Arsenal v Brentford, Leeds v Chelsea, and more: Premier League – live

⚽ Updates from Wednesday’s Premier League action
⚽ Scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Daniel

Email! “Could this be the first time that a player with the surname Henry will grace the Arsenal pitch since Thierry’s retirement? wonders Peter Oh – no, I’m sure Karl Henry played there for Wolves, as well as Rico himself, and how good it is to see him back.

“As a Liverpool fan I would love to see Arsenal drop points today and feel some Schade-freude. Ouattara the chances?”

The Ukraine peace deal has stumbled yet again over an inevitable obstacle: Putin

Russian leader’s rejection of latest peace proposal was predictable and shows the Kremlin continues to hold the trump card

Before the harsh white glare of the Kremlin reception room came a telling prologue: Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s self-described “deal guys”, being led by Kremlin officials through the sparkling streets of a festive Moscow.

Wasn’t it lovely, Vladimir Putin asked later, as both sides sat down to a five-hour negotiation that seems to have led right back to where they started. “It’s a magnificent city,” Witkoff replied. Then the cameras cut out.

Liverpool v Sunderland: Premier League – live

⚽ Updates from the 8.15pm GMT kick-off at Anfield
⚽ Scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Read Football Daily

Arne Slot has admitted feeling unease at dropping Mohamed Salah after the striker’s eight phenomenal seasons at Liverpool, and said he wants him “doing something special” on the pitch rather than sitting misera­bly on the bench.

Omitting Salah was Slot’s big call at West Ham on Sunday when the ­Liverpool head coach found a ­solution to the Premier League champions’ dismal run of results. The Egypt international, who will depart for the Africa Cup of Nations on 15 December, has struggled to hit his customary heights this season and is not guaranteed to return against Sunderland at Anfield on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Epstein island photos and videos released as top banks share files with House Oversight Committee

The release comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi is on a deadline to publicly share files related to Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

November private payrolls unexpectedly fell by 32,000, led by steep small business job cuts, ADP reports

The payrolls decline marked a sharp step down from October, which saw an upwardly revised gain of 47,000 positions.

Celtic confirm Wilfried Nancy’s arrival from Columbus Crew as head coach

• O’Neill has been in interim charge since Rodgers’ exit

• Celtic two points behind Hearts with a game in hand

Celtic have appointed Wilfried Nancy, coach of Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer, as their new permanent manager to replace Brendan Rodgers, who was dismissed in October. He has signed a two-and-a-half year contract.

The Glasgow club are two points behind the Scottish Premiership leaders, Hearts, with a game in hand after winning all four of their league matches under Martin O’Neill. The interim manager also beat Rangers in a League Cup semi-final to set up a match at Hampden Park against St Mirren scheduled for 14 December and takes charge of the side for the final time tonight in the league encounter with Dundee at Celtic Park.

Micron stops selling memory to consumers as demand spikes from AI chips

Demand driven by the AI infrastructure boom is creating shortages for certain products like memory.

German president receives royal welcome in first state visit to UK in 27 years

Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife joined by King Charles and Queen Camilla on carriage ride through Windsor at start of three-day visit

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier was welcomed with military pomp, a 41-gun royal salute and a celebratory oversized Royal Standard flag flown above Windsor Castle on the first state visit by a German leader to the UK in 27 years.

King Charles and Queen Camilla accompanied the president and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, on a carriage ride through Windsor’s streets at the start of the three-day visit, which will also see the German leader pay a poignant visit to the ruins of Coventry cathedral, bombed during the second world war.

Paedophile pleads guilty to sexually assaulting toddlers at London nursery

Vincent Chan, 45, admits 26 offences from 2022 to 2024 at Bright Horizons, Finchley Road, with two children he attacked yet to be identified

• Warning: this article contains descriptions of offences readers may find distressing

The families of toddlers at a nursery where a paedophile attacked sleeping children have demanded to know how he was able to abuse “innocent victims who could not fight back”.

They said they were sickened by the discovery that the early-years worker Vincent Chan had apparently passed vetting procedures, and demanded answers about why safeguarding systems failed so comprehensively.

Data shows spike in immigration arrests of those without criminal histories

In some cities where federal agents have conducted large-scale immigration operations that officials said would largely target criminals, more people without criminal records were detained in recent months.

Maps show how redistricting could affect congressional seats

See maps of how Texas, California, Missouri and North Carolina redistricting push could play out, based on the 2024 election results.

Rebecca Hendin on US-Russia talks over the war in Ukraine – cartoon

Trump uses 'Third World' in a social media post. What's up with that term?

"I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover," he wrote on Truth Social. That label raises the issue of how to classify certain nations.

Check your cheese: Shredded and grated varieties are recalled nationwide

The FDA is urging customers to toss certain brands of grated Pecorino Romano; at the same time, it escalated an existing recall of numerous shredded cheeses.

Charles Shay, who saved lives on D-Day as a teen medic, dies at 101

Charles Shay Shay was awarded the Silver Star for repeatedly plunging into the sea and carrying critically wounded soldiers to relative safety.

The Guardian view on US-Russia talks on Ukraine: a warning to Europe to move faster on security cooperation | Editorial

Washington’s betrayal of its allies has been averted for now, but preparations must be made for a world where its support cannot be relied on

Donald Trump’s desire to end the war in Ukraine might be sincere, but his motives are selfish. He wants the glory of having brokered a deal and does not care whether it is fair or not. As for Vladimir Putin, he only wants peace on terms that achieve things which the Russian army has failed to manage with force. The Kremlin demands territory not yet won on the battlefield and limitations to Ukraine’s capacity to act as a fully sovereign state.

