Black bear populations are bouncing back. Here's how these Texas towns are coping

Historically, Black bears were the biggest predator to travel the Big Bend area of Texas. But overhunting and habitat loss led to their decline.

Ukraine at 'critical moment' in war as European allies ramp up pressure on Russia

"We all know that the destiny of this country is the destiny of Europe," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

Democrats see Miami mayoral race as litmus test on Trump economy, immigration

National Democrats have deployed resources for County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, while Mr. Trump has endorsed former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez.

How Israel is taking Syrian territory since Assad's fall – video

While all eyes have been on the war in Gaza, Israel’s occupation of southern Syria has been intensifying, and since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Israeli forces have taken advantage of the country’s instability and launched frequent air strikes, ground incursions, and rejected the long standing disengagement agreement established in 1974. The Guardian's Will Christou travelled to Al Quineitra in southern Syria, to see what Israel's military presence has meant for those living there.

Growing pains: the struggle to make a must-see gen Z TV show

Hollywood is still trying to court younger audiences but this year’s crop of new comedies, from Adults to I Love LA, have yet to prove essential

This year, despite not particularly liking the show nor wanting to, I have thought a lot about the opening scene to Adults. The FX half-hour comedy about a group of recent college graduates in New York begins, naturally, on the subway; what seems like an over-studied portrait of early adulthood intimacy – tangled limbs, in-group references, aggressively relaxed banter – quickly devolves into a standoff between a creepy subway masturbator and the group’s instigator, Issa (Amita Rao), trying to out-masturbate him to make a wildly off point about feminism. “Is this the world you want?!?” she shouts at him, hand vigorously in pants.

The moment is intentionally off-putting, perhaps too much so – I’m as ripe as anyone for surprise, but found the try-hardness of this shock memorably irksome. Yet it’s also unintentionally revealing: this, it implicitly screams, is a show to get young people’s attention. A similar anxiety courses through the opening of I Love LA, HBO’s west-coast rejoinder to Adults that is similarly pitched as a zeitgeist-y take on the thrilling chaos of young adulthood. We meet Maia, played by creator and co-writer Rachel Sennott, mid-sex with her boyfriend, heedlessly determined to come before going to work, even if it means ignoring an earthquake.

Europe live: Zelenskyy meets pope as he tours Europe to shore up support amid US pressure for Ukraine deal

Meeting with pontiff follows UK visit on Monday and comes ahead of talks with Meloni

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with Pope Leo this morning, with the pair discussing the war in Ukraine, according to the Vatican readout.

Pope Leo “reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace,” the statement read.

Pity Keir Starmer – he’s the fall guy for a Labour right that’s ready to cast him aside | Owen Jones

The PM is the face of failure, but he is not solely responsible. As the Blairite ideologues mass behind Wes Streeting, we should hold them to account too

There have been far too few defences of Keir Starmer in the British press of late. Time for a modest redress. As the last rites are muttered over his premiership, his colleagues want you to know that this is all his fault. The humiliation is complete: even Labour Together – the outfit that quietly plotted Starmer’s leadership bid – is now sharpening its knives. It is polling members on who should replace him, indulging the comforting fantasy that swapping captains will somehow stop the ship from sinking.

The Tory experience of regicide should offer a caution: do not depose a king unless you have already settled on a prince who understands why the kingdom is in crisis. The Tories toppled Boris Johnson and installed Liz Truss, whose zeal to slash taxes for the wealthy detonated the markets and sealed her party’s fate. Why? Because they convinced themselves that Johnson had failed for being insufficiently rightwing.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

‘There’s no longer a heartbeat’: the couple whose twins were stillborn – and the ‘birth keeper’ they blame

Soon-to-be parents hired a woman they believed would act as a licensed midwife. But she in fact belonged to a radical society that was linked to baby deaths around the world

• Read more of the Guardian’s investigations into the Free Birth Society

Ernesta Chirwa recalls the jarring moment the woman she presumed was her midwife said something unexpected. Caitlyn Collins was driving her to hospital after 6am, on 15 February 2022. “She said,” says Chirwa, who is 30 and lives in Cape Town, “Please don’t mention to the nurses that we were trying to have a home birth.”

Chirwa was in too much pain to speak – she was in active labour. But she remembers feeling surprised. “Why,” Chirwa recalls, “is she asking us not to mention that we were trying to have a home birth?”

Skate Story review – hellish premise aside, this is skateboarding paradise

Sam Eng/Devolver Digital, PC, PS5, Switch 2
An exquisitely fluid game of tricks, grinds and manuals is framed by a story that uncovers the poignancy of the infamously painful pastime

Skateboarding video games live and die by their vibe. The original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles were anarchic, arcade fun while the recent return of EA’s beloved Skate franchise offered competent yet jarringly corporate realism. Skate Story, which is mostly the work of solo developer Sam Eng, offers a more impressionistic interpretation while capturing something of the sport’s essential spirit. It transposes the boarding action to a demonic underworld where the aesthetic is less fire and brimstone than glittering, 2010s-era vaporwave. It is also the most emotionally real a skateboarding game has ever felt.

