Fed minutes show officials were in tight split over December rate cut

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday released minutes from its December meeting.

Chelsea v Bournemouth, Manchester United v Wolves, and more: Premier League – live

⚽ Premier League updates, kicking off from 7.30pm GMT
⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And email Billy

Starting lineups from Old Trafford:

Man Utd (4-4-2): Lammens; Dalot, Heaven, Martínez, Shaw; Dorgu, Casemiro, Ugarte, Cunha; Sesko, Zirkzee.
Subs: Bayindir, Fredericson, Malacia, Yoro, J Fletcher, L Fletcher, Lacey, Mantato, Obi.

The Mueller Report: A Turning Point

Special counsel Robert Mueller investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election for nearly two years, and America has finally learned some of his findings. Jeff Glor anchors a CBS News special, "The Mueller Report: A Turning Point."

Arsenal v Aston Villa: Premier League – live

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8.15pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And email Scott

Here’s how the top of the Premier League looks before we dive headlong into this six-pointer. Arsenal’s vastly superior goal difference means Villa can’t go top tonight – unless they pay the Gunners back for the famous 7-1 defeat at Villa Park back in December 1935, Ted Drake scoring all seven of the Gunners’ goals, in which case they’d get there on goals scored. Ahem.

More realistically, they’d go into second, and that’d give Manchester City the opportunity to hit the front on New Year’s Day at Sunderland. An Arsenal win however would set the leaders up nicely going into 2026 with a five-point cushion on City, and six on Villa, arguably knocking the latter out of the title race almost as quickly as they’ve been identified as being part of it. Or perhaps it’s way too early for all this sort of chitter-chat. It is still December, after all.

Judge orders Trump administration to continue to seek funding for the CFPB

The order is the latest in a complex legal battle over the fate of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog agency.

Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis

These are the stories of disparity, inequity and leadership in the Latino community amid the coronavirus pandemic. Maria Elena Salinas hosts "Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis," a CBS News special.

"The Power of August"

"The Power of August" looks back at transformational moments in American civil rights history that happened in the month of August. Anchored by Maurice DuBois, "The Power of August" is comprised of four acts, each told in eight minutes and 46 seconds — the approximate duration of time a Minneapolis police officer had his knee on George Floyd's neck. Each act explores stories of powerful and historic August events, beginning with Emmett Till's murder, then the March on Washington, Ferguson and the power of the vote in 2020.

"Tulsa 1921: An American Tragedy"

It's been 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre, a two-day attack on Black Americans in the thriving business district of Greenwood. Hear from survivors, descendants of victims and thought leaders in the CBS News special "Tulsa 1921: An American Tragedy," anchored by "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King.

Asian Americans: Battling Bias

"Asian Americans: Battling Bias," produced by the CBS News Race and Culture unit, explores the discrimination facing the Asian American community in 2020. In addition to fighting the devastating health impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, Asian Americans have faced high unemployment, business boycotts and racist attacks caught on video.

Alleged D.C. pipe bomber appearing in court to contest continued detention

Brian Cole was arrested and charged earlier this month for allegedly planting two pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic Party headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021.

The Charleston Church Shooting: Six Years Later

The CBSN Special "The Charleston Church Shooting: Six Years later" marks six years since the fatal shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. CBS News contributor Antjuan Seawright speaks with several survivors of the attack, as well as the church’s current Pastor Eric Manning about the events of that day and what lies ahead for the church and the Black community.

"Surfside Collapse: A Search for Answers"

CBS News speaks to families, first responders and others impacted by the Florida condo collapse in the 30-minute special "Surfside Collapse: A Search for Answers," anchored by CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez.

In a year of steep challenges, there were still shining moments in global health

The Trump administration's deep cuts in U.S. foreign health aid had a devastating impact. Yet there were achievements of note in spite of it all.

Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of JFK, dies at 35

Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of late President John F. Kennedy, has died after announcing a terminal cancer diagnosis in late November.

Israel to ban dozens of aid agencies from Gaza as 10 nations warn about suffering

Failure of groups including MSF and ActionAid to hand over staff details means they will not be able to operate in Gaza, say Israeli officials

• During a fierce storm I could hear the panicked screams of children in tents outside. This is Christmas in Gaza

Israel has announced it will stop dozens of aid organisations working in Gaza within 36 hours for failing to meet stringent new requirements to hand over personal details of Palestinian and international staff deployed in the devastated territory.

The list of groups hit by the ban include some of the world’s best known humanitarian organisations such as ActionAid, International Rescue Committee and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of JFK, dies after leukemia diagnosis

Schlossberg, 35, revealed in November diagnosis of rare mutation of cancer of blood and bone marrow

Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of the 35th US president, John F Kennedy, died on Tuesday after revealing in November she had been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. She was 35.

Her passing was announced in a social media post by the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the post said.

Trump’s shadow war in Venezuela grows, but country’s strongman leader still clings to power

Report of a drone attack on a port facility signals new phase in US military campaign against Nicolás Maduro

• US wargames played out scenarios for Maduro’s fall. None of them ended well for Venezuela

Nearly a week after Donald Trump first announced what he said was the first US ground strike in a four-month-long military pressure campaign against Venezuela, details remain very thin on the ground.

CNN and the New York Times reported late on Monday that they had confirmed the CIA had used a drone to target a “port facility” allegedly used by the Tren de Aragua street gang. No casualties were reported, but the date, time and location of the attack remain unknown. Venezuela’s strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his government have remained silent.

If confirmed, the first strike on land would mark a new phase in a campaign that since August has involved the deployment of a massive US naval fleet, airstrikes that have so far killed 107 people, a “total blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers, the seizure of two vessels and the pursuit of a third.

Afcon roundup: Nigeria stay perfect as 10-man Uganda use three goalkeepers

• Uganda knocked out after 3-1 defeat by Super Eagles

• Tanzania into last 16 after 1-1 draw with Tunisia

Raphael Onyedika scored twice and Paul Onuachu netted his first international goal in four years as Nigeria beat 10-man Uganda 3-1 in Fes on Tuesday to record a third win in Group C at the Africa Cup of Nations and send the east African side home.

Nigeria finished top of the group with nine points followed by Tunisia and then Tanzania, who drew 1-1, with the latter reaching the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed sides.

Judge says Trump administration must continue funding consumer watchdog

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is at risk after Donald Trump vowed to shutter it since his return to office

A federal judge has ordered that the Trump administration must allow funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to continue.

