is often the first place to show telltale signs. Eye bags get darker after sleepless nights and pimples appear in protest at the first signs of stress. Whatever the cause, the best concealers can help to even out imperfections, so you look flawless regardless of what is going on behind the scenes.

It might seem obvious, but not all concealers are the same. Some leave a cakey finish on the skin, while others settle quickly into fine lines or blend out and leave barely any coverage at all. Many modern concealers also include active skincare ingredients to combine the benefits of both products.

Best concealer overall:
Nars Radiant Creamy concealer

Best budget concealer:
Collection Lasting Perfection concealer

Snow in Wales, flooding in Gaza and a wolf supermoon: photos of the day – Friday

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

‘We were missing in the conversation’: how Zack Polanski hit on plan to beat Reform at their own game

This time last year Polanski was barely known outside the party. Now he’s hoping for success at May’s local elections – by taking a page from Nigel Farage’s playbook

Zack Polanski finally decided to stand as the Greens’ leader, he says, after witnessing the party being eclipsed by Reform in last May’s local elections across England, and realising that British politics had changed for good.

While the Greens made yet more steady gains, Reform won nearly 700 councillors from a standing start. As deputy leader, it was Polanski’s job to speak to losing candidates to both offer consolation and ask what lessons could be learned.

The Uplift: A tractor trip and TikTok surprise

A 76-year-old takes an 1,800-mile road trip on his tractor – for a good reason. A TikTok star uses his platform for kind gestures and surprises. A horse farm in New York City helps veterans and people with disabilities. Plus, our most viral, heartwarming videos of the week.

The Uplift: A surfing dog and racing turtles

A surfing dog named Rippin Rosie wows on the waves of Southern California. A small town in Minnesota celebrates a unique sport – turtle racing. A veteran who battled PTSD rebuilds his life and creates a castle by hand. Plus, the viral videos you just need to see.

Behind the scenes of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics, a 19th-century story of politics and gay love

The new stadium sits in the suburb of Herston, a name alluding to the state’s first premier and the man believed to be his lover

Today the story would be unremarkable: two gay men, migrants from England, give their Queensland home a portmanteau of their last names.

But in 1859, these two men, Robert Herbert and John Bramston, were the new state’s first premier (then called colonial secretary) and one of his attorneys general.

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Ingrid disappeared on an Indonesian island in 1976. Now we know what really happened

The first surfers at Nias were joined by a backpacker who got sick and vanished. When a film about their ‘discovery’ of the spot screened in Australia, the woman’s remarkable story finally came to light

When Ingrid LeFebour woke up on a concrete slab, covered in a sheet in the morgue on the remote Indonesian island of Nias in 1976, she had no idea how she got there.

Nor did anyone else know her fate – some believed she had died in bizarre circumstances.

My mother repeated one Cantonese idiom throughout my life: 'you want beauty, you don’t want life' | Michelle Law

Sometimes Michelle Law looks at people who make risky decisions and feels a deep sense of envy. But when that envy materialises, so too does the voice of her mother

• Read more in the Home Truths series

In news that will delight my enemies, I believe there’s a chance I’ll die young and by accidental means. To clarify, I’m currently in excellent health (sorry to my enemies), but I’m sensing a spectacular midlife crisis on the horizon that could spell the end.

Maybe it’ll be an overdose in a seedy nightclub. Maybe I’ll drink myself into oblivion. Maybe I’ll get kicked in the head during an orgy. Whatever it is, it’ll be the result of a botched attempt at compensating for a lifetime of being the world’s most risk averse, law-abiding scaredy cat who is terrified of physical danger.

I taste words. ‘Bob’ is like a milk chocolate Easter egg on my tongue

Monique Todorovski, a clinical administrator, shares her experience of lexical-gustatory synaesthesia

• Read more in the way I feel series

When I met my husband and found out his name was Philip, I felt conflicted. I liked him as a person but his name tasted like crunchy green pears and I don’t like green pears at all. My compromise was to call him Phil, which tastes more like stewed pear – sweeter and not as crunchy. It’s just a nicer-tasting name in my mind.

Fortunately I was 30 by the time I met Phil, so I had an explanation for my word-taste associations, after years of strange looks from family and friends. I had lexical-gustatory synaesthesia, one of the rarest forms of the phenomenon, in which words or sounds trigger taste sensations. Researchers estimate it affects just 0.2% of the population.