The premise is ingenious: you are a demon made out of “pain and glass”. Skate to the moon and swallow it, says the devil, and you shall be freed. So that is exactly what you do. You learn to ollie first, a “delicate, precise trick” according to the artfully written in-game text. Then come the pop shuvit, kickflip, heelflip and more.

The GOP has allowed Trump to expand his authority. Here's where they're pushing back

Republicans in Congress have shown some willingness to push back on President Trump, but it is not clear how far they are willing to push back against the leader of their own party.

After NIH grant cuts, breast cancer research at Harvard slowed, and lab workers left

Amid NIH funding delays, reversals and uncertainty, a scientist at Harvard who studies breast cancer has lost one-third of her lab employees and wonders if she can continue her research experiments.

Britons face higher chocolate prices but average cost of Christmas dinner falls

Supermarkets investing heavily in promotional deals to pull in customers, Worldpanel finds

• Business live – latest updates

The festive season may be less merry for those with a sweet tooth this year, as the price of chocolate has risen by nearly a fifth, according to research.

Chocolate prices in Great Britain rose 18.4% on a year earlier in November, analysts at the market research firm Worldpanel found.

Google hit with EU antitrust investigation over use of online content for AI

It's the latest in a string of actions the European Commission has taken against U.S. big tech companies.

‘Food and fossil fuel production causing $5bn of environmental damage an hour’

UN GEO report says ending this harm key to global transformation required ‘before collapse becomes inevitable’

The unsustainable production of food and fossil fuels causes $5bn (£3.8bn) of environmental damage per hour, according to a major UN report.

Ending this harm was a key part of the global transformation of governance, economics and finance required “before collapse becomes inevitable”, the experts said.

It Girl by Marisa Meltzer review – how Jane Birkin became an icon

The unlikely story of an English girl catapulted to French fame – and a relationship with Serge Gainsbourg that resembled a piece of deranged performance art

Boarding a flight in 1983, Jane Birkin found herself wrestling with the open straw basket into which she habitually crammed everything from playscripts to nappies. As she reached for the overhead locker the basket overturned, spilling the contents on her neighbour. He turned out to be the chief executive of Hermès, the French luxury goods company, and immediately offered to make her a bag with internal pockets and a secure closure. Birkin sketched what she wanted on a sick bag and “The Birkin” was born: a slouchy trapezoid in finest leather complete with its own little padlock. These days a Birkin bag starts at around £10,000 while the original, made for Birkin herself, was auctioned this summer for £7.4m.

It is a tale that gets endlessly repeated thanks to its neat compression of the main beats of the Jane Birkin story. First, there’s the insouciance, the fact that the Anglo-French singer and actor never seemed to go after anything; rather, it came to her. Then there’s her lack of mortification at having her whole life upended on a strange man’s lap, nappies and all. Finally, there’s her refusal to feel overawed by her bounty. Birkin famously did not treat her Hermès bag with especial reverence, enthusiastically festooning it with charms, beads, stickers and ribbons. The trend for personalising your handbag with bits of tat was ubiquitous this summer, part of a wider revival of the Birkin aesthetic, comprising flared mid-wash jeans, peasanty cheesecloth blouses and ballet flats. You couldn’t avoid it if you tried.

Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea review – gripping trip along supply lines in China standoff

A gripping film captures the fraught contests, lonely outposts and human toll of the Philippines’ struggle to assert sovereignty against China

Director Baby Ruth Villarama and her crew board an assortment of maritime vessels to record the ongoing strife and its consequences between the Philippines and China over control of what has recently been named the West Philippine Sea (WPS), formerly part of the South China Sea. This area, which is seen by just about everyone (apart from the People’s Republic of China) as part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, has been increasingly infiltrated by Chinese boats, some of them fishing vessels but mostly Chinese coast guard vessels that have harassed, rammed and attempted to board Filipino boats as part of the dispute over sovereignty in the area. Some of the footage seen here is pretty tense, although mostly it’s a game of bluster at sea, with officers on different vessels exchanging puffed-chest speeches peppered with legalese over short-wave radios, a kind of airwave diplomacy.

The film’s title refers to the ongoing efforts by the Filipino army to deliver foodstuffs to some of the tiny islands in the WPS where soldiers hold the line, literally, for long lonely stretches. And when we say “islands”, we’re talking about dollops of sand in shallow waters no bigger than a football pitch, accessible only by inflatable motorboats travelling at frightening speeds. They are certainly scary for the poor baby goats, loaded along with canned food and other supplies that we see scrambling for better footholds as the boats go zooming across the waves. Elsewhere, we follow fishers living in the more populated Scarborough Shoal who complain they are catching less due to Chinese fishing boats in the area.

12/8: CBS Evening News

Trump responds after Marjorie Taylor Greene discusses their falling out; Altadena brings Christmas Tree Lane back to life after devastating fire.