The watchdog, which supporters say protects US consumers from financial harm by powerful banks, lenders and corporations, is at risk of collapsing after Donald Trump vowed to shutter it since he returned to office this year.

Flu cases spiking this holiday season, CDC data shows

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 32 jurisdictions are showing "high" or "very high" levels of flu.

Silver is rebounding after its worst trading day in four years

Silver prices have more than doubled in 2025, outpacing this year's surge in gold prices, as investors seek safe haven investments.

‘Stay strong, champion’: boxing world offers condolences to Anthony Joshua

• Fury and Usyk pay tribute to Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele

• Joshua recovering in Nigeria after fatal collision

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have passed their condolences to the families of Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, the two friends who died in a car crash in Nigeria on Monday in which the former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua was also injured.

Ayodele, also known as Latz, was a personal trainer of Joshua, while Ghami acted as strength and conditioning coach for the 36-year-old boxer boxer. Joshua remains in hospital in Lagos, where he was described by his management team as being in a stable condition.

Russia claims to have moved nuclear-capable missile system into Belarus

Assertion comes after the Kremlin accused Ukraine of attacking Vladimir Putin’s palace in Novgorod

• Did Ukraine target Putin’s residence or is Russian claim a ploy to sway Trump?

Russia said its latest nuclear-capable missile system has been deployed in Belarus, a day after Moscow claimed that Ukraine had carried out a large-scale drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s residence.

Footage released by Russia’s ministry of defence showed the new Oreshnik missile trundling through a snowy forest. Soldiers were seen disguising combat vehicles with green netting and raising a flag at an airbase in eastern Belarus, close to the Russian border.

Channel tunnel power outage disrupts thousands of journeys

Engineers still struggling to restore full rail service on Tuesday evening as car passengers face seven-hour delays

A power outage in the Channel tunnel has disrupted thousands of journeys ahead of the new year celebrations, with all passenger and vehicle trains suspended for several hours while engineers raced to repair the fault.

As Eurostar foot passenger departures for the continent were first delayed, then cancelled, the halls of St Pancras International station in London filled with stranded travellers awaiting updates. At Folkestone in Kent, tailbacks formed as drivers hoping to catch the shuttle faced seven-hour delays.

More artists cancel Kennedy Center performances after board vote on name change

The Kennedy Center board, whose members were appointed by President Trump, voted earlier this month to add his name to the building.

Meta acquires intelligent agent firm Manus, capping year of aggressive AI moves

Meta Platforms has acquired Manus, a Singapore-based developer of general-purpose AI agents, capping a year of massive spending on artificial intelligence.

Astronaut Amanda Nguyen says backlash from Blue Origin flight left her depressed

In a statement shared on Instagram, Nguyen says she faced a ‘tsunami of harassment’ after the all-female spaceflight

Amanda Nguyen, the Vietnamese-American astronaut who was part of the all-female Blue Origin spaceflight, has opened up about her depression after she experienced a “tsunami of harassment” after the trip, in which she became the first Vietnamese woman to go to space.

Nguyen, 34, was part of April’s historic 11-minute flight, whose crew included pop star Katy Perry, broadcast journalist Gayle King, and journalist and wife of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez. The flight was heavily criticized for its environmental impact and critics questioned its purpose and use of resources.

U.S. sanctions Iranian, Venezuelan groups tied to weapons trade

The sanctions come a day after President Donald Trump threatened Iran over attempts to rearm, and amid a monthlong pressure campaign against Venezuela.

McCullum must be held to account even if England end Ashes with another win | Barney Ronay

A 3-2 series scoreline may make it hard to change coach but you don’t reward a failure of planning because the players clawed a bit back when it was too late

There’s a good origins-story-style video in the Sky Sports masterclass archive. Filmed at Edgbaston in 2016, it shows the blue-sky brothers, Brendon McCullum and Rob Key, back when the world was still young, looking sharp and chiselled, laughing and joshing on the outfield, and nominally discussing how to bat in T20 cricket.

And yes, the chemistry, well, the chemistry is overpowering. It almost feels like a romantic intrusion, the viewer cast as gooseberry. This is Coldplay kiss-cam energy. This is like watching Bacall and Bogart fall in love on screen. You know how to whistle don’t you, Keysey? You just put your lips together and enter into a transcendent game state.

Sea swimmers urged to be cautious about taking new year dips off British coast

RNLI tells people to consider their health, cold water effects and weather conditions after disappearance of two swimmers on Christmas Day

People planning on welcoming the new year by braving the British weather for a swim in the sea have been warned of the dangers after the disappearance of two swimmers on Christmas Day.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution said the effects of cold-water shock combined with weather conditions pose a risk to anyone entering water that is 15C or below. At this time of year, the average sea temperature around the UK and Ireland is 6C to 10C.

Iran to listen to protesters’ ‘legitimate demands’ after widespread dissent

President calls for talks with leaders of demonstrations caused by decline in currency and living standards

Iran’s government has called for dialogue with protest leaders after the country’s largest demonstrations in three years over a plunging currency and declining living conditions.

Protests started on Sunday after Iran’s currency fell to a record low against the US dollar, causing traders and shopkeepers to close their stores in downtown Tehran. This was accompanied by mass protests in the capital as well as in major cities, including Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad.

Mamdani to be sworn in as New York mayor in abandoned subway station

Mamdani to take oath of office on New Year’s Eve in Gilded Age subway station beneath city hall

While tens of thousands of New Yorkers will be in Times Square for countdown to 2026, the city’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said he will be sworn into office in an underground midnight private ceremony at an abandoned subway station built during the Gilded Age.

Mamdani, 34, plans to take the oath of office on New Year’s Eve in a disused subway station beneath city hall which acts as turnaround for the local 5 train. The unusual choice of venue for the ceremony, Mamdani said, is symbolically resonant of the “inauguration of a new era”.

Home prices are getting slightly more affordable, but down payments are still holding buyers back

Housing is getting more affordable thanks to lower prices and lower mortgage rates, but it still takes more time to save for a down payment than pre-pandemic.

The Guardian view on the new Monroe doctrine: Trump’s forceful approach to the western hemisphere comes at a cost | Editorial

Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today, how US foreign policy has dramatically – and alarmingly – turned towards Latin America and the Caribbean

Donald Trump is not generally noted as a student of history. Yet over the past year, his decisive reorientation of US foreign policy towards the Americas has revived a playbook dating back two centuries, to the fifth president, James Monroe. Now the 47th is doubling down. An anti-interventionist is having second thoughts. Remarks that sounded at first like bad jokes or random outbursts from the presidential id have become more sinister through repetition or accompanying actions. Only a fool would take all of Mr Trump’s comments literally – but they should certainly be taken seriously.