Mr Trump has never shown much natural aversion to giving Mr Putin what he wants. He has not applied serious pressure on the Kremlin to end its aggression, nor rebuked the Russian president for starting the war. He sees nothing wrong with a process that discusses the fate of a country, including de facto partition of its territory, without representatives of that country at the table.

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.

Trump pardoning Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat facing bribery charges

Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar was indicted last year on more than a dozen federal charges.

The Guardian view on a four-day week for teachers: a clever way to end the staffing crisis

England’s teacher shortage is fuelled by burnout and unpaid overtime. New working patterns would help without compromising results

Can you guess which professionals in England work 26 hours of overtime a week without compensation, give up time with friends and family to deal with the workload and often find themselves on call in the holidays? Not CEOs, bankers or even doctors, but teachers. No wonder, then, that teaching vacancies are at the highest level ever. Workload is the top concern that teachers cite for leaving the profession, with almost as many quitting as those who joined last year. The consequences are stark: a quarter of English schools do not have a physics teacher, and many key subjects aren’t being offered at A-level in the poorest places.

The 4 Day Week Foundation believes that a shorter working week could alleviate these pressures if trialled in a way similar to the Scottish proposals of a four-day week, with a flexible fifth day that allows dedicated time for marking and lesson preparation. This means the work that teachers are currently forced to do at weekends and evenings would be integrated into the working week instead of being unpaid overtime.

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.

Reform council leader accused of racism after alleged remarks about Sadiq Khan

Ian Cooper allegedly called Khan ‘narcissistic Pakistani’ and made comments about lawyer Shola Mos-Shogbamimu

A Reform UK council leader has been accused of racism after allegedly describing Sadiq Khan as a “narcissistic Pakistani” and saying a black British lawyer should have “F’d off back to Nigeria”.

Ian Cooper, the leader of Staffordshire county council, is also said to have attacked the justice secretary, David Lammy, in a social media post that said: “No foreign national or first generation migrant should be allowed to sit in parliament.”

House Democrats release new images of Epstein’s private Caribbean island

Images and videos taken in 2020, a year after he died in jail, show the late sex offender’s home

• US politics – live updates

House Democrats released a handful of photos and videos from Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island on Wednesday, offering a rare glimpse into a secretive place where Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls.

The new images and videos show Epstein’s home, including bedrooms, a telephone, what appears to be an office or library, and a chalkboard on which the words “fin”, “intellectual”, “deception” and “power” are written. One photo shows a room with a dentist chair and masks hanging on the wall. The New York Times reported that Epstein’s last girlfriend was a dentist who shared an office with one of his shell companies. The videos appear to be a walk-through of the property.

How did teen Danni Houchins die? Her family's search for the truth

For years, the death of 15-year-old Danielle "Danni" Houchins had been shrouded in mystery. Montana investigators initially said it could have been a tragic accident, but her family always suspected something more sinister.

Alone with a killer in the Montana wilderness

Danni Houchins was found dead in a swamp in Montana. Decades later, a friend of Danni's sister realized she'd been alone with Danni's killer in the wilderness.

Jack Smith subpoenaed for closed-door testimony before House committee

A lawyer for former special counsel Jack Smith indicated he would comply with the subpoena for testimony.

Did the Trump administration commit a war crime in its attack on a Venezuelan boat?

Washington Post reporter Alex Horton talks about the Sept. 2 U.S. military strike on a boat with alleged "narco terrorists," in which a second strike was ordered to kill two survivors in the water.

Delta says government shutdown cost it $200 million, but forecasts strong travel demand into 2026

Delta trimmed its fourth-quarter profit forecast, citing the government shutdown.

Goodbye avocado, hello ssamjang: here is the new posh nosh

Waitrose has published its annual report on what goes into the middle-class shopping trolley – and the results are spicy

Name: Posh nosh.

Age: We’re talking new food trends here, so – new.

Maro Itoje eyes World Cup glory after England dodge big guns in 2027 draw

• England ‘welcome whatever comes’ says bullish captain

• Ireland and Scotland meet for third successive tournament

Maro Itoje has set his sights on Rugby World Cup glory in Australia in 2027 after England were handed a ­potentially favourable path through the tournament when the draw was made in Sydney on Wednesday.

England, who have risen to third in the world rankings after an 11-match winning streak, emerged on the other side of the draw from the reigning world champions, South Africa, the three-times winners New Zealand and France.

Bessent says Trump admin will be able to replicate tariffs even if it loses Supreme Court decision

The Treasury secretary cited several sections of 1962 Trade Act that give the president sweeping powers over import duties.

Federal agents prepare to launch immigration crackdown in New Orleans

Democrat-led city has been bracing for arrival of federal agents for weeks, with some businesses closing their doors

Federal agents are preparing to descend on New Orleans on Wednesday, making Louisiana’s most populous city the latest front in the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigrant communities.

Tricia McLaughlin, homeland security department assistant secretary, said in a statement that the aim of “Operation Catahoula Crunch” was to capture immigrants who were released after their arrests for crimes including home invasion, armed robbery, grand theft auto and rape. “It is asinine that these monsters were released back onto New Orleans streets to COMMIT MORE CRIMES and create more victims,” she said.

Women’s prisons report finds 97 deaths in decade as self-harm hits record high

Charity director warns ‘more deaths will follow’ unless government changes tack and closes women’s prisons

Over the past decade 97 women have died in prisons in England and Wales and incidents of self-harm among female prisoners have reached the highest level on record, a report has found.

Inquest, the charity that produced the report, collated Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures since 2015 to arrive at a total number of deaths. It said the numbers were evidence for its case that all women’s prisons should be closed.