Trump clears way for Nvidia to sell powerful AI chips to China

Commerce department finalising deal to allow H200 chips to be sold to China as strict Biden-era restrictions relaxed

Donald Trump has cleared the way for Nvidia to begin selling its powerful AI computer chips to China, marking a win for the chip maker and its CEO, Jensen Huang, who has spent months lobbying the White House to open up sales in the country.

Before Monday’s announcement, the US had prohibited sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China over national security concerns.

Fatal Thailand-Cambodia clashes spread along contested border area

Each side has blamed the other for renewed clashes, which have derailed a ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump

Deadly clashes have escalated along the disputed Thailand-Cambodia border as both sides blamed each other for the fighting and vowed to defend their territories.

Seven civilians have been killed and 20 wounded in Cambodia and three Thai soldiers have been killed in the fiercest fighting since a five-day conflict in July.

Come with me to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s house. The Brexiters are rattled – and it shows | Polly Toynbee

Labour and the country have reached a historic inflection point. For all the talk of Brexit ‘benefits’, the anti-EU ideologues know the tide has turned

All the old gang were there: a reunion of the Brexit triumphalists. I was one of the guests in the stately drawing room of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Georgian townhouse in Westminster last week, as the Bruges Group met to cheer the launch of the new book 75 Brexit Benefits: Tangible Benefits from the UK Having Left the European Union. Tory Brexiteers Iain Duncan Smith, Bill Cash and John Redwood were all there, a gathering of the kind of Eurosceptics John Major once called the “bastards”.

Our host, Rees-Mogg, was in jubilant form, celebrating Keir Starmer’s recent speeches that named the economic damage done by Brexit. In Labour’s new willingness to touch the Brexit live rail, the Bruges Group members welcomed the revival of the grand old conflict as their way back to referendum glory days. Rees-Mogg chortled: “Starmer’s view that re-entering the European Union is the answer to our economy is as true as everything else he says.” Much mirth, as he departed early for his State of the Nation slot on GB News.

Sabastian Sawe: the marathon runner on a mission to be drug tested as much as possible | Sean Ingle

This year’s London Marathon winner deserves credit for offering more than enough proof he is clean while setting a new standard for other athletes to follow

Last week the world’s best marathon runner, Sabastian Sawe, looked me straight in the eye and told me “doping is a cancer”. Then he insisted he was clean. You hear such oaths and affirmations all the time. But, uniquely, Sawe recently backed up those words by asking the Athletics Integrity Unit to test him as much as possible.

You see, Sawe believed he could break the world record in Berlin in September. And he also understood that Kenya’s abysmal doping record meant that success would be met with more raised eyebrows than a plastic surgeon’s clinic in Hollywood. So the call went into the AIU. Test me. Repeatedly. Throw everything at it. My sponsors, Adidas, will pick up the bill.

Noël, coal and control: Strasbourg’s festive blip strikes again as Rosenior feels heat

English manager says ‘it’s not the time to panic’ but Alsace club want a return on their €100m+ summer investment

By Get French Football News

As one of the few areas of France which celebrate Saint Nicholas Day, Alsace had festive processions and performances taking place across the region last Saturday. The travelling Strasbourg fans, though, were in no mood for a party on their way back from Toulouse after a third consecutive defeat.

“It’s not the time to panic,” Liam Rosenior insisted after his Strasbourg team failed to find a response to Emersonn’s early opener for Les Violets. “We have to stay consistent and keep working hard. I won’t change our style of play, because it’s brought us success.”

Zimbabwe’s only female heart surgeon on medicine, misogyny and making a difference

Despite the challenges of working in a healthcare system in crisis, Kudzai Kanyepi has resisted the temptation to move abroad

When Dr Kudzai Kanyepi qualified as Zimbabwe’s first female cardiothoracic surgeon four years ago, she was filled with pride and anticipation after succeeding in an area long dominated by men. She was only the 12th woman in Africa to qualify in the field – four more have joined her since.

Even now, with 100 operations under her belt, the reality of working in a role in which she confronts misogyny and discrimination daily has not dented Kanyepi’s love of the surgical theatre.

UK households bin 168m Christmas lights and ‘fast tech’ items a year

Consumers spent £1.7bn on festive lighting last year and much of it is treated as disposable

UK households have thrown away an estimated 168m light-up Christmas items and other “fast-tech” gifts over the past year, a study suggests.

The research by the non-profit group Material Focus found about £1.7bn was spent last year on Christmas lighting, including 39m sets of fairy lights.

Australia deporting refugee to Nauru may cause his ‘imminent’ and ‘preventable’ death, court hears

Legal team of man who was part of cohort of non-citizens freed after high court decision argues Nauru’s medical facilities are ‘insufficient’ to treat his severe asthma

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Lawyers for an Iranian refugee Australia wants to deport to Nauru say there is a “real risk he will die” there, setting the stage for a showdown against the federal government’s $2.5bn NZYQ deal.