He has refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland and repeatedly floated the idea of making Canada the 51st state. He threatened to seize the Panama canal. He has imposed swingeing tariffs on key partners, and says he might abandon the Canada-Mexico trade pact signed in his first term. He has meddled outrageously in elections in Honduras and Argentina, and sought to interfere with Brazilian justice. He imposed sanctions on Colombia’s president in October. He has launched deadly attacks on alleged drug boats in international waters – extrajudicial killings that the administration has sought to legitimise by arbitrarily designating traffickers as terrorists – and threatened military strikes on Mexico, Venezuela and any other country he blames for drugs consumed in the US.

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.

Justin Hood reels off record 11 consecutive doubles in World Darts Championship romp

• Debutant continues stunning run to reach quarter-finals

• ‘I’m not used to it. I usually get hate messages. It’s mad’

The underdog Justin Hood reeled off a record 11 consecutive doubles en route to a stunning 4-0 win over Josh Rock in the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.

The 32-year-old debutant continued his stunning run in the tournament and missed his first double when he threw for the match at 2-0 up in the fourth set. He stepped back to take out the match on a 119 finish in the following leg, guaranteeing a career-best payday of at least £100,000 and taking him closer to his dream of opening a Chinese restaurant.

This report will update later on Tuesday

Tensions between Saudis and Emiratis over future of Yemen reach boiling point

Dispute has potential to create civil war in south of Yemen and spill over into neighbouring countries

Tensions between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia over the future of Yemen and the imminent possibility of the declaration of an independent southern state have reached boiling point with Saudi Arabia in effect accusing the UAE of threatening its future security.

The dispute has the potential to create a civil war within the south of Yemen and also spill over into other disputes including in Sudan and the Horn of Africa where the two countries often find themselves backing opposite sides. Yemen could yet become only one theatre in which the two vastly wealthy Gulf states vie for political influence, control of shipping lanes and commercial access.

UK universities extend careers advice to graduates in their 40s and 50s

Growing numbers of institutions now offering lifelong careers support as older alumni seek help to change jobs

University careers advisers are used to steering fresh-faced students towards the labour market – but they are now increasingly seeing graduates in their 40s and 50s looking for help to revive their careers.

More UK universities are now giving their graduates lifelong access to campus careers services, including advice with job applications and interview preparation as well as helping to find new opportunities for those who feel stuck.

These restaurant chains closed locations in 2025

Chains like Starbucks, Wendy's and Denny's announced plans to close underperforming restaurants in 2025.

Winter storm brings heavy snow and strong winds across parts of the US

Frigid temperatures in Great Lakes, north-east and midwest as tens of thousands face power outages and icy travel

A wild winter storm brought strong winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Great Lakes and north-east on Tuesday, a day after a bomb cyclone barreled across the midwest and left tens of thousands of customers without power.

The storm hit parts of the Plains and Great Lakes on Monday with sharply colder air, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain, leading to treacherous travel. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.

A Trump-Epstein statue, melting democracy and human banners: the art of protesting in 2025 - in pictures

In cities and towns across the US, murals, statues and performances brought a focal point to collective action

AI showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be ready to pull plug, says pioneer

Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio warns against granting legal rights to cutting-edge technology

A pioneer of AI has criticised calls to grant the technology rights, warning that it was showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be prepared to pull the plug if needed.

Yoshua Bengio said giving legal status to cutting-edge AIs would be akin to giving citizenship to hostile extraterrestrials, amid fears that advances in the technology were far outpacing the ability to constrain them.

No more Kegels: I found a fix for post-birth incontinence – why don’t more women know about it?

After years of worrying that running or sneezing would leave me needing fresh underwear, a quick, minimally invasive procedure changed my life

Some of my earliest memories feature my mother’s leotard-encased body bouncing to Jane Fonda with abandon. A similar carefree fluidity prevailed a decade later, as her feet struck hard-packed sand on a shorebreak jog. Twelve-year-old me panted alongside, so desperate to be made in her image that I tolerated heated cheeks and shaking quads. Their trembling barely subsided during the one stop we made, for her to wade into the waves and pee.

But it got easier to keep up after she gave birth to my youngest brother, with her squatting in the bushes every 10 minutes or so. Soon, even that wasn’t enough to staunch the flow. She gave up and switched to hiking. “I should have done more Kegels,” she quipped.

An escalation in Yemen threatens to reignite civil war and widen tensions in the Gulf

Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen's port city of Mukalla, targeting a shipment of weapons from the United Arab Emirates for separatist forces. The UAE later said it would withdraw its forces from Yemen.

Missing Texas teen Camila Mendoza Olmos' father speaks out amid search

Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, was last seen on the morning of Christmas Eve hear her home in San Antonio, officials said.

"Bomb cyclone" winter storm bringing more snow and fierce winds

A powerful winter storm system moving across the Great Lakes and Northeast is bringing snow and ice, frigid temperatures and fierce wind gusts.

Brees, Fitzgerald lead Pro Football Hall of Fame modern era finalists

Quarterback Drew Brees and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald headline the list of modern era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

What being around death taught this hospital chaplain about life

J.S. Park helps patients and their families cope with death every day as a hospital chaplain. He explains what to expect as a person is dying, and how to reckon with uncomfortable feelings about death.

The royal family is edging toward modernity – but in 2026, the public will expect yet more transparency | Anna Whitelock

Despite Charles’s welcome openness about his cancer, polls show declining support for the monarchy. To survive, the royals now need to lift the curtain on their finances

• Anna Whitelock is a professor of the history of modern monarchy at City St Georges, University of London

This year, as King Charles gathered with the royal family for their traditional Christmas at Sandringham, he had much to reflect on. Certainly, the news that his cancer treatment will be scaled back has come as a welcome personal relief, but it will also present opportunities for further overseas travel next year, likely to include a state visit to the US to mark the 250th anniversary of its foundation.

It has been a year that has seen the king grow into the role of a silent but effective diplomat, navigating Donald Trump’s visit while demonstrating the UK’s support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine. Overseas trips have included a historic visit to the Vatican to pray publicly with the pope, and successful visits as head of state to Canada – shortly after Trump had suggested it might become the US’s 51st state – and to Australia. Moreover, the king has hosted the biggest number of inward state visits to the UK for almost 40 years. For his use of the monarchy’s soft power to support UK foreign policy and strengthen international relations, Charles has won plaudits.