Cummins conundrum is key as Australia try not to overthink tactics

Will the captain return? Will Nathan Lyon play? Who will open? Ashes hostilities are renewed and the hosts don’t need to ask too many questions

At last, at long last, an Ashes series is about to start. It feels that way, anyway, after so many months of lead-up, such an eternal blur of preview and prediction and preamble, were supposed to reach their end – only to find that the end was instead a momentary interruption, a hiccup, an indigestion-dream of a Test from Perth, a contest done in the span of 31 hours, leaving everyone to return to punditry and prognostication for a further 11 blasted and benighted days.

We are, for pity’s sake, in a discussion cycle about Ben Stokes correctly applying a bike helmet while not on a bike, or Steve Smith correctly applying eye-black stickers in his Tim Tebow tribute act, or the archaeologically uncovered fact that Australian teams have a good record at the Gabba. Like farmers waiting for the rains, we are praying for play to start to let us talk about something that has happened, rather than something that might. Even the day-night format means another wait, four more hours than would usually be the case before the balm of the first ball.

‘I thanked him for ending my acting career!’ – theatre directors on their debt to Tom Stoppard

Carrie Cracknell, Nina Raine and Belarus Free Theatre’s Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin share memories of working with the playwright and ‘guardian angel’

Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin, co-founding artistic directors of Belarus Free Theatre

Greetings from Ukraine, where churchgoers seek respite ahead of another winter at war

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Paul Anka on his incredible, star-studded career: ‘Revenge is a motivator like you wouldn’t believe’

The musician, who wrote My Way and Puppy Love among others, talks career longevity, shrewd business and which star bullied him in his youth

In 1956, when Paul Anka was 15 years old, he idolized Chuck Berry. So, when the star came to play his home town of Ottawa, Canada, the ambitious kid made sure to sneak backstage with his guitar to play him a song he’d just written. “I started singing Diana to Chuck Berry when, suddenly, he stops me and says, ‘That’s the worst song I’ve ever heard in my life, go back to school.’”

Rather than slink away from such a pronouncement, however, Anka used it as a spur. “Revenge is a motivator like you won’t believe,” the 84-year-old star said with an eruptive laugh the other day. “I said to myself, ‘I’m going to show him.’ That attitude has prevailed for me through my entire life.”

Bipartisan health care deal remains elusive in the Senate as parties dig in

A bipartisan deal on health care remains elusive in the Senate with a key vote on Affordable Care Act tax credits set for next week.

EU looks at legally forcing industries to reduce purchases from China

Commission unveils €3bn strategy to de-risk and diversify supply chains for critical rare earth metals and elements

• Business live – latest updates

The EU is considering legally forcing industries to reduce purchases from China to insulate Europe from future hostile acts, the industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, says.

He made his remarks as the European Commission unveiled a €3bn (£2.63bn) strategy to reduce its dependency on China for critical raw materials amid a global scramble caused by Beijing’s “weaponisation” of supplies of everything from chips to rare earths.

Your glitchy video calls may make people mistrust you

Brief glitches in video calls may seem like no big deal, but new research shows they can have a negative effect on how a person is perceived by the viewer.

Broadcast station owners want to consolidate. They're struggling to get deals to the finish line

Nexstar, Tegna and Sinclair are among the broadcast station groups eager to consolidate as the industry awaits regulatory changes.

Leaked report reveals culture of bullying and harassment at scandal-hit NHS hospital

Exclusive: report into Blackpool Victoria hospital by Royal College of Physicians finds systemic failings have affected patient safety

A culture of systemic bullying and harassment has been allowed to flourish among staff at one England’s most scandal-hit hospitals, a damning leaked report reveals.

The safety of patients at Blackpool Victoria hospital was affected as a result of the failings, the report by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found.

Jimmy Kimmel on the Trump administration: ‘They have better-quality cabinets at Ikea’

Late-night hosts discussed a bizarre televised cabinet meeting, dismal approval ratings and yet another Trump posting spree on Truth Social

Late-night hosts tore into Donald Trump’s five-hour Truth Social posting spree and his inability to stay awake during cabinet meetings.

Oval Invincibles will be renamed as MI London for the Hundred in 2026

• Name favoured by the Ambani family co-owners

• Surrey retain 51% share in franchise after auction

Oval Invincibles, the Hundred’s most successful franchise, will be competing as MI London next year, the name favoured by their new Indian co-owners.

The change of name brings the men’s and women’s teams, who between them have won Hundred titles in each of the past five years, in line with the rest of the Ambani family’s Mumbai Indians holdings which, in addition to its Indian Premier League team, includes MI Cape Town in the SA20, MI Emirates in the ILT20 and MI New York in Major League Cricket.

Bad jobs report caused by shutdown, deportations — not tariffs, Lutnick says

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's defense of President Donald Trump's tariffs came as experts warn that the trade policies could hurt domestic head count.

‘It was legs out all the time!’ June Squibb on starring in Scarlett Johansson’s directing debut – and Broadway’s original Gypsy

She brought the house down as a stripper in Gypsy, going on to star in films with Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson. Now, at 96, she’s stealing the show in Eleanor the Great. What’s her secret? ‘Be a looker-ahead’

It is surely a comfort to anyone still awaiting mega-success to know that June Squibb was in her mid-80s before she hit the big time. Her role as a foul-mouthed matriarch in the 2013 film Nebraska brought her an Oscar nomination, and she had her first leading role in last year’s action comedy, Thelma. Now she’s playing the lead again, in the new film Eleanor the Great and she’s currently in rehearsals for a show on Broadway. Is Squibb, who has just turned 96, sick of talking about her late-peaking success? “I think people are interested, so no, it’s not a bad thing,” she says. “But it is funny, because when I first came to New York – it was the 50s – I did The Boy Friend, a musical, and I was a big hit.” But it was theatre, she concedes. “The film thing is so different.”