The Uplift: Elephants, dogs, robot spiders

Visit an elephant sanctuary in Thailand helping gentle giants in need. Meet Hudson Rowan, the 14-year-old artist behind an unconventional "I voted" sticker design that will be used on Election Day. Learn about how a comfort dog is helping the people who usually help others.

The Uplift: Young boy gifted sewing machine for his birthday

The moment Sam Gouveia was gifted a sewing machine for his ninth birthday has gone viral. David Begnaud shares the story behind the special gift in our "Uplift at Eight."

The Uplift: Coffee shops and a special chapel

Meet a man who leaves journals behind in coffee shops – and the powerful reason behind it. Go to another unique coffee shop created by a man with autism. And visit a special chapel that has hosted thousands of weddings – inside a mall.

The Uplift: Grandparents meet grandson for first time

Seana Tarasewich and Brayden Jamault told their families Seana was pregnant but did not tell anyone when she went into labor. On our Uplift at 8, we see the couple introduce Brayden's parents to baby Axton for the first time, which was the ultimate surprise.

The Uplift: A "Star Trek" trailblazer and Markelle the Gazelle

"Star Trek" actress Sonequa Martin-Green pays tribute to trailblazing actress Nichelle Nichols and how she helped women and people of color in STEM. Runner Markelle Taylor shares how running changed his life – and how he qualified for a marathon in prison. Plus, our top viral videos.

Coroner calls for circumcision safety measures after baby’s death in London

Six-month-old Mohamed Abdisamad’s death from infection prompts concern at lack of training for circumcisers

A coroner has warned that more babies could die from infected circumcisions in the UK after the death of a six-month-old boy exposed a lack of infection control training and accreditation for circumcisers.

Mohamed Abdisamad died in February 2023 of a streptococcus infection. He had a cardiorespiratory arrest on his way to hospital a week after undergoing a non-therapeutic circumcision, an inquest at west London coroner’s court found in October.

Trump vows to 'rescue' Iran's protesters. Iran warns the U.S. to stay out of it

President Trump warned Iran not to kill protesters. Iranian officials alleged the U.S. and Israel were stoking the sweeping protests, and said U.S. military bases in the region are legitimate targets.

Iran officials warn Trump of red line after his threat to ‘rescue’ protesters

Foreign minister says Iranian military is on standby after US president said he would act if demonstrators were killed

Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if its government kills demonstrators, prompting warnings from senior Iranian officials that any American interference would cross a “red line”.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that if Iran were to shoot and kill protesters, the US would “come to their rescue”. He added: “We are locked and loaded, and ready to go,” without explaining what that might mean in practice.

Uber rewrites contracts with drivers to avoid paying UK’s new ‘taxi tax’

Hailing app will now act as agent rather than supplier outside London, avoiding VAT requirement

Uber has swerved paying millions of pounds to the UK exchequer under Rachel Reeves’s new “taxi tax” after the ride-hailing app rewrote contracts with its drivers.

The move came as rules announced in November’s budget took effect, which adjusted how VAT is payable on minicab fares and would have resulted in the whole Uber fare becoming subject to the 20% sales tax.

Venus Williams gets wild card for Australian Open at age 45

Venus Williams, 45, received a wild-card entry to the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park 28 years after her first appearance.

Cocktail of the week: the Kirkstyle Inn’s beetroot and sumac shrub – recipe | The good mixer

A booze-free mocktail that uses lemon juice to bring a bright sharpness to the earthy sweetness of beetroot and sumac

Traditionally, shrubs are made with vinegar, but for this one we use lemon juice to bring a bright sharpness to the base syrup, because it balances the earthy sweetness of the beetroot and sumac. A 0% gin brings some botanical notes to proceedings, but the syrup also works wonderfully just topped with soda water. You’ll need to start the syrup a day ahead.

Connor Wilson, head chef, The Kirkstyle Inn, Slaggyford, Northumberland

China threatened to cancel key trade talks after UK minister’s Taiwan visit in June

Exclusive: diplomats had to scramble to contain fallout with Beijing after Douglas Alexander’s trip to Taipei

China threatened to cancel high-level trade talks with the UK earlier this year over a government minister’s visit to Taiwan, the Guardian can disclose.

Beijing told the British government it would pull its first trade and economic dialogue with the UK in seven years after Douglas Alexander, then a trade minister, travelled to Taipei in late June.