Anna Whitelock is a professor of the history of modern monarchy at City St Georges, University of London

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.

Israel says it will bar aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, from Gaza

Israel accused Doctors Without Borders, one of the largest health organizations operating in Gaza, of failing to clarify the roles of some staff that Israel accused of cooperation with militants.

The perfect lunch break: how to get away from your desk – and seize the day

There might not be time for a full exercise class, but what about a short, brisk walk? Here is how to introduce the small, helpful habits that suit you

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

My quest for the ideal lunch break is definitely a triumph of hope over experience. From inventing endless super-soups that might banish the mid-afternoon snack attack, to wildly optimistic lunchtime to-do lists, I have tried and failed countless times. The executive coach Zoe Thomson is not surprised. “One of the biggest things for people is they overestimate how much time and energy they are going to have in their lunch hour,” says Thomson, who previously had a 20-year career with the Avon and Somerset police. “And they underestimate how much time and energy they might need to achieve it.”

I tell her that this has been the flaw with most of my doomed lunchtime masterplans. “The problem is, unpredictable things happen. Say you plan to do a 45-minute spin class in a 60-minute lunch break, but your last call overruns by 10 minutes. Your plan is no longer feasible. If you decided instead to do a 10-minute walk around the block every day, and then have a nice cup of tea after your sandwich, you’re winning. Even if something urgent comes up, the 10-minute walk is still possible. And on a really good day you could walk four times around the block.”

Five charts that explain the global economic outlook for 2026

Inflation is predicted to cool but uncertainty over AI-driven growth and trade policy poses risks in the year ahead

The global economy proved to be more resilient in 2025 than had been feared, despite severe headwinds that ranged from Donald Trump’s trade war to geopolitical tensions and the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Entering the new year, the hope is that the worst of the recent inflation shock has passed, as the world’s most powerful central banks lower interest rates. However, the pre-Covid age of rock-bottom borrowing costs is a distant memory, global growth is slowing and conditions remain fragile.

More musicians drop out of Kennedy Center shows after Trump name change

The Cookers on Monday pulled out of a New Year’s Eve jazz gig at the controversially renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy’ center

A second jazz band has pulled out of performing at the controversially renamed “Trump-Kennedy” center in Washington DC, giving just two days’ notice before their New Year’s Eve gig was set to take place.

The Cookers, described as a Grammy-nominated, all-star septet of legendary post-bop jazz musicians, have not given an explicit reason for their decision but in a statement posted on their website said: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”

Cecilia Giménez, famed for ‘Monkey Christ’ mural mishap, dies at 94

Spanish woman’s attempted restoration of church artwork was widely mocked but became lucrative tourist attraction

Cecilia Giménez, the woman who achieved unwanted international fame for her botched “Monkey Christ” restoration of a 19th-century mural in Borja, north-east Spain, has died aged 94.

In 2012, Giménez, an amateur artist, decided to restore Ecce Homo, a mural by a local artist, Elías García Martínez, that hung in the Santuario de Misericordia church in Borja. However, her talent as an artist was not equal to her good intentions and she produced what was described as the worst restoration in history.

Ground beef recalled in 6 states over possible E. coli contamination

The recalled ground beef was sold to distributors in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Offenders in England and Wales to have alcohol levels tracked over new year period

Sobriety tags worn by thousands released from prison or serving community sentences will monitor wearers’ sweat

Thousands of offenders in England and Wales will have their alcohol levels tracked over the new year festive period by electronic tags that monitor the wearer’s sweat.

The tags, which are now worn by 5,000 people who have been released from prison or who are serving a community sentence, are designed to keep criminals sober over the festive season and drive down drink-fuelled reoffending.

Here’s what to expect for commercial real estate in 2026

Experts and research firms forecast a year of stabilization and recovery for commercial real estate in 2026.

How to help make your New Year's resolutions last

Bestselling author James Clear says small changes can create big results in our lives. He speaks to "CBS Mornings" about why so many New Year's resolutions fail and how to make yours last.

Good news you may have missed in 2025

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

SoftBank to buy data center firm DigitalBridge for $4 billion in AI push

Japan's SoftBank on Monday said it has agreed to buy data center investment firm DigitalBridge for $4 billion.

Viral video prompts investigations into alleged fraud at Minnesota day care centers

A viral video posted over the weekend alleged more than two dozen child and health care facilities in Minnesota are defrauding the government. CBS News has not confirmed any instances of fraud. DHS followed up by visiting dozens of facilities Monday, while the FBI said it has "surged personnel and investigative resources" to the state. Jonah Kaplan reports.

Copper on pace for best year since 2009 as AI demand, supply fears fuel record price rally

Analysts say copper's record-breaking run could continue next year, citing supply disruptions and masssive spending on artificial intelligence.

These 9 states are cutting income taxes in 2026. See where.

Income tax cuts are taking effect in multiple U.S. states on Jan. 1, 2026, a new analysis says.

‘I never imagined we could buy an island’: how a community saved Mexico’s Galápagos

When developers began circling Espíritu Santo island in the 1990s, a private conservation effort saw them off. But today the Unesco site faces a new threat: mass tourism

On a clear day over the Sea of Cortez, Espíritu Santo looks untouchable. Turquoise water laps at the shores of the island’s rocky coves; whale sharks cruise past snorkellers; seabirds caw over ancient cliffs. The pristine island and its Unesco-protected surroundings – informally called “Mexico’s Galápagos” – are a cocoon of biodiversity.

Yet an increase in tourist numbers has led to growing unease among the island’s longstanding stewards, as environmentalists report a decline in the area’s marine life and call for stricter regulations.

Threesomes, rough towels and ‘lesbian bed death’: 23 of the best Sexual Healing columns

The Guardian’s sex advice column is coming to an end after 20 years. Here are some of the most memorable questions and answers
• Pamela Stephenson Connolly on two decades of solving readers’ sex problems

My wonderful new wife is everything I have always looked for in a woman. The issue is that she is openly and proudly bisexual. When we first became involved, she even joked that she didn’t want me getting mad when it was time for her to visit her friend on girls’ trips. A threesome with a bisexual woman has always been my fantasy. She even gave me permission to go online and find a “unicorn” for us. But when I set up a meeting, she didn’t seem to want to follow through with it, so I stopped looking. Recently, on holiday, she made a sexual comment about a girl in a bikini, so I again brought up the idea of a threesome. But she said she might have grown out of that phase of her life and just wants to be with me. She also said that adding another person would ruin the marriage, and I worry that things might change between us if we get together with another girl. I am at a loss as to what to do. If she is truly bisexual, I am worried that if those desires are not met, she may pursue them without me. My only rule is that if she is with a girl, I am also present. Most guys would love my situation – am I making this harder than it is?