In Eleanor the Great, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Squibb plays Eleanor Morgenstein, a 94-year-old woman who, mourning the loss of her best friend Bessie, moves from Florida to New York to be near her daughter. Encouraged to make new friends, Eleanor goes to the local Jewish community centre to join a choir, but the woman belting out Stephen Sondheim is enough to make anyone rush for the door. “Oh god,” mutters Eleanor, backing away, before being scooped up by the Holocaust survivors group, meeting at the same time, who erroneously assume she’s one of them. Lonely and grieving, US-born Eleanor finds herself passing off Bessie’s survival story as her own.

U.S. lost 32,000 private-sector jobs last month in surprise drop

Weakening job growth could lock in an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, according to economists.

Having a dog can boost teenagers’ mental health, say scientists

Researchers find children who own dogs score lower for social problems, aggressive behaviour and delinquency

Having a dog in the home could help boost teenagers’ mental health, research suggests, with scientists adding this could in part be down to the sharing of microbes.

Prof Takefumi Kikusui, of Azabu University in Japan, who led the work, said being with dogs could reduce owners’ stress and stimulate the release of the bonding hormone oxytocin.

HSBC has a new chair but the succession process should have been slicker

This is the UK’s second-largest listed company, and the European bank most exposed to declining US-China relations

It turns out that Sir Mark Tucker, 67, retired as chair of HSBC in September to make way for an older man. Say hello to Brendan Nelson, 76, a former KPMG partner, who has been doing the job on an interim basis for a couple of months but was regarded as a rank outsider to get the gig permanently.

Just how permanent remains to be seen because the HSBC chief executive, Georges Elhedery, clearly unaware that Nelson had thrown his hat into the ring, appeared to rule him out when speaking at an FT conference only on Monday. He said Nelson didn’t wish to do a full term of six to nine years, a remark that didn’t feel controversial at the time. After all, while US presidents may go on into their 80s these days, chairs of globally important banks tend not to.

Germany to host Women’s Euro 2029 after pledging to smash ticket sales record

• Germany’s bid won 15 of 17 votes

• Eight cities will host tournament

Germany will host the 2029 Women’s European Championship after receiving the vast majority of the votes from Uefa’s executive committee. The German campaign pledged to smash records for ticket sales and was selected ahead of a bid from Poland and a joint submission from Denmark and Sweden. Portugal withdrew from the bidding process in November and the Italian Football Federation withdrew in August.

The decision came in the first round of voting, with 15 of the 17 votes going to Germany. The remaining two votes were for the Denmark/Sweden bid.

What has Trump said about seeking a third term?

President Trump has previously suggested he's eyeing ways to run again for president. But he downplayed talk of a third term in his latest comments.

European Commission plans ‘reparations loan’ to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets

Leaders focus on bolstering Ukraine’s finances as US-Russia talks to end war make little progress

The European Commission will move ahead with controversial plans to fund Ukraine with a loan based on Russia’s frozen assets, but in a concession to concerns raised by Belgium, which hosts most of the assets, the EU executive has also proposed another option: an EU loan based on common borrowing.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday the two proposals would ensure “Ukraine has the means to defend [itself] and take forward peace negotiations from a position of strength”.

Trial of aid workers accused of facilitating illegal entry of migrants into Greece set to begin

The accused, including Syrian refugee Sarah Mardini and Irishman Sean Binder, were among those providing humanitarian assistance in Europe’s migration crisis

Twenty four former aid workers accused of facilitating the illegal entrance of migrants into Greece, and other crimes that carry lengthy prison terms, are set to appear in court on Lesbos in a trial being closely watched internationally.

Human rights defenders from around the world, including Sarah Mardini, the Syrian refugee immortalised in the Netflix movie, The Swimmers, are slated to take the stand when proceedings before a court of appeals begin in the island’s capital, Mytilene, on Thursday.

Raccoon passes out on Virginia liquor store bathroom floor after drunken rampage

An employee at the Ashland, Virginia, area liquor store on Saturday found the trash panda passed out on the bathroom floor at the end of his drunken escapade.

Trump administration begins immigration crackdown in New Orleans

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday formally announced a new immigration enforcement crackdown in New Orleans, dubbed "Catahoula Crunch."

CEO of company screening embryo DNA defends "genetic optimization" for babies

Kian Sadeghi, the founder and CEO of Nucleus Genomics, believes every parent has a right to select the qualities they most desire in their potential future children, calling it "genetic optimization." The 25-year-old says DNA screening of embryos can prevent disease, and defended practices amid ethical concerns over screening for traits like height and intelligence.

Boxing robots, a mass wedding and a home as art: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Dan Houser on Victorian novels, Red Dead Redemption and redefining open-world games

As the Grand Theft Auto co-writer launches a new project, he reflects on his hugely successful open-world adventures and where game design might go next

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It is hard to think of a more modern entertainment format than the open-world video game. These sprawling technological endeavours, which mix narrative, social connectivity and the complete freedom to explore, are uniquely immersive and potentially endless. But do they represent a whole new idea of storytelling?

This week I met Dan Houser, the co-founder of Rockstar and lead writer on Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, who has been in London to talk about his new company, Absurd Ventures. He’s working on a range of intriguing projects, including the novel and podcast series A Better Paradise (about a vast online game that goes tragically wrong), and a comedy-adventure set in an online world named Absurdaverse. He told me that, 15 years ago, he was doing press interviews for the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion packs when he had something of a revelation about the series.

An Italian powerlifter defies gravity: Mattia Zoppellaro’s best photograph

‘When I saw him leaning back on the floor, I said, “Donato, please don’t move!” Then I jumped on a ladder and shot him from above’

This image is part of a series commissioned by the Italian Paralympic Committee. They asked me to photograph the country’s leading athletes before the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. I probably covered 30 different people over three days – I’m a quick shooter. I started out photographing on film, which is still my preferred medium. Even when I’m shooting digitally, I’m very selective and take care with every click.