‘Playing in a war zone isn’t for most people’: the British band braving drone strikes and pneumonia to tour Ukraine

How did an Aussie, a Texan, an Irishman and three Cumbrians find themselves on the road on the Ukrainian frontline? For classic rock collective Hardwicke Circus, it was a no-brainer: ‘We thought they’d like to hear some rock’n’roll’

It is late October and, 10 kilometres from the frontline in Donetsk, east Ukraine, the inhabitants of a reconditioned ambulance are completely lost. While opening your phone and logging on to a maps app might appear the obvious solution, this would be extremely unwise here: Russian drones are overhead and hunting for any signals.

Inside the van are a motley crew: an 81-year-old Irish music industry veteran; a 72-year-old Texas rocker; an Australian keyboardist; a Ukrainian saxophonist; and three twenty-something musicians from Carlisle, Cumbria. Their destination is a military base where they are to perform for Ukrainian troops.

Here’s a pick-me-up for the January blues: this could well be Nigel Farage’s last year on top | Simon Jenkins

There’s no doubting the charisma of its leader, but Reform UK lacks the depth and experience needed to govern – and voters are quickly realising that

I fear for Nigel Farage. This should be his big year, the make-or-break 2026. Last year his Reform party finally began to top the polls and he was feted by Washington as the UK’s Trump and next prime minister. So how now would he turn a sheaf of poll results into a disciplined election-winning machine? Or has he for the past year merely been doing what most third parties do at this stage of a parliament, which is feast on the misfortune of their opponents?

The polls sent Reform surging into a steady lead last spring. It held that position through the summer, with a high of 29% according to YouGov, and 33% according to More in Common. But pollsters now suggest that Farage’s party may have peaked – with YouGov’s December polling showing a drop in its vote share to 26%, its lowest since April. Some of this has been credited to increasing support for the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and to the joint Lib Dem/Green vote surging to nearly 30%. It seems likely that this confusion will survive through this May’s local elections. Betting in this field is for madmen.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

Somali day care centers face threats. And, how Trump could save Obamacare subsidies

Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota report receiving threats following a viral video that accused them of fraud. And, how Trump could play a role in extending ACA subsidies.

2025 was a big year for climate in the US courts - these were the wins and losses

Americans are increasingly turning to courts to hold big oil accountable. Here are major trends that emerged last year

As the Trump administration boosts fossil fuels, Americans are increasingly turning to courts to hold big oil accountable for alleged climate deception. That wave of litigation swelled in 2025, with groundbreaking cases filed and wins notched.

But the year also brought setbacks, as Trump attacked the cases and big oil worked to have them thrown out. The industry also worked to secure a shield from current and future climate lawsuits.

Behind the mesh curtain: Why airline class wars will intensify in 2026

Airlines are continuing their focus on premium travelers, adding lounges, new first-class cabins and other perks for customers willing to spend more to fly.

Digested week: My resolution, for the world, is sunken living rooms

They’re cosy, civilised and different without disturbing things too much. Let’s do this!

At last. I have been waiting a year for this moment. I must apologise to you all. Twelve months ago, in this very organ, nay in this very diary, I noted that we were now in the hazy, lazy, crazy days between Boxing Day and new year and thus wished you all a happy “Christmas perineum”. It should have been, of course, “Merryneum”. It has been bothering me ever since. I can only put it down to post-turkey malaise. If it helps, it is only while Googling around this subject to write this entry that I have realised that the nickname “taint” – for the fleshly rather than festive part under discussion – refers to the fact that “’t ain’t the front, ’t ain’t the back”. I think perhaps I knew this at some level but hadn’t consciously made the connection. Anyway. I offer the knowledge to you here in some kind of twisted act of contrition.

Woman says tea laced with pills given to ex was a chemistry experiment

Esther Jane Stephen, a high school softball coach, was arrested in 2020 in the fatal shooting of her former fiancé Shea Briar in Jay County, Indiana. Prosecutors say Stephen, known as E.J., had attempted to kill him before with a drink laced with ibuprofen.

Sewage in drinking water blamed for at least 10 deaths in India’s ‘cleanest city’

Hundreds hospitalised in Indore after public toilet built above water pipeline appears to have let sewage into supply

Sewage-contaminated drinking water is being blamed for killing at least 10 people, including a baby boy, and sending more than 270 others to hospital in Indore, ranked India’s “cleanest city” for the last eight years.

Residents of a congested, lower-income neighbourhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital, had been warning authorities for months about foul-smelling tap water. Their complaints went unheeded, despite the city’s much-lauded ranking for waste segregation and other cleanliness measures.