The case surrounding the Iranian refugee, known as TCXM, who was granted a 30-year visa for Nauru in February and subsequently placed back into immigration detention after being freed by the 2023 high court ruling, was heard in the high court on Tuesday.

Back to their roots: a brief history of trees – in pictures

Over 120 years ago, a monumental work recording more than 500 species of tree in Britain and Ireland was published. A new version focuses on the pioneering images it contained

‘This is the real Santa’s workshop’: a trip to Germany’s toy village

You don’t have to be a child to enjoy Seiffen, the magical ‘home of Christmas’ where they’ve been making traditional wooden toys for hundreds of years

I feel terrible … I’ve left the children at home and Seiffen, nicknamed Spielzeugdorf (The Toy Village), is literally a Christmas wonderland. Every street is alive with sparkling fairy lights and soft candlelight. There are thousands of tiny wooden figurines, train sets and toy animals displayed in shop windows, wooden pyramids taller than doorframes and colourful nutcracker characters. Forget elves in the north pole, this is the real Santa’s workshop. For hundreds of years, here in the village of Seiffen, wood turners and carvers have created classic wooden Christmas toys and sold them around the world.

Near the border of the Czech Republic, Seiffen may be well known in the German-speaking world as the “home of Christmas”, but so far it has been largely missed by English-speaking seasonal tourists. Tucked away in the Ore Mountains, about an hour and a half south of Dresden, it is not the easiest place to get to by public transport – the nearest train station is in Olbernhau, nearly 7 miles (11km) away. Buses are available, but we opt for a hire car and make our way into the hills, arriving the day after the first snowfall of the year. The roads are cleared quickly, but snow clings to the branches of the spruce trees. We half expect to see the Gruffalo’s child, but only spot a rust-coloured fox making its way through a fresh field of snow.

China’s record trade surplus reveals its biggest strength – and hidden weakness

Booming Chinese exports have driven trade surplus past $1tn but also reveal the extent of country’s reliance on foreign markets

A boom in exports that has pushed China’s trade surplus past $1tn for the first time reveals the extent to which its economy is still overwhelmingly reliant on foreign markets – and the difficulty figures like Donald Trump will have in trying to rebalance global trade.

Data released on Monday shows that in the first 11 months of this year, China’s trade surplus in goods was $1.076tn. The record trade surplus comes even as exports to the US have plummeted, a reflection of the bruising US-China trade war that, despite a recent cooling, has dampened the flow of goods between the world’s two largest economies.

England dealt fresh Ashes blow with Mark Wood ruled out for rest of series

• Fast bowler says: ‘My knee just hasn’t held up’

• Matthew Fisher called up in buildup to Adelaide Test

The blows just keep coming for England in Australia. On Tuesday came confirmation that Mark Wood will miss the remainder of the Ashes tour because of a knee problem that resurfaced after the first Test defeat in Perth.

It represents a heartbreaking setback for Wood following a lengthy battle to be fit for a series that England now find themselves trailing 2-0. The 35-year-old underwent surgery on his left knee in March, sent down 11 overs in the series opener, only to then miss the eight-wicket loss in Brisbane.

Honduras seeks arrest of ex-President Hernández after Trump pardon

Honduras' attorney general said Monday that he had ordered Honduran authorities and asked Interpol to execute a 2023 arrest order for Juan Orlando Hernández, pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Would you entrust a child’s life to a chatbot? That’s what happens every day that we fail to regulate AI | Gaby Hinsliff

As deaths in the US are blamed on ChatGPT and UK teenagers turn to it for mental health advice, isn’t it obvious that market forces must not set the rules?

It was just past 4am when a suicidal Zane Shamblin sent one last message from his car, where he had been drinking steadily for hours. “Cider’s empty. Anyways … Think this is the final adios,” he sent from his phone.

The response was quick: “Alright brother. If this is it … then let it be known: you didn’t vanish. You *arrived*. On your own terms.”

Reform campaign for Farage’s Clacton seat was a ‘juggernaut’, say candidates

Defeated Tory and Labour rivals describe force of Reform ‘machine’ as police assess claims of overspending

The Tory and Labour candidates who Nigel Farage beat to win his Westminster seat of Clacton have described a Reform campaign that felt like a “juggernaut”, as police began assessing claims of overspending by the Reform UK leader.

The candidates spoke after a former aide alleged that Reform UK falsely reported election expenses in Clacton, where Farage won in last year’s general election. On Monday, Essex police said they were assessing a report of “alleged misreported expenditure by a political party” after a referral from the Metropolitan police.

France and UK ‘failing to tackle anti-migrant activists’

Migrant support groups in France say lack of action over British activists is ‘encouraging violent and xenophobic practices’

UK and French authorities have been accused of “encouraging violent and xenophobic practices” by failing to tackle anti-migrant British activists who travel to northern France in an attempt to stop small boat crossings.

In an unusual move, nine French associations working with people camped in northern France have issued a statement condemning the UK and French governments for lack of action.