On a logistical level, it was much easier for me to work in a studio, though that was something I don’t usually choose to do. I’m more of an outside photographer: I like to go on location or shoot people in a park.

Stefanik accuses Johnson of lying about defense bill provision

GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to include a provision to require the FBI to notify Congress when it opens counterintelligence probes into federal election candidates.

Oh. What. Fun. review – Michelle Pfeiffer leads Amazon’s underbaked Christmas turkey

Starry cast, including Felicity Jones and Chloë Grace Moretz, can’t save misfiring cross between Home Alone and The Family Stone

If you’ve already over-indulged in Netflix’s brand of cheap and, overwhelmingly, cheerless Christmas movies this season, then Amazon has something a little meatier to add to your plate. Like Netflix, it also has more than enough tinnily made Hallmark ripoffs (step forward, Tyler Perry’s Finding Joy), but it’s also aiming a little higher with Oh. What. Fun. It’s a more robustly made attempt to recall something we used to see on the big rather than small screen with a cast to match, a starry cross between Home Alone and The Family Stone with an all-new soundtrack from some unusually upper-tier artists.

Given the low budget and even lower ambition of the genre, it’s easy to be blinded by the names attached. The film is directed by Michael Showalter, the trusted hand behind films like The Big Sick, Wet Hot American Summer and The Idea of You! It stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Jason Schwartzman, Danielle Brooks and Chloë Grace Moretz! There are new songs from Fleet Foxes, Gwen Stefani and Sharon Van Etten, among others! Enough experience might have shown us that even the most talented people do not tend to make the greatest films, but there’s something about the sheer effort being poured into this one that feels notable as others have seemingly given up trying. Could actual fun be on the Christmas cards?

Design boss behind new Jaguar leaves JLR weeks after change of CEO

Gerry McGovern reportedly removed from role of chief creative officer after 20 years with business

The Jaguar Land Rover design boss behind the Range Rover and the polarising Jaguar relaunch has abruptly departed the business just four months after its new chief executive took charge.

Gerry McGovern left the role of chief creative officer on Monday after 20 years at the business in which he oversaw the design of some of the company’s most successful cars as well as the launch of a new-look, pink electric Jaguar that drew the ire of Donald Trump.

Here's what to know about the Dell donation and how Trump accounts for kids will work

Michael and Susan Dell announced on Tuesday that they're donating $6.25 billion for Trump accounts, impacting millions of kids. Starting July 4, 2026, Trump accounts could take up to $5,000 in annual contributions from parents, their employers, grandparents, family friends or charities. Money in the tax-deferred accounts would be invested in low-cost equity index funds. Ed O'Keefe has more.

The niche real estate sector that’s luring big money for small kids' care

Since the end of 2024, the number of early education properties available for sale has grown by 14%, reaching a total of 158, according to B+E.

Michael and Susan Dell to give 25 million U.S. kids $250 in Trump accounts

Michael and Susan Dell said they will spend $6.25 billion to fund Invest America accounts for U.S. children.

Should you open a Trump account for your child? Here's what experts say.

Trump accounts offer a new tax-preferred way for families to save money for their kids. Here are the pros and cons.

Home prices could dip in 22 U.S. cities next year, report says. See where.

A new report from Realtor.com projects that the housing market will shift in a more buyer-friendly direction in 2026.

Shredded cheese sold at Walmart and other stores recalled due to metal

The FDA said more than 1 million bags of shredded cheese sold at major retailers are being recalled because they may contain metal fragments.

Partygoers are pushing for clubs to offer free water: ‘It costs as much as a beer’

New York venues aren’t required to give out water – but nightlife workers say it could make the difference between a safe evening out and an ER visit

When the Brooklyn metal band Contract performs around New York, they expect a mosh pit: thrashing bodies shoving and jumping along to the music. They also want to make sure the amped-up, usually drunk crowd stays hydrated. Without water, a mosher might feel sick, faint or pass out. “You don’t want anyone to get injured or hurt,” frontman Pele Uriel said.

Most of the spaces Uriel plays or visits have water stations where customers can easily fill up. But some do not. The worst offenders sell bottles of water at astronomical prices, from $5 to $10. “There have been times when I asked for water, but they charged a lot, so I went to the store next door to buy some,” Uriel said.

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: ’tis the season to party. Time to recap Christmas dressing rules

Amid all the fairy lights and tinsel, an understated getup can look a bit curmudgeonly – you need to add some fashion sparkle

Christmas has begun. Don’t come for me with your pedantry about partridges and pear trees. The lights are lit, the turkey sandwiches are in Pret: ’tis the season, already. For the next few weeks we will be in a bubble that has its own festive rules. This is an alternate universe in which it is perfectly acceptable to have Michael Bublé on your Spotify playlist and to drink at lunchtime (to be fair, it is almost dark by then) and non-negotiable to play parlour games.

Christmas also comes with its own set of fashion rules, some of which are set in stone, and others which are updated every year. So I thought it may be helpful to have a quick refresher on how to dress for Christmas. Not least because one of the ways in which this time of year is its own little world is that even people who don’t like parties go to parties.

‘I’ve held this in my whole life’: ex-Big Brother contestant testifies about childhood sexual abuse by New Orleans priest

Renny Martyn revealed in archdiocese bankruptcy proceedings that priest abused her at school when she was six years old

A woman who Big Brother fans might recognize as a contestant on an earlier season of the unscripted television competition has spoken out as a victim of New Orleans’s decades-old Catholic clergy abuse scandal.