‘A place of darkness and light’: the uninhabited Japanese island that became a rabbit paradise

Once host to a poisonous gas research facility, Okunoshima is now an Instagram-friendly tourist destination

The bunny-ear designs on the window aside, there is little to indicate that the ferry has arrived on an island teeming with rabbits. Then, moments after the passengers disembark, there is activity in the undergrowth. A single rabbit scampers out, wholly untroubled by its two-legged visitors. And then another.

A short walk along the coast takes visitors deep into rabbit territory on Okunoshima, one of 3,000 islands in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Half a dozen of the animals chase away another as it attempts to join them in a communal meal of Chinese cabbage. The scene unfolds in front of smiling, camera-toting tourists barely able to believe their proximity to Okunoshima’s fabled – but troubled – furry residents.

The rabbits are dependent on visitors and volunteers for food.

Donald Trump wants the US back on the moon before his term ends. Can it happen?

After losing a year to havoc and job-slashing at Nasa, the pressure is on billionaire administrator Jared Isaacman

With astronauts set to fly around the moon for the first time in more than half a century when Artemis 2 makes its long-awaited ascent some time this spring, 2026 was already destined to become a standout year in space.

It is also likely to be one of the most pivotal, with new leadership at Nasa in billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, and the tycoon-led private space industry assuming more than a mere supporting role to help win for the US its race with China back to the lunar surface.

‘I felt like my Bafta statue was judging me!’ Gbemisola Ikumelo on backlashes, Black Ops and why 2026 will be her year

Whether she’s a chicken-obsessed schoolboy or a hapless cop fighting a plot to bring down Notting Hill carnival, the comic actor’s dizzying range means she may soon need a bigger awards shelf

In 2020, as long-overdue conversations about race rippled out across the world, Gbemisola Ikumelo, now 39, made a decision. “I had this soul-destroying experience on a job,” she says, hersunny demeanour at odds with the grim tale. She decided to post online about the microaggressions she had endured while appearing in a play some years before, making peace with the fact that it could affect her chances at future roles, and shaking as she typed out the thread. A day passed, “and I just heard my phone going ding, ding, ding. I was convinced it was going to be backlash – but it was people sending their congratulations.” Ikumelo had been nominated for a Bafta for her short, Brain in Gear. “I felt like God was going: ‘Don’t worry.’ It was a beautiful moment.” She won that Bafta and has since scooped another. “When I won the first one, I was living in a small flat, and I felt like the [statuette] was judging me,” she laughs. “I was like, I might have to refurb or move. Now I have an office, so they’re in a very reasonable place.”

You get the feeling she should keep a few shelves free. After flirting with TV roles in the US, in 2025 Ikumelo joined the writing and acting cast of NBC’s Office spinoff The Paper. Closer to home, she also shot another series of the show that scooped her the second of those aforementioned awards, for best female comedy performance – the riotous buddy cop comedy Black Ops (she is still hopeful her brilliantly anxiety-inducing Brain in Gear will make it to a series).

The best recent poetry – review roundup

The Bonfire Party by Sean O’Brien; Plastic by Matthew Rice; Retablo for a Door by Michelle Penn; Jonah and Me by John F Deane; Intimate Architecture by Tess Jolly

The Bonfire Party by Sean O’Brien (Picador, £12.99)
This sombre collection showcases O’Brien’s varied use of forms and subject matter, exploring themes of history, remembrance of war and political conflict, death, time, the passing of friends and loved ones as well as human desire and culpability. A central sequence entitled Impasse is inspired by Georges Simenon’s Maigret novels. These poems plunge us into the landscape of the detective hero’s world, a process O’Brien describes as “analogous to dream-life, where certain motifs (cities, railway stations, libraries in my case) recur without ever abolishing the mystery that animates them”. The penultimate poem of the final sequence ushers in an elegiac, pensive tone as the speaker reminds us not to forget “birdsong / the descant of the rising lark / that never ends, composed of silence”. The book reinforces O’Brien’s authority as a chronicler of our times, “love and death consorting as they must”.

Plastic by Matthew Rice (Fitzcarraldo, £12.99)
This book-length poem explores the experiences of a night worker turned poet. Structured as a continuous narrative, it illustrates the frustrations, inequities and relentless cycle of 21st-century manual labour: “The night is proletarian, a morgue of ghosts / given the present is a borderline”. Rice documents the tragic incidents and surreal imaginings that occur within the nightmarish confines of a plastic moulding factory. “Once, in this building, a kid clocked off night shift / for good at the end of a rope / another’s heart gave out at 3am / performing a task as menial as mine.” This sardonic, bleakly moving book interrogates ideas of working-class masculinity and intergenerational trauma, with “hell as an idea of what work could be”; there are glimpses of hope in poetry itself, “the treasure buried in my father’s field”.