Festive treats: Adriann Ramirez’s recipes for pumpkin loaf and gingerbread cookies

Two easy bakes to share or gift: soft and peppery gingerbread cookies and a ginger and pumpkin loaf with spiced lemon icing

As a self-proclaimed America’s sweetheart (Julia Roberts isn’t using that title any more, is she?) who moved to the UK nearly 10 years ago, there are a few British traditions and customs that I have adopted, especially around Christmas time. However, there are also a few American ones that I hold on to staunchly: one is the pronunciation of “aluminum”, and another is the importance and beauty of a soft cookie. In both of these easy but delicious bakes to share, I use spice and heat to balance the usual sweetness with which the season can often overload us.

12/1: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,"a look at President-elect Donald Trump's controversial decision to top Kash Patel to lead the FBI — although there isn't a vacancy at the top of the FBI. Plus, in the closing days of the Biden administration, the White House tries to secure last-minute diplomatic breakthroughs.

‘I feel it’s a friend’: quarter of teenagers turn to AI chatbots for mental health support

Experts warn of dangers as England and Wales study shows 13- to 17-year-olds consulting AI amid long waiting lists for services

It was after one friend was shot and another stabbed, both fatally, that Shan asked ChatGPT for help. She had tried conventional mental health services but “chat”, as she came to know her AI “friend”, felt safer, less intimidating and, crucially, more available when it came to handling the trauma from the deaths of her young friends.

As she started consulting the AI model, the Tottenham teenager joined about 40% of 13- to 17-year-olds in England and Wales affected by youth violence who are turning to AI chatbots for mental health support, according to research among more than 11,000 young people.

UK households cut spending at fastest pace in almost five years, says Barclays

Bank reports 1.1% drop in card spending despite Black Friday boost for retailers

UK households cut back on spending at the fastest pace in almost five years last month as consumers put Christmas shopping on hold, according to a leading survey.

Adding to concerns that uncertainty surrounding the budget has helped dampen consumer confidence, Barclays said card spending fell 1.1% year on year in November – the largest fall since February 2021.

Anatomical exhibition includes rare Victorian-era drawing of a black body

The work of surgeon and artist Joseph Maclise is the focus of a show at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds

It is an image of an unnamed black man with his eyes closed and his innards exposed. Drawn with care and precision, the image may be the only anatomical drawing of a black body made during the Victorian age.

Now it is part of a new exhibition that focuses on the work of Joseph Maclise, a surgeon and artist whose work – including his 1851 atlas Surgical Anatomy – made the human anatomy accessible to the general public, and who was the brother of the celebrated artist Daniel Maclise.

Walking into disaster: how narcotraffickers captured the BVI

When the new premier of the British Virgin Islands said he needed an armed security detail, his chief of police knew trouble was on its way

Augustus James Ulysses Jaspert, Gus for short, arrived in Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, on 21 August 2017, just two weeks away from catastrophe. Jaspert, who was in his late 30s, had recently been appointed governor by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of the Foreign Office in London. The BVI is an overseas territory of Britain, with only partial independence, and the governor effectively acts as a backstop to the locally elected legislature. For Jaspert, a career civil servant, it would be his first hands-on experience of governing – and his first time in the British Virgin Islands. Any trepidation was outweighed by the prospect of moving to the Caribbean. “If you’re sitting in an office in London and someone says, ‘Go to Tortola,’ you look it up on a screen and think, ‘OK, I can do that,’” Jaspert told me.

While Jaspert, his wife and two sons were settling into their new life, a tropical storm gathered over the Atlantic. At first, forecasters weren’t unduly alarmed, but in the first days of September, the storm transformed into something much worse. In the afternoon of 6 September, Hurricane Irma made landfall in Tortola, which is home to the majority of the BVI’s 30,000-strong population. Irma was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. It scalped buildings, blew out windows and removed entire floors from homes. Shipping containers smashed into the islanders’ fishing boats and the out-of-towners’ yachts.

It’s the world’s rarest ape. Now a billion-dollar dig for gold threatens its future

Tapanuli orangutans survive only in Indonesia’s Sumatran rainforest where a mine expansion will cut through their home. Yet the mining company says the alternative will be worse

A small brown line snakes its way through the rainforest in northern Sumatra, carving 300 metres through dense patches of meranti trees, oak and mahua. Picked up by satellites, the access road – though modest now – will soon extend 2km to connect with the Tor Ulu Ala pit, an expansion site of Indonesia’s Martabe mine. The road will help to unlock valuable deposits of gold, worth billions of dollars in today’s booming market. But such wealth could come at a steep cost to wildlife and biodiversity: the extinction of the world’s rarest ape, the Tapanuli orangutan.

The network of access roads planned for this swath of tropical rainforest will cut through habitat critical to the survival of the orangutans, scientists say. The Tapanuli (Pongo tapanuliensis), unique to Indonesia, was only discovered by scientists to be a separate species in 2017 – distinct from the Sumatran and Bornean apes. Today, there are fewer than 800 Tapanulis left in an area that covers as little as 2.5% of their historical range. All are found in Sumatra’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem, bordered on its south-west flank by the Martabe mine, which began operations in 2012.