The 10 most anticipated video games of 2026

As 007 makes his gaming return, you can climb a mountain in Cairn, play a scaredy-cat in Resident Evil, and play a criminal couple in GTA VI

Live your mountaineering fantasies and brave the elements in a wonderfully illustrated climbing game. You must carefully place climber Aava’s hands and feet to make your way up a forbidding mountain, camping on ledges and bandaging her fingers as you go. Like real climbing, it is challenging and somewhat brutal.
• PC, PlayStation 5; 29 January

You’ll never defeat us in Iran, President Trump: but with real talks, we can both win | Abbas Araghchi

The US president has been fooled into seeing Israel as a reliable ally and Tehran as the enemy. We say he should consider the evidence and rethink

• Abbas Araghchi is the Iranian foreign minister

• Report: Trump should defy Netanyahu over nuclear talks with Iran, says its foreign minister

While Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year achieved his dream of dragging the US into a military confrontation with Iran, it came at a steep and unprecedented cost for Israel. Seeing Netanyahu beg Donald Trump to be bailed out from a quagmire, a rising number of Americans openly acknowledge that Israel is not an ally but a liability. In September, the US’s Arab allies also reached the conclusion that we Iranians have always underscored: Israel’s recklessness is a threat to all.

This reality is paving the way for whole new relationships that may transform our region. The US administration now faces a dilemma: it can continue writing blank cheques for Israel with American taxpayer dollars and credibility, or be part of a tectonic change for the better. For decades, western policy towards our region has been mostly shaped by myths originating from Israel. The war in June was momentous for a number of reasons, including how it exposed the cost for the west of mistaking mythology for strategy. Israel and its proxies claim a “decisive victory”, with Iran left weakened and deterred. Yet our vast strategic depth – the country covers an area the size of western Europe, and has a population 10 times that of Israel’s – meant that most of our provinces were untouched by Israel’s aggression. In contrast, all Israelis experienced the might of our military. The narrative of invulnerability – central to Israel’s myth-making machine – has been shattered.

Seyed Abbas Araghchi is the Iranian foreign minister

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NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin's father dies after fire, mother critically injured

NASCAR champion Denny Hamlin's father, Dennis Hamlin, died from injuries he suffered in a house fire Sunday in North Carolina, officials said.

Roadside danger persists despite nationwide "slow down, move over" laws

Every state in the country has what is known as a "slow down, move over" law aimed at protecting people working on the side of the road. CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports on the potentially deadly mistake drivers are making.

Father of missing San Antonio woman speaks out as search continues: "I miss her"

New video has been released by officials as the search continues for Camila Mendoza Olmos, a 19-year-old from San Antonio who has not been seen since Christmas Eve. The video shows a woman, which officials believe could be Olmos, walking by herself a few blocks from her home around the time of her disappearance.

Father of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin dies from injuries after house fire

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin's father died from injuries suffered in a house fire Sunday in North Carolina. His mother, who was also home, remains hospitalized. Elaine Quijano has more on how Hamlin says his father's support helped him succeed on the track.

Iceland has hottest Christmas Eve ever with temperature of 19.8C recorded

Meteorological office reports high temperatures across country and record measured at Seyðisfjörður in east

Record temperatures of almost 20C were reached in Iceland on Christmas Eve, the local meteorological office has confirmed.

Seyðisfjörður, a small town in the east of Iceland, hit 19.8C on 24 December. Average December temperatures in Iceland are between -1C and 4C.

Vikings, new year rituals and a firework guitar: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

‘Terry Jones tried to eat the studio’s pet goldfish!’ The tiny village TV station that became a 90s smash hit

When the people of Waddington teamed up to broadcast self-written soap operas, horoscopes and magic tricks, little did they know it would be the most successful channel in the world – despite the chaos behind the cameras

‘What a cock-up!” Those were the words that ended the first broadcast on the world’s tiniest TV station. Hours earlier, four young locals had been wrangled into being live presenters at their quiet village Sunday school. Despite dead air and awkward line delivery, it was the poor transmission quality that made the stars – Michelle Hornby (31), Jonathan Brown (27), James Warburton (25) and Deborah Cowking (21) – apologise and cut the inaugural broadcast. But Cowking, not realising they were still on air, slipped past the censors and summed up the evening’s vibe perfectly: chaotic, amateur and unrelentingly British.

This was The Television Village – a first-of-its-kind social experiment from 1990 that had the Lancashire village of Waddington “watch, make and become” television. For a short spell in the early 90s, the Ribble Valley was worth a fortune, as Granada Television shipped £3m worth of cutting-edge TV equipment to the rural hills of north-west England. Hidden cameras were set up in villagers’ living rooms to record viewing habits, day and night. Meanwhile, Channel 4 filmed the entire thing for a six-part documentary series. All of this was to monitor how people would react when the number of channels made the leap from four up to 30 – offering everything from sport, film and even porn, with villagers having access to terrestrial, cable and satellite channels, including from Europe and the US.

The year of the self-mocking man sketch: ‘Dumb masculinity is very funny’

It’s a ridiculous time to be male – and that’s good news for a new genre of social media comedy poking fun at the shifting notions of masculinity

“I’m gonna miss toxic masculinity,” says the comedian Kiry Shabazz. “I feel like it’s going to be in a museum someday.”

In the ensuing standup routine, Shabazz describes a fight with a friend who, like him, is “doing the work” to be a better person. He called the friend several unprintable names while acknowledging: “I’m only calling you that because culturally that’s how I know how to express myself.” The friend’s reply to the torrent of insults: “I hear you and I receive that.” The whole thing, Shabazz says, made him “miss the good old days, when men handled beef like men”.

My big night out: I finished the 1990s with fireworks, a funfair, flirting – and furious hope for the future

It was the end of a fabulous decade, when spontaneous, unpredictable parties seemed not just possible but typical. A new millennium was dawning. What could possibly go wrong?