Emma Raducanu finds rhythm for new season with stability and ‘stacking good days’

• Briton to make United Cup debut against Naomi Osaka

• Billy Harris replaces Jack Draper in Great Britain team

Emma Raducanu believes she is on the right path towards greater success in 2026 as she prepares to begin the new tennis season as Great Britain’s leading player at the United Cup in Australia.

Raducanu, the British women’s No 1, will make her debut in the mixed-gender team competition on Sunday against Japan’s Naomi Osaka. “I think for me it’s just about stacking the good days,” said Raducanu on her hopes for 2026. “I’ve been putting in some good practices. Even if each practice isn’t as perfect as you want it to be, I think just the consistency of it is the most important thing. That’s what really helped me last year. So I just hope to carry that on and enjoy the tennis, enjoy the process of what I’m doing, which right now I am.”

Slow Epstein files release not as concerning as docs DOJ has withheld, says Ro Khanna

Rep. Ro Khanna of California says the Justice Department should've started preparing Epstein files for release months ago. Now, he tells NPR how Congress could intervene to speed up the process.

Africa Cup of Nations: tie-by-tie analysis of the last-16 matches | Osasu Obayiuwana

After a group stage that delivered an average of 3.6 goals a game we look at the match-ups in Morocco that start on Saturday

Senegal, winners of the Afcon in 2022, have arguably the best collection of players, including the experience of Sadio Mané and the explosive talent of Nicolas Jackson, and are superior to their east African opponents. But Sudan, who qualified for the tournament despite the tragedy of a horrendous war in their country, certainly match the Lions of Teranga in fortitude. Sudan, coached by the Ghanaian Kwesi Appiah, who led his home country at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, played all their qualifiers away from home, with the war, which began in April 2023, shutting down a thriving domestic league. The Sudan striker John Mano told the BBC of people back home: “Some of them cannot watch the matches … They can’t even listen on the radio … We are trying to free our country, through the football way.” A win for Sudan would be one of the fairytales of the tournament.

Trump says U.S. will intervene if Iran 'violently kills' protestors

Protests erupted last week over the government's handling of a sharp fall in the nation's currency and soaring prices.

Will Smith accused of ‘predatory behaviour’ and ‘grooming’ by tour violinist

Brian King Joseph claims the rapper and actor was ‘priming’ him for ‘sexual exploitation’. Smith’s lawyer has called the allegations ‘false, baseless and reckless’

Will Smith is being sued by a violinist from his 2025 tour, who claims the rapper and actor exhibited “predatory behaviour” and was “deliberately grooming and priming” him for “further sexual exploitation”. Brian King Joseph is also pursuing the performer and his company Treyball Studios Management for wrongful termination and retaliation in a suit filed in the superior court of California.

Joseph alleges that he was hired for the tour in support of Smith’s new album, Based on a True Story, after first appearing on stage with Smith in December 2024. The suit claims that Smith once told Joseph, “You and I have such a special connection that I don’t have with anyone else.”

The perfect way to look after your health if you work shifts

There are many knock-on effects of working nights or early mornings, and often employers could do more to protect staff. But there are small, simple changes that can make all the difference

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Approximately 8.7 million people in the UK work night shifts, but humans are not meant to be awake at night. “It goes against our natural circadian cycle,” says Steven Lockley, visiting professor at the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, University of Surrey. “We have a clock in the hypothalamus in the brain, and that clock has evolved to control many aspects of our physiology.” This includes metabolism and immune system, hormones, and heart, lung and brain function. “We’ve evolved to be awake in the daytime and asleep at night. When we do shift work, we’re going against what our natural rhythms want us to do.”

This is true not just for those who work in the dead of night, but for those who work early and evening shifts. It means, says Lockley, “you’re not sleeping at the right time. Night shifts are the worst example, but all of these [shift patterns] move away from the circadian desire to keep a stable sleep-wake cycle.”

What makes an elephant abandon her calf – and is it a growing problem?

A helpless baby elephant has won the Thai public’s sympathy but her case has shed light on the pressures facing herds across Asia

Khao Tom, a two-month-old elephant, plays with a wildlife officer, nudging his face and curling her trunk around his wrist. When she lifts her trunk in the air, signalling that she is hungry, the team at the rescue centre seems relieved – she has not been eating well. A vet prepares a pint-sized bottle of formula, which she gulps down impatiently.