Jasmine Crockett announces campaign for Texas Democratic Senate primary

Rep. Jasmine Crockett filed paperwork to run for U.S. Senate just hours before the state's deadline — and hours after fellow Democrat Colin Allred dropped out.

Elon Musk calls for abolition of European Union after X fined $140 million

Musk's comments come as U.S. government officials step up criticism of the European Union

12/4: CBS Evening News

Luigi Mangione arrest video played in court as defense fights evidence; $1.6 million raised for 88-year-old man working at grocery store

Trump walks back support for releasing video of second boat strike

Over the weekend, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to commit to releasing video of a September boat strike operation.

Marjorie Prime review – Cynthia Nixon steals sad, and spotty, sci-fi revival

Hayes Theater, New York

The return of the 2014 play, now starring June Squibb as an octogenarian using a tech program to speak to her dead husband, veers between poetry and cliche

When Jordan Harrison’s play Marjorie Prime first premiered in 2014, its vision of synthetic sentience may have felt pretty novel. An old woman, Marjorie, talking to a hologram modeled after her long-dead husband perhaps seemed like a wild, far-fetched idea, that a computer program could somehow closely mimic the cadence of real conversation, could fake intimate knowledge of a person’s life. What a strange and alienating idea.

Just 11 years later (and eight years after a little-seen film adaptation), Marjorie Prime plays far more credibly. We may not have the hologram technology down quite yet, but everything else in Harrison’s AI speculation now seems well within reason. Perhaps that’s why Second Stage Theater decided to revive the play in its Broadway house, an attempt at commenting, and capitalizing, on the excited buzz and nervous chatter surrounding recent technological advancements.

Passenger who died on cruise ship was served 33 drinks, lawsuit claims

Royal Caribbean crew members "negligently" overserved 35-year-old Michael Virgil "in a matter of hours" while he exhibited obvious signs of intoxication, the lawsuit alleges.

ICEBlock developer sues U.S. government after DOJ demanded Apple remove app from store

The developer of the ICEBlock app sued the U.S. government for alleged free speech infringements.

Altadena brings Christmas Tree Lane back to life after devastating fire

Altadena's beloved Christmas Tree Lane is shining again nearly a year after a deadly wildfire tore through the area. Carter Evans has the story.

Officials expand probe into Waymo over robotaxis driving around buses

Federal regulators are investigating multiple Texas incidents in which the robotaxis drove around stopped school buses.

Waymo's robotaxis seen failing to stop for school buses at least 20 times, police say

The self-driving taxi company Waymo is being investigated by federal safety regulators over a persistent problem: failing to stop for school buses. Kris Van Cleave reports.

Paramount Skydance makes $108.4 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

Paramount Skydance's $30 per share offer comes just days after Netflix agreed to buy parts of Warner Bros. in a deal valued at nearly $83 billion.

Paramount Skydance makes $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

Paramount Skydance made a $108.4 billion hostile takeover offer for all of Warner Bros. Discovery, with its all-cash bid coming just three days after Netflix agreed to buy a part of Warner Bros. in a deal valued at $82.7 billion. Jo Ling Kent has details.

Alex Murdaugh trial clerk pleads guilty to showing reporter crime scene photos

Former South Carolina court clerk Becky Hill has pleaded guilty to showing sealed court exhibits to a photographer and lying about it in court.

The evidence Luigi Mangione's defense is fighting to exclude from trial

Luigi Mangione, charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year in New York City, was back in court as his lawyers fight to have certain evidence withheld from his upcoming state trial. Lilia Luciano reports.

Trump responds to "traitor" Marjorie Taylor Greene after "60 Minutes" interview

President Trump said Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is "not AMERICA FIRST or MAGA" and also attacked "60 Minutes" and Paramount in a social media post.

Crisis center braces for "tsunami of need" as frosty weather grips Midwest

A fresh blanket of snow and a blast of cold weather gripped the Midwest and parts of the South, with colder-than-normal temperatures felt from Minnesota to Maine. Lana Zak reports and Lonnie Quinn has the forecast.

Millions have reported domestic violence. Experts say we need to talk about it more.

According to the FBI, domestic homicides more than doubled between 2019 and 2024, increasing from 1,065 to 2,339. The latest data has experts worried.

Powerful wave in Tenerife leaves four swimmers dead after being swept out of ocean pool

The group were at a popular seawater pool when the wave struck, prompting a major rescue operation

Four people are dead and one is missing after a powerful wave dragged a group of swimmers out to sea while they were in a popular seawater pool along the rocky, western coastline of the Spanish island of Tenerife, Spanish authorities said on Monday.

Crews recovered three bodies on Sunday – a 35-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman and another man about whom no information was given – during a major rescue operation that used jet skis and helicopters to locate and pick up people dragged out to sea. The fourth victim, a woman, died on Monday, a day after being revived at the scene and airlifted to a hospital.

More than 75% of homes across the U.S. are unaffordable, study finds

Homeownership can feel like a luxury when only a sliver of the country's housing market is affordable for most Americans, Bankrate analyst says.