Renny Martyn, 71, told her story toward the end of a Tuesday hearing in the federal courthouse where the Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans has been in bankruptcy protection proceedings since 2020 amid the financial fallout of the scandal.

Drunk raccoon found passed out in Virginia liquor store

Store employee found masked bandit sleeping off a bender after invading booze store and tippling a tad too much

A liquor store employee in Virginia was startled on Saturday to discover smashed whisky bottles on the floor of the shop and, upon entering the bathroom, an apparently drunk, sleeping and spread-eagled raccoon.

“He fell through one of the ceiling tiles and went on a full-blown rampage, drinking everything,” Samantha Martin, a local animal control officer, told the Daily Mail.

India revokes order to preload smartphones with state-owned security app

Tech companies including Apple and Google made it clear they would not comply due to privacy concerns

India’s government has backtracked on an order for all smartphones to be pre-installed with a state-owned security app after a mass outcry over privacy concerns and refusal by technology companies to comply.

The department of telecommunications confirmed it had revoked its previous order for all technology companies to mandatorily install the government’s Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity app on to every smartphone in India within 90 days.

San Francisco sues 11 companies over health impacts of ultra-processed foods

In San Francisco, city attorney David Chiu announced the first government lawsuit of its kind against 11 companies, including Kraft-Heinz, General Mills and Nestle. It accuses the companies of using cheap ingredients, adding flavor and color, to make unhealthy and addictive products. Elizabeth Cook reports.

Powerful winter storm brings dangerous conditions to parts of U.S.

Drivers braved snow-covered roads Tuesday as states from Kansas to New York were hit with a powerful winter storm. Some regions got up to 12 inches of snow. Tom Hanson reports.

Mr Men and Little Miss feature film in the works from Paddington producers

David Heyman has joined the French media company StudioCanal with plans to bring one of the bestselling children’s book series of all time to the screen

The film-makers behind the successful Paddington series are to embark on a feature film adaptation of another British family favourite, the Mr Men and Little Miss series of illustrated children’s books.

David Heyman, whose Heyday Films produced Paddington and Paddington 2 as well as the Harry Potter series, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and White Noise, is to join with the UK arm of French media company StudioCanal to make the film.

New details on National Guard shooting revealed at suspect's first court hearing

The first court hearing for a man accused of killing a National Guard member and injuring another in Washington, D.C., last week provided more information about the attack. Newly released surveillance images revealed in court documents appear to show the suspect standing near a busy D.C. metro station before turning a corner and opening fire. Nicole Sganga has more.

Illustrating the ‘postcolonial experience’: 40 years of Peepal Tree Press

As the publisher celebrates an important milestone, we chart its journey from an ‘expensive hobby’ to an international household name

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Hello and welcome to the Long Wave. This week, I had the huge pleasure of an audience with Peepal Tree Press, which has been home to authors such as Bernardine Evaristo and Roger Robinson. Peepal Tree publishes books from the Caribbean and its diaspora, and has just celebrated its 40th anniversary. I spoke to its founder, Jeremy Poynting, and fiction editor Jacob Ross, and what ensued was a masterclass not only in publishing, but in diasporic art.

Women’s Institute will no longer accept trans women as members from April

Exclusive: CEO says decision taken with ‘utmost regret and sadness’ after supreme court ruling on definition of a woman

The Women’s Institute will no longer accept transgender women as members from April following the UK supreme court ruling on the legal definition of a woman, the Guardian can reveal.

Melissa Green, the chief executive of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, said the organisation had taken the decision with the “utmost regret and sadness”, adding it had “no choice” but to exclude trans women from its membership.

Judge blocks widespread immigration arrests in DC made without warrants or probable cause

Injunction was sought by civil liberties groups in lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security

A federal judge late on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from making widespread immigration arrests in the nation’s capital without warrants or probable cause that the person would be an imminent flight risk.

The US district judge Beryl Howell in Washington granted a preliminary injunction sought by civil liberties and immigrant rights groups in a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security.

Spotify Wrapped is taking over our feeds, but you don’t have outsource your relationship with music to AI | Liz Pelly

The streamer’s annual charts are just another version of the tech that’s alienating us from our inner lives. Hold on to your musical memories and reclaim ownership of your taste

I like year-end list season. I like an opportunity to remember and reflect on the records that stuck with me over the course of a year – especially when there is a chance to recommend something that others may have overlooked. I like looking through friends’ favourites for albums that I missed completely, and making a big listening queue. I like following along as critics attempt to determine the year’s “best”, even when I end up yelling into a group chat about how wrong they all are. I like it because it all requires looking back, racking your brain and processing your year in listening. It requires thinking.

This year, as Spotify Wrapped takes over social media feeds again, I am struck by how the whole concept seems to discourage that critical practice for something more passive. It nudges listeners away from deep consideration and towards accepting a corporate-branded scorecard reflecting a very specific perspective on musical value. It encourages music fans to believe that the records they streamed the most must be the ones they liked the most, which is surely not always the case.

Cracks have emerged in the Maga coalition | Moira Donegan

The Republican party is far from moving beyond Trump – but signals of his waning influence are everywhere

The sharks can smell blood in the water. After a decade in eerie command of the Republican party, with primary voters in his cult-like thrall and down-ballot elected officials feeling they have no choice – and often no inclination – to diverge from him, Donald Trump suddenly seems not quite in control of his own political machine.

Fractures have emerged in the Maga coalition; Trump’s approval is sinking; the Democrats, long anemic and risk-averse in the opposition, showed signs of life in elections last month; and the cumulative effect of a series of long-running scandals, most particularly the Epstein affair, seem to have alienated core components of the Trump faithful. Trump has faced some rebukes from a once largely compliant federal judiciary: his personal attorney, Alina Habba, was recently declared ineligible to serve in the US attorney role Trump had appointed her to, and his signature tariffs seem likely to be struck down by a conservative supreme court majority.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

The environmental costs of corn: should the US change how it grows its dominant crop?