‘We wish you peace,” said Tony Blair as the clock struck 8pm. It was New Year’s Eve 1999, a Friday night, and I was on the banks of the Thames. Britain’s fresh-faced prime minister – only two years into the job – was giving a gimmick called The British Airways London Eye its first spin. The Eye was physically unremarkable and harrowingly slow, but it didn’t matter because it only had a five-year lease and definitely wouldn’t still be around a quarter of a century later, littering the skyline.

It was the end of the 90s and, as the Thatcher/Major doldrums whizzed out of view like the subplot of Sliding Doors, we maintained a Bridget Jones-like innocence and entrusted the future to guys like Blair, Peter Mandelson and Bill Clinton, who didn’t seem like (respectively) warmongers, abuse excusers or sex pests.

Trump, Netanyahu meet over ceasefire. And, Russia accuses Ukraine of attempted strike

Conditions are dire for people in Gaza as President Trump and Israel's prime minister discuss the next phase of the ceasefire deal. And, Russia accuses Ukraine of an attempted drone strike.

Despair for would-be US citizens as American dream blocked by Trump

Aspirant Americans tell of exclusions from ceremonies by sudden policy introduced on ‘security’ grounds

The occasion should have been marked by the joy of reaching the destination of US citizenship following the long odyssey of immigration.

Instead, the ceremony at Boston’s Faneuil Hall – renowned as a “cradle of liberty” for its role as a protest hub in the run-up to the American revolution – felt like a nightmarish end of the road for some aspirant new Americans who had turned up full of hope.

Megalopolis: the $120m Coppola flop that just won’t go away

A screening tour, a New Year’s re-release, a documentary, an incoming director’s cut … will we ever be rid of this historic misfire?

At first, it appeared to end with a whimper. After decades of talk, Francis Ford Coppola’s forever-gestating dream project Megalopolis debuted in movie theaters in fall 2024, and promptly flopped at the box office, grossing a paltry $14m worldwide against a budget around $120m, much of which was put up by Coppola himself. Not even a series of splashy Imax presentations, including some with a live-actor element, could entice more than a relative handful of curious cinephiles out of the house to witness Coppola realize his ambition of making a movie about a visionary, time-stopping architect (Adam Driver) and the decadent city only he can save with his brilliant blueprints.

Some of the movie nerds showed up to watch Driver speechify, to immerse themselves in digital evocations of a futuristic, Rome-New York City hybrid, and enjoy the eclecticism of a cast that also includes Laurence Fishburne, several members of Coppola’s family, SNL’s Chloe Fineman, a number of semi-canceled actors encouraged to ham with impunity, and Aubrey Plaza as Wow Platinum. A bunch of the movie’s original viewers had some fun making jokes on social media; a few mounted genuine defenses in the digital pages of Letterboxd and the like. But unsurprisingly, the movie did not figure into year-end awards consideration. After months-to-years of buildup, the movie left theaters within a few weeks, and was available to stream at home a little while later. For most movies, that’s a recipe for disappointed shrugs.

China flexes blockade capabilities near Taiwan on second day of military drills

China's People's Liberation Army is staging a second day of large-scale military drills around Taiwan. It's unleashing live-fire exercises as part of what it calls "Justice Mission 2025."

As we prepare for 2026, remember we have the power to make our future | Rebecca Solnit

We enter 2026 with radical uncertainty about the fate of the US – but also with the clarity that people have the power to determine what it will be

When we talk about opposition in politics, sometimes it’s just a policy disagreement – but in the current political crisis in the US, the opposition has become the opposite of the Trump administration in meaningful ways. It had to because this is not only a policy conflict.

Between the administration and the opposition are actual opposites of principle: among those committed to inclusion and those to exclusion; truth and lies; kindness and cruelty; the protection and destruction of systems that in turn protect the climate or public health.

Why is the Democratic party hiding its 2024 autopsy report? | Norman Soloman

If the DNC isn’t open and transparent about why they lost, then how can we be sure they will learn their lesson this time?

The Democratic National Committee’s decision to block the release of its own autopsy report on the 2024 election is stunning but not surprising. Averse to unpleasant candor, the Democrats’ governing body functions more like a PR firm than a political organization devoted to grassroots capacities for winning elections. The party’s leaders pose as immune from critique, even if they have led the party to disaster.

Unwilling to depart from the party establishment’s culture of conformity, the DNC has remained under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout 2025. Release of an official autopsy might have shown that party leaders actually want to encourage public discourse about the missteps that enabled Donald Trump to become president again. But the DNC is proceeding as if there’s nothing to be learned from the tragic debacle of 2024 that its leaders don’t already know – and they don’t need to share their purported wisdom with anyone else.

Voter disenchantment: Losing 6.8 million voters who supported Joe Biden in 2020 proved pivotal in the close 2024 election. Harris’s inability to mobilize those pro-Biden voters was a massive failure.

Biden’s betrayal: Biden’s stubborn decision to seek re-election, and his refusal to step aside until very late in the process, robbed Democratic voters of open primaries and undermined Democrats’ chances.

Abandoning the working-class base: With millions of Americans feeling desperate because of rising costs, the Harris campaign lost this Democratic base by bowing to corporate donors’ interests and failing to challenge the impact of corporate greed in escalating inflation.

The Gaza effect: Harris lost many voters – especially young people, Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans, with sizable consequences in Michigan and other swing states – due to her refusal to indicate any openness to shifting her policy position on Israel and Palestine.

Losing young voters: Extensive evidence shows a huge drop-off in Democratic support among young voters aged 18-29.

Norman Solomon is the director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book is The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy

‘I don’t like winning’: Toronto man outruns streetcars to show up sluggish transit network

Mac Bauer’s racing activism has made ‘signal priority’ and traffic congestion a big talking point for the Canadian city

When Toronto’s streetcars hit a rare open stretch of road, the metallic grind gives way to an airy electric hum, and for a fleeting moment, there is a feeling that one is hurtling along the knife’s edge of the future.

Seconds later, the illusion shatters: the car grinds to a halt, at a stop – or more often, in traffic. As the city slips past the stalled riders, some notice a runner zipping by.

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy party platters: halloumi with pineapple salsa and za’atar carrots with labneh | Quick and easy

Your bring-along to a New Year’s shindig could be this grilled halloumi with punchy sweet-and-sour salsa, or easy za’atar roast carrots with labneh and pistachio

This hot halloumi platter is such a crowdpleaser that it’s worth making with two blocks of halloumi, even for a smaller group. I like to include this as part of a spread of mixed hot and cold dishes – a jolly, festive update on cheese and pineapple on a stick (which is admittedly hard to improve on). Then, a high-impact, low-effort dish: za’atar roast carrots with labneh and pistachio. On a whim, I hung a carton’s worth of plain yoghurt in muslin for labneh the other week, and now I can’t stop – it takes just 30 minutes for a soft-set, which is what you want here (for a firmer set, leave it to hang for an hour).