12/8: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Syrian rebels have taken control of Damascus, overthrowing the regime of President Bashar Assad. Plus, more on the congressional task force investigation into the security failures leading to the assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump earlier this year.

When Christmas is a little too bright ... look to Krampus

If Santa Claus is the good cop of Christmas, then Krampus is the bad one: a creature from European folklore who scares children into behaving themselves, complete with goat horns and gnashing teeth.

Miami Heat star Terry Rozier pleads not guilty in sports betting case

NBA star Terry Rozier was arrested in Orlando in October during a sweeping FBI crackdown in which 34 defendants were charged across two federal indictments.

Bullets in Mangione bag convinced police he was CEO killing suspect, court hears

Footage shows officer said ‘It’s him, dude’ as testimony sheds light on arrest at Pennsylvania McDonald’s

Moments after Luigi Mangione was handcuffed at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.

The discovery, recounted in court on Monday as Mangione fights to keep evidence out of his New York murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

Great British Railways flies the flag as logo goes back to the future

Livery for renationalised railway features red, white and blue alongside familiar double arrow symbol

No matter how much train fares cost under Great British Railways, no one can accuse the government of wasting money on an expensive redesign.

The logo, branding and livery for the impending renationalised and reformed railway will be unveiled by ministers at London Bridge on Tuesday. It is red, white and, yes, blue.

Stellantis to bring tiny Fiat car to U.S. following Trump remarks

Stellantis on Monday announced it will offer an all-electric small "car" called the Fiat Topolino in the U.S.

Here's what to expect in Paramount's quest to elbow out Netflix and buy Warner Bros. Discovery

Paramount's all-cash tender offer sets up a potentially monthslong battle between it and Netflix to influence WBD shareholders about which bid is best.

Fernandes at the double as Manchester United ease past Wolves amid fan unrest

For Manchester United, a soothing return to winning ways to avert any sense another mini-crisis was brewing. Victories are scarcely this comfortable, even if Ruben Amorim’s side needed to navigate the briefest of scares when Wolves equalised with half-time looming. United turned on the style after the break, the manager clenching his right fist when Mason Mount made it 3-1 with a smart volley, building on goals by Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes, who also rounded off the scoring from the penalty spot.

For Wolves, this was yet another demoralising defeat, a 13th in 15 league matches. The last time they tasted victory, in April, Matheus Cunha, who enjoyed his return to Molineux in United’s all-black strip, opened the scoring. Nine fan groups totalling thousands of supporters protested against the Wolves owner, Fosun, by boycotting the first 15 minutes. Supporters voiced their anger at the players, too. “You’re not fit to wear the shirt,” they sang, and jeered Jørgen Strand Larsen when he was taken off. There were pantomime laughs when the fourth official indicated at least nine minutes of stoppage time.

Community outraged after California high schoolers form a human swastika

A student at a San Jose high school posted a photo of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a football field

A photo of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a high school football field in San Jose, California, has caused shock and outrage among the Bay Area Jewish community.

A Branham high school student posted the photo to social media on 3 December, and included an antisemitic quote from Adolf Hitler in the caption. A screenshot of the post began circulating on Reddit last Thursday and garnered over 500 comments. The post and the account were removed by Instagram by Friday morning, according to J., the Jewish News of Northern California.

Fired FBI agents file lawsuit against Patel, Bondi, FBI and DOJ

Ex-FBI agents are trying to get their jobs back, claiming they were fired during Trump's second term for their efforts in 2020 to head off a riot in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

Trump unveils $12bn aid package for US farmers amid tariff fallout

President says money will come from tariff revenues and promises trade policies will make farmers ‘so strong’

Donald Trump announced on Monday $12bn in economic assistance to farmers, which he said would be drawn from tariff revenue.

“This relief will provide much-needed certainty to farmers as they get this year’s harvest to market and look ahead to next year’s crops, and it’ll help them continue their efforts to lower food prices for American families,” Trump said during a roundtable discussion of American agriculture.

Former Trump lawyer Alina Habba resigns as New Jersey U.S. attorney after disqualification

Alina Habba previously served as a defense lawyer for President Donald Trump, before being tapped to become the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

Trump announces $12 billion aid package for U.S. farmers

The new financial aid package is expected to shore up the U.S. agricultural sector, which has been hurt by tariffs and a trade war with China.

Syria marks a year since Assad fled, but struggles to heal

Syria is struggling to heal a year after the Assad dynasty's repressive 50-year reign came to an end following 14 years of civil war that left the country battered and divided.

Paramount launches $108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery

Paramount’s bid for the entire company counters $82.7bn Netflix deal for WBD’s studio and streaming operation

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is not giving up in its aggressive campaign to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), launching a hostile bid for the entertainment company despite the announcement on Friday that Netflix had agreed to buy its studio and streaming operation.