Amid concerns over greenhouse gas emissions, the Trump administration has abolished climate-friendly farming incentives

This article was produced in partnership with Floodlight

For decades, corn has reigned over American agriculture. It sprawls across 90m acres – about the size of Montana – and goes into everything from livestock feed and processed foods to the ethanol blended into most of the nation’s gasoline.

Mortgage rates finally moved lower last week, but that didn't do much for demand

Mortgage rates moved slightly lower last week after rising for much of the past month, but it wasn't a big enough move to impact mortgage demand.

Village People lead ‘world-class line-up’ for Trump-tinged World Cup 2026 draw

• Robbie Williams will also perform at Friday’s event

• Trump expected to receive Fifa’s new peace award

Robbie Williams, Andrea Bocelli and the Village People are to perform as part of a “world-class entertainment line-up” during Friday’s draw for the 2026 men’s football World Cup. The draw for next year’s tournament will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, with model and TV personality Heidi Klum, comedian Kevin Hart and actor Danny Ramirez co-hosting the event.

The Village People will perform YMCA to cap off an event that promises have distinctly Trumpian overtones. The disco hit became a staple at Donald Trump’s campaign rallies and Mar-a-Lago fundraisers.

One year on from martial law crisis, South Korea celebrates its democracy's resilience

One year on from failed presidential power grab, South Korea celebrates its resilient democracy, and tries to heal deep political divisions.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 search to resume 11 years after jet went missing

Malaysian transport ministry says robotics company Ocean Infinity will restart search operation on 30 December

The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will resume this month, the Malaysian transport ministry has said, more than a decade after the plane disappeared in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

In a statement on Wednesday, the transport ministry confirmed that the marine robotics company Ocean Infinity, based in the UK and US, would resume a search of the seabed from 30 December, over a period of 55 days, with operations conducted intermittently.

Top ex-EU diplomat Federica Mogherini accused of corruption and fraud

Prosecutors say two others also indicted in investigation into funding for school training young diplomats

• Europe live – latest updates

The EU’s former chief diplomat Federica Mogherini and two other people have been formally accused of fraud and corruption, the European prosecutor’s office has said.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) did not refer to Mogherini by name, but said the rector of the College of Europe in Bruges – her role – had been formally notified of the accusations. A senior staff member of the college and a senior official from the European Commission were also indicted, the EPPO said, after all three were questioned by Belgian police.

With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration review – take anti-nausea pills, she’s back!

She literally skips through a Christmas tree farm, serves food that looks like animal droppings and cooks a meal that Prince Harry hates. Assume the crash position before watching

In the top corner of the screen as With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration opens is its age rating: “U – no material likely to offend or harm.” This may be true in the traditional sense. But I would advise any viewers who are British, not in the acting profession and/or not married to the Duchess of Sussex to take as many anti-emetics as medically advisable, then assume the crash position.

We open with Meghan literally skipping through a Christmas tree farm. “Once a year you get to do the tree thing!” She then decorates it, which she loves because it allows you to “encapsulate your family’s story!”. She likes to position the baubles “so they find their light”. Once she has done that, it’s time to fill a 24-pocketed Advent calendar with – no, not chocolates, you fat English pleb, but “small gestures” and “little findings” for your children. “I’m writing notes that say ‘I love you because you are so kind!’ and ‘I love you because you are so brave!’” Do the children leave notes in return, I wonder? “Should we give up hope of the occasional Freddo here?” “Morning trans fats are the tradition to start, Mother.”

Dems seek to limit who can be immigration judges. And, the GOP wins House election

Democrats seek to limit who can serve as immigration judges amid layoffs from the administration. And, Republican Matt Van Epps narrowly wins a special House election in Tennessee.

The Sarah Everard report part two: a catalogue of repeated and preventable failures | Joan Smith

So many reviews, so much hand-wringing, yet misogyny in England and Wales’s police forces and impunity for offenders remains the norm

How do we get sexual predators out of the country’s police forces? It was one of the most urgent questions asked in 2021 when a serving police officer, PC Wayne Couzens, was charged with the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. In the first report of Elish Angiolini’s inquiry into this dreadful sequence of events, published in February last year, she made the eminently sensible recommendation that any individual with a caution or conviction for a sexual offence should be rejected during police vetting.

It seemed the very least that should happen, yet we’ve learned from Lady Angiolini’s second report this week that the recommendation has yet to be implemented. She reveals that it took 18 months after publication for police chiefs to agree a blanket ban on recruits who have convictions, and even then it wasn’t included in draft Home Office regulations issued in September this year.

Joan Smith was co-chair of the mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board from 2013-2021

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‘The Mamdani effect’: wealthy New Yorkers show renewed interest in Miami’s Billionaire’s Beach

Sales spike at the Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and Cipriani as luxury buyers weigh moves from Manhattan

There is a short stretch of prime waterfront real estate in Miami that has come to be known as Billionaire’s Beach. It contains a mix of famous old art deco hotels such as the Delano and Raleigh, both undergoing extensive upmarket refurbishments, and the construction of exclusive new residential tower blocks with high-end apartments running into the tens of millions.

It is here on the sun-filled shores of South Beach, more than a thousand miles from the chills of a Manhattan winter, where realtors and developers are beginning to see the first shoots of what they call the “Mamdani effect”: the predicted exodus of wealthy New Yorkers in the wake of socialist democrat Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor.