Khao Tom has been in the care of Thailand’s national parks and wildlife department since September, when rangers rescued her from a farming area inside Lam Khlong Ngu national park. Born with a congenital disorder affecting her knees, she struggled to keep up with the herd. Within days of her birth, her mother had moved on without her.

Brain organoids are helping researchers, but their use also creates unease

Pea-size clusters of human cells called brain organoids inspire both hope and fear. Experts are debating how scientists can responsibly use these bits of gray matter.

Orsted files legal challenge over Trump's halt to $5 billion offshore wind project

Shares of Orsted, the world's largest developer of offshore wind farms, rose more than 4% on the news.

New year, old warnings: what can films set in 2026 teach us?

From Doom and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to Metropolis, Hollywood hasn’t predicted the most stable of years ahead

2025 sounds more futuristic. Maybe it’s the “f” sound on “five.” But 2026 is one step beyond, and it’s where we are now, with every science-fiction-style development – principally the widespread adoption of AI – looking dystopian, or maybe worse. (Doesn’t it feel like in a proper dystopia, the brain-numbing corporate-backed anti-human technology would actually work a bit better?) Didn’t anyone warn us about this?

The answer, at least with regards to our sci-fi movies years ago (or occasionally months ago) positioned in 2026, is yes and no. Some of those warnings are broadly applicable (global catastrophe) but specifically far-fetched (when mankind is inevitably decimated, we will almost certainly take the ape population with us). Some of them are visionary; others just look like bad green screen. But it’s worth examining where various film-makers, from geniuses to grunts, thought we would be situated by this time in our planet’s evolution. So let’s take a look at some of the movies that have been set in 2026 over the years and see if they have anything to teach us.

Andrew Miller: ‘DH Lawrence forced me to my feet – I was madly excited’

The novelist on how The Rainbow made him want to write, the strange genius of Penelope Fitzgerald and finding comfort in Tintin

My earliest reading memory
Sitting on the sofa with my mum reading Mabel the Whale by Patricia King, with beautiful colour illustrations by Katherine Evans. I think it was pre-school. My mother was not always a patient teacher, and I was often a slow learner, but the scene, the tableaux, in memory, has the serenity of an icon.

My favourite book growing up
Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth. It’s a story set in Roman Britain; the Eagle is the lost standard of the ninth legion. I was a boy already obsessed by all things Ancient Roman (the alternative to the kind of boy obsessed with dinosaurs). One of the places I remember reading it is in bed with my dad. On Sunday mornings my brother and I would climb into the big bed. My parents had long since split up. There was a picture on the wall, a modest reproduction of Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus. To me, this voluptuous woman gazing at herself in a mirror was my mother. It’s interesting to me how the setting in which you read is such an integral part of the reading experience.

The 50 must-see TV shows for 2026

The return of hit bonkbuster Rivals, the horny hockey show taking the world by storm, Richard Gadd’s follow-up to Baby Reindeer … and Buffy is back! Here’s your complete guide to 2026’s unmissable television

As the writer of conspiracy thriller Utopia and Covid-era relationship drama Together, Dennis Kelly has form for creating darkly perceptive TV drama. This excellent series stars Josh Finan (whose performance in The Responder earned him a Bafta nomination) as Dan, a philosophy teacher with a troubled family past, working in a prison. As he explores issues around freedom, luck and destiny with the inmates, he starts to wonder if he actually belongs behind bars like his abusive father. Soon, his anxieties threaten to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• BBC One, 3 January

U.S. interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean haven't always gone as planned

President Trump's pressure campaign against Venezuela is the latest in a long saga of U.S. intervention in the region that is rooted in the 1823 Monroe Doctrine — and is a mix of success and failure.

With few Epstein files released, conspiracy theories flourish and questions remain

President Trump's changing messaging, Congress' unprecedented demands and the Justice Department's piecemeal release of information haven't quieted the questions. Here's what we know — and don't.

Morning news brief

Right-wing influencer's fraud claim leads to threats for Somali daycare owners, DOJ's initial release of Epstein files left many questions unanswered, dozens killed in Swiss Alps bar fire.

Victoria Jones, daughter of Tommy Lee Jones, found dead in San Francisco

Reports say actor, 34, found unresponsive in corridor of Fairmont hotel in early hours of New Year’s Day

Victoria Jones, the daughter of the actor Tommy Lee Jones, has been found dead in a San Francisco hotel.

Jones, 34, was discovered in the early hours of New Year’s Day, according to TMZ, which cited law enforcement sources.