Policy relief for family caregivers seems stalled out. But there are signs of change

Family members carry the burden and costs of caring for America's aging population. Federal policy change is slow to come but a new movement and state actions are building momentum.

The Breakdown | ‘There is no ceiling for these players’: Jamaica targeting 2031 Rugby World Cup

Money is tight but a breakthrough came in 2018 while coaches are working tirelessly in the Caribbean

Nigerian influence within English rugby union is strong and getting stronger. But could Jamaican rugby, in time, become just as significant?

There is no shortage of talent. Jamaica UK Rugby, a club under the umbrella of the Jamaican Rugby Football Union, has 500 members and counting. There are youth sides and international pathways for sevens and 15s and volunteers, on both sides of the Atlantic, working to help their rugby grow.

From Guéhi to Yildiz – who could be on the move in the January transfer window?

We look at 10 players likely to create headlines next month, including the ‘new Kevin De Bruyne’

• Men’s transfer interactive: January 2026 edition

While Semenyo would doubtless prefer to be in Morocco at the moment, one of the advantages to Ghana’s failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations has been that the 25-year-old is in the same country as all the clubs who have expressed an interest in signing him. With a contract at Bournemouth containing a £65m release clause that becomes active for the first two weeks of January, Manchester City appear to have won the race for the player who has scored 20 Premier League goals since the start of last season. Chelsea and Tottenham have now moved on to other targets but could Liverpool or Manchester United attempt to steal a late march on their rivals? They need to get a move on if so.

That floating poo was far too symbolic! It’s the TV letdowns of the year

From Carrie Bradshaw cleaning up mess in And Just Like That to Kim Kardashian’s zero-star clanger and Bonnie Blue’s sexcapades, here are the biggest duds of 2025

Where to begin with the love/hate Sex and the City spin-off? The show was plagued with woeful writing, cringe-inducing character development (justice for Miranda!) and just 71 seconds of fan-favourite Samantha. But for a moment there, as the third series started, it looked like And Just Like That had finally hit its stride. Then came an episode all about Seema’s natural deodorant. No wonder creator Michael Patrick King announced that this would be the final series. It ended on a bum note; the closeup of Miranda’s toilet flooded with poo was just way too symbolic. Still, there’s no denying that fans have had a hoot dissecting every single “wtf?” episode. And as Carrie – a single woman once more – danced around her palatial townhouse to Barry White’s You’re The First, The Last, My Everything, who didn’t let out a little sob?

2025 was the year we grew tired of celebrity for celebrity’s sake | Nadia Khomami

Being blasted into space or taking over Venice no longer cuts it. The rich and famous are being punished for their conspicuous vacuity

When Katy Perry and five other women were launched into space in Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket, no doubt they expected to be celebrated as trailblazers. Cast your mind back to April, and the event was getting wall-to-wall news coverage. The crew, also including Bezos’s then-fiancee Lauren Sánchez and CBS presenter Gayle King, were in space for about 11 minutes, during which Perry sang a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World and revealed the setlist for her Lifetimes tour. On their return, the pop star kissed the ground and showed a daisy to the camera – a tribute to her daughter, Daisy.

Well, talk about crashing back down to earth. Instead of being hailed as a giant leap for 21st-century feminism, the voyage turned into a colossal PR failure. It was ridiculed for being tone-deaf, an out-of-touch luxury ride for the super-rich during a time of economic hardship. There were so many mocking memes and hot takes that Perry later admitted feeling “battered and bruised” at being turned into a “human piñata”. “I take it with grace and send them love,” she said, “cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for the unhinged and unhealed.”

Nadia Khomami is the arts and culture correspondent at the Guardian

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.

Houseplant hacks: should I use ice cubes to water my plants?

Ice cubes offer a slower form of watering, reducing the risk of soggy soil – but are not suitable for most tropical houseplants

The problem
Many a houseplant is killed with kindness; watering every time you look at them can be terminal. Using ice cubes for watering promises slower, more controlled hydration. But does it work?

The hack
Place one or two ice cubes on the soil. The idea is that as the ice melts it slowly releases water, giving the roots time to absorb it and avoiding soggy soil.

Federal appeals court judge is accused of bullying her clerks

The Legal Accountability Project complaint, which has not been previously reported, states that it is based on conversations with multiple former law clerks.

Facebook slow to act on posts celebrating Bondi beach massacre, anti-hate group says

Exclusive: CST highlights volume of IS-supporting accounts and says social media firms ‘putting all of us in danger’

Facebook hosted terrorist propaganda that celebrated the murder of Jews and praised Islamic State, a leading anti-hate group has alleged.

The posts included celebrations of the Bondi beach massacre that the Community Security Trust says Facebook has been too slow to take down. The posts were still on Facebook on 16 December, two days after the attack, and received shares and likes.

Thousands watch livestream of Maine family's food pantry for deer

A three-generation family in Maine set up a camera to capture their deer-feeding station. Thousands watch online as hundreds of white-tailed deer enjoy the food at Brownville's Food Pantry for Deer.

‘Move fast, break stuff’: how tech bros became Hollywood’s go-to baddie in 2025

From Stanley Tucci’s imperious tech titan to Lex Luthor’s distractingly hot CEO and Elon Musk-esque blowhards, films this year took us inside the billionaire mindset

Between the slash-and-burn US government reboot led by a dank meme fan and the relentless pushing of AI by venture capital-backed blowhards, 2025 has felt like peak obnoxious tech bro. Fittingly, jargon-spouting, self-regarding digital visionaries also became Hollywood’s go-to baddies this year in everything from blockbusters to slapstick spoofs. Spare a thought for the overworked props departments tasked with mocking up fake Forbes magazine covers heralding yet another smirking white guy as “Master of the Metaverse” or whatever.

With such market saturation, the risk is that all these delusional dudes blend into one smarmy morass. It felt reasonable to expect that Stanley Tucci might sprinkle a little prosciutto on The Electric State, Netflix’s no-expense-spared alt-history robot fantasia. As Ethan Skate – creator of the “neurocaster” technology that quashed an AI uprising then turned the general populace into listless virtual-reality addicts – Tucci certainly looked the part: bald and imperious in retro Bond villain wardrobe. But even the great cocktail-maker couldn’t squeeze much out of sour existential proclamations such as: “Our world is a tyre fire floating on an ocean of piss.”