Airbus cuts plane delivery target amid A320 fuselage problem

Output reduction to ‘around 790’ planes comes after French firm issued recall over software glitch affecting 6,000 jets

• Business live – latest updates

Airbus has cut its plane delivery target for this year after it identified a problem with the fuselage panels on its bestselling A320 family of aircraft that has forced it to inspect hundreds of jets.

The world’s largest plane manufacturer said it would now deliver “around 790” commercial aircraft this year, a drop of 30 from its previous target of 820 planes.

Whistleblower accuses Foreign Office of ‘censoring’ warning of Sudan genocide

Exclusive: Analyst claims UK officials deleted alert to threat of genocidal violence by paramilitaries to protect UAE

Warnings of a possible “genocide” in Sudan were removed from a UK risk assessment by Foreign Office officials, according to a whistleblower whose testimony raises fresh concern over British failures to act on the atrocities unfolding in the war-ravaged country.

The threat analyst said they were prevented from warning that genocide could occur in Darfur by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials in a risk assessment collated days after Sudan’s brutal civil war erupted in April 2023.

Jamie Lee Curtis asked My Girl studio to put trigger warning on poster over Macaulay Culkin bee sting

Actor told Columbia’s head of marketing that the film’s scene showing the death of Culkin, then 10, was going to freak out every child in the US

Jamie Lee Curtis has said she asked the studio behind the 1991 comedy-drama My Girl to put a trigger warning on the poster, owing to the dramatic death of its central character towards the end of the film.

Speaking on The View, Curtis, 67, said she was sufficiently concerned by the incongruously perky publicity materials for the movie to phone the studio’s head of marketing.

World Athletics scraps takeoff zone idea to avoid ‘war’ with long jumpers

• Plan was introduced to reduce number of foul jumps

• ‘Athletes do not want to embrace it,’ says Jon Ridgeon

World Athletics has scrapped plans to introduce a takeoff zone for the long jump rather than the traditional board because of widespread hostility from athletes. Jon Ridgeon, the World Athletics’ chief executive, said that while the proposals had gone well in trials, “you ultimately do not want to go to war with your most important group of people”.

The idea of introducing a wide takeoff zone was to reduce the number of foul jumps with athletes no longer required to try to hit a narrow board before jumping into the sand pit. However, the Olympic long jump champion, Miltiadis Tentoglou, described the proposal as “dog shit” because it took much of the skill out of the event, while the former track and field athlete Carl Lewis, who won four long jump medals at the Olympics, called it an “April fool’s joke”.

Trump is using a tragic shooting to demonize millions | Mohamad Bazzi

The administration is heightening its anti-immigrant crackdown – and punishing people from a country the US helped destroy

After two national guard members were ambushed in Washington DC last week, killing one and leaving the other in critical condition, Donald Trump went on a hate-filled social media rant and vowed to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries”.

Trump’s late night Thanksgiving posts devolved into a fury, evidently because the suspected gunman is an Afghan national. He had worked with the US government, including the CIA, and was evacuated to the US in 2021 after the American military withdrew from Afghanistan.

Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University

‘There’s no monitoring of earthquakes’: new British Columbia pipeline could spell catastrophe, experts warn

Project on ‘very poorly understood’ terrain and likely to pass through Rocky Mountain trench, which researchers say poses immense geological hazard

When an earthquake in 2002 struck in a remote pocket of Alaska, the shock was the strongest ever recorded in the interior of the state. But, miraculously, an oil pipeline that crossed directly over the fault line was unscathed.

Engineers behind the design of the 800-mile system were prepared. Knowing the high likelihood of seismic activity along the route, which bisected the Denali fault, they constructed sections where the pipeline rested on rail girders, allowing it to sway and shear without snapping.

Trump officials say second strike aimed to destroy drug boat instead of crew

Officials hew closely to secret memo which gives legal cover to firing on boats even if it would kill people on board

Trump administration officials have defended carrying out a follow-up strike on a drug boat that killed survivors on 2 September by arguing that its objective was to ensure the complete destruction of the boat, an action the Pentagon had internal legal approval to conduct.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a briefing on Monday that Adm Frank Bradley, who oversaw the operation and gave the order for the second strike, directed it to sink the boat.

Duckworth demands DOT give $10K bonus to all air traffic controllers, FAA techs

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the bonus would be given only to controllers and technicians who didn't miss a shift during the shutdown.

A Palestinian imprisoned for planning a bombing is now a prized novelist, and free

Bassem Khandaqji entered prison 21 years ago for plotting a deadly bombing in Israel. He left prison as an award-winning novelist.

Belgium rejects EU plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

Belgium on Wednesday rejected a plan to use frozen Russian assets to help prop up Ukraine's economy and war effort over the next two years, saying that the scheme poses financial and legal risks.

Sleep Awake review – Gary Numan cameos in an overly straightforward sleep-deprivation horror

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox; Eyes Out/Blumhouse Games
Psychedelic visuals and a promising premise are let down by tired game design in this first-person horror with an appearance from the synthpop pioneer

Video games have delivered a feast of singular and wondrous sights in 2025: ecological fantasias teeming with magical beasts; stunning, historically obsessive recreations of feudal Japan. But here is an end-of-year curio: psychological horror game Sleep Awake serves us synth-rock pioneer Gary Numan stepping into what is perhaps the schlockiest role of his life – a gigantic floating head named Hypnos.

This late-stage cameo is not quite indicative of the game as a whole; the handful of hours prior to Numan’s arrival are more mournful than madcap. Mostly, you explore the dilapidated, tumbledown streets of what is thought to be the last city on Earth. This setting is a magnificent work of imagination. You see it through the eyes of a young woman named Katja, who moves along rooftops, gazing out upon a barren, lifeless hinterland, into labyrinthine streets whose darkness and arcane logic recall the stirring subterranean etchings of Italian artist Piranesi.