‘There is a crack in everything’: capturing the dark of winter – in pictures

How do you photograph darkness? A question Sarah Lee considers with her work as the nights draw in: ‘I’ve always been drawn to photographing the darkness as the winter months draw in after the clocks go back and we head towards the solstice. I wondered why that was given that the world itself seems so dark at the moment. I realised this year that it is not the darkness I’m photographing, but, rather, the light. Always the light.’

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story review – shall we all vow not to watch true-crime this twisted in 2026?

This terrifying documentary about the Utah life coach convicted of extreme child abuse feels supremely grubby. How about a new year’s resolution not to watch – or make – anything this grim ever again?

We are always aware, I think, of man’s inhumanity to man. The latest true-crime documentary from Netflix is here to remind you that this is an umbrella term. It is undoubtedly rarer, though precisely why is unclear, but women can inflict the most awful suffering too – and here, a pair of them do so on children.

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story is the latest offering from Skye Borgman, who is the undisputed queen of the genre, specialising in high-end takes on the most extreme, the most only-in-America stories of depravity you could (not) hope to find. She made her name with 2017’s Abducted in Plain Sight, about the case of Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped not once but twice by Robert Berchtold, a close friend of the Brobergs and a sexual predator who effectively groomed the whole, spectacularly naive family. The Girl in the Picture, five years later, tells the story of a young woman known as Sharon Marshall, found after her death in a suspicious hit-and-run accident to have been living under multiple aliases as the kidnap and rape victim of a fugitive on the run from the FBI for decades. I Just Killed My Dad completed an unholy trinity of films from Borgman, with an examination of why 17-year-old Anthony Templet shot dead his apparently loving father and waited calmly outside for the police to arrest him. Spoiler alert: Templet’s father was nothing like the man he seemed.

‘By 15, I was hanging out with Skrillex’: the idiosyncratic club music of reformed EDM kid Villager

Disillusioned by his early EDM success, Alex Young bought hardware, embraced UK dance culture – and reinvented himself

From Washington, DC
Recommended if you like Floating Points, Jon Hopkins, Joy Orbison
Up next A slew of new music from the vault

It was probably the moment when he was paid $10,000 to DJ a spin fitness class that Alex Young, barely 16 at the time, felt he had lost touch with what music was all about. “At 13, I was like, if I could ever hang out with Skrillex, my life would be complete,” he says, sipping a pilsner on an icy day in Washington DC. “Then by 15, I’m doing it.”

During a fierce storm I could hear the panicked screams of children in tents outside. This is Christmas in Gaza

This time of year is the true beginning of winter: the 40 coldest and harshest days of the season. One resident of Gaza City describes the reality for Palestinians living with little shelter and no electricity or heating

It was about 8.30pm on a Thursday when I headed back home in Gaza City. It was windy, and I couldn’t stay out any longer, so I had to walk. At first it was only a light drizzle, but after about 200 metres the rain suddenly grew heavier. That wasn’t surprising. I stopped near a tent to take shelter, rubbing my palms together to draw some warmth. A young boy was sitting outside selling homemade cookies. We exchanged a few words while I stood there, though he didn’t seem interested in talking. I noticed the cookies were loosely wrapped in plastic, already soggy from the drizzle, and I wondered if he’d have enough to sell before the night ended. The cold seeped into everything.

As I walked along al-Wehda Street in Gaza City, tents lined both sides of the road. There were no voices coming from inside them, only the sound of rain pouring down and the whistle of the wind. As I hurried on, trying to dodge the rain, I switched on the torch of my mobile phone to see the road ahead. My thoughts kept returning to those sheltering inside: What are they doing now? What are they thinking? How do they feel? It was bitterly cold. I imagined children curled under wet blankets, parents shifting constantly to keep them warm.

Foreign Office cautioned against UK military action to overthrow Robert Mugabe

Archives reveal options considered by Tony Blair’s government for dealing with Zimbabwean dictator in 2004

The Foreign Office cautioned against UK military intervention to overthrow the former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in 2004, advising it was not a “serious option”, recently released documents show.

Policy papers show Tony Blair’s government weighed up options on how best to handle the “depressingly healthy” 80-year-old dictator, who refused to step down while the country descended into violence and economic chaos.

Songs about love, poverty and swimming in Bacardi lemon: Dutch ‘levenslied’ captures a new generation

The Netherlands’ guttersnipe answer to French chanson and German schlager is as popular as ever – but has it lost its roots as the defiant voice of the working class? Our writer sways along at the Muziekfeest van het Jaar to find out

‘U doet wat, precies, meneer?’ My chic twentysomething hairdresser throws me a puzzled look: “You’re doing what, exactly, sir?” I am not behaving like an Englishman. I have just told her that I have bought tickets for the Muziekfeest van het Jaar (Music of the Year festival) in Amsterdam’s cavernous Ziggo Dome: a two-night extravaganza that is being recorded to be broadcast on New Year’s Eve as a kind of Dutch equivalent to Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, all dedicated to the brassy, sentimental, often untranslatable and still monumentally popular Dutch pop known as levenslied.

“Levenslied” roughly translates as “songs about life”, and although popular throughout the land, especially in North Brabant, it is commonly associated with Amsterdam, and specifically the formerly working-class district of the Jordaan. A social and local music, levenslied concerns itself with family, friends and close associates. Stylistically, it has a connection to the 20th-century French chanson réaliste of Edith Piaf and, when in a party mood, finds common cause with German schlager.

The Zorg by Siddharth Kara review – scarcely imaginable horrors at sea

A vivid and chilling account of the deadly voyage that triggered the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade

Over the nearly four centuries during which the transatlantic slave trade operated, 12.5 million Africans were trafficked by Europeans to the Americas. 1.8 million of them perished on the voyage under scarcely imaginable conditions of overcrowding, filth and disease. Some threw themselves overboard. And others were thrown into the sea.

In The Zorg, Siddharth Kara tells two stories. The first is of a harrowing incident aboard the eponymous slave ship – the murder of 132 Africans by the British crew. The second relates how that event came to play a role in the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade in 1807, in large part through the work of a dazzling array of committed campaigners. One of these was Olaudah Equiano, author of one of the few surviving accounts of the Middle Passage from the perspective of an enslaved person, in which he described it as “a scene of horror almost inconceivable”.