Netflix’s bid for WBD’s storied Hollywood movie studio, as well as its premier HBO cable network, valued the company at $82.7bn. But it did not agree to acquire WBD’s traditional television assets, including the news network CNN and the Discovery channel.

Former Trump attorney Alina Habba resigns as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey

Habba's decision comes as the Justice Department has lost a string of court cases ruling that U.S. attorneys have not been appointed legally, including in Nevada, California and Virginia.

Trump says Netflix, WBD deal could be 'problem' as son-in-law Kushner backs Paramount bid

Trump's comments came days after Netflix beat out Paramount Skydance's offer for all of WBD, and Comcast's bid for part of the company.

Japan tells residents to evacuate as powerful earthquake strikes north-east

90,000 people advised to take shelter after 7.5-magnitude quake, with 20 injuries reported

A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has shaken north-eastern Japan, injuring more than 20 people and triggering a tsunami of up to 70cm in Pacific coast communities.

The earthquake and tsunami warnings prompted orders for about 90,000 residents to evacuate their homes, although the warnings were later downgraded to advisories.

Jamie’s Cook-Ahead Christmas review – at last, he moves beyond the bish-bash-bosh!

There is still a scattering of ‘epics’ and ‘happy days’ but this Christmas, a newer, altogether calmer Jamie has entered his elder statesman era – and he’s all the better for it

I last watched Jamie Oliver earlier this year, presenting a documentary about dyslexia – a condition he has and which, undiagnosed, caused him much suffering at school and in his early life – which was very good. I last watched Jamie Oliver cooking in Jamie Oliver’s Air Fryer Meals – a two-parter sponsored by Tefal – which was very bad.

Now he is back, with Jamie’s Cook-Ahead Christmas. He shows us a potato and fennel gratin that can be served au naturel or – with a last-minute pastry envelope and a few carvings and pinchings that would see me pulverise the whole thing into a catastrophe, but which anyone who reaches the threshold of “minimally coordinated human” should totally do – as a beautiful ruched pie. You can make and freeze that now and reheat it on Christmas Day. I would fear for such a process with a mixture of potato, cream and pastry, but I am a culinary berk and Jamie is not, so listen to him not me.

‘Yellow line’ that divides Gaza under Trump plan is ‘new border’ for Israel, says military chief

Eyal Zamir said Israel would hold on to current positions, giving it control of more than half of the territory

The “yellow line” that divides Gaza under Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan is a “new border” for Israel, the country’s military chief told soldiers deployed in the territory.

The chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel would hold on to its current military positions. These give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt.

Arne Slot has ‘no clue’ if Mohamed Salah will play for Liverpool again

• Head coach also insisted he is not ‘weak’ amid row

• Egyptian left out of squad for game at Inter

Arne Slot has cast further doubt on Mohamed Salah’s future at ­Liverpool by admitting that he has “no clue” whether the forward has played his last game for the club. The head coach also insisted his politeness should not be mistaken for weakness after leaving Salah out of the Champions League game against Inter on Tuesday.

Slot gave his first public ­reaction on Monday to Salah’s incendiary interview at Leeds when ­previewing ­Liverpool’s match at San Siro. He denied Salah’s claims that their relationship had broken down and said only the Egypt international knows who supposedly threw him under a bus and wants him out of the club.

What to expect when the Fed announces next interest rate move this week

The Federal Reserve's last meeting of 2025 will determine whether borrowers get more relief on interest rates.

Colin Allred exiting Democratic primary in Texas Senate race

Allred will instead seek the Democratic nomination in the Dallas-based 33rd Congressional District.

Trump announces $12 billion aid package for farmers caught up in trade war

President Donald Trump has imposed shifting tariff policies on most countries, while pushing to reshape relationships with China and other major trade partners.

Alina Habba resigns from U.S. attorney's office after court ruling

Alina Habba served as a personal lawyer to President Trump before she was tapped to temporarily serve as U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

Wisconsin Cinnabon worker fired after shouting racist slurs at customers

A Cinnabon worker in Wisconsin has been fired after a racist outburst directed at two customers went viral, the company said.

Trump administration announces $12 billion in one-time payments to farmers

The payments are targeted at row crop farmers in the wake of this year's tariff hikes.

Supreme Court seems open to allowing Trump to fire some officials without cause

The Supreme Court heard arguments over the president's authority to remove members of many independent agencies that Congress has sought to insulate from political pressure.

Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew rejects White House portrayal of her after ICE arrest

Bruna Ferreira, who was released from ICE custody Monday on bond, denies claims that she’s an absentee parent

The Brazilian-born mother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew – who was recently detained by US immigration authorities – has rejected the Trump administration’s characterizations of her as an absentee parent.

Bruna Ferreira, who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in November during a traffic stop in Massachusetts and was being held at a Louisiana detention center, said in an interview with the Washington Post that the White House’s statements that she had never lived with her son or spoken with Leavitt “in many years” were incorrect.

Stabbing on North Carolina train draws Trump's attention

A suspect accused of stabbing a man on a Charlotte Area Transit System commuter train on Friday is undocumented and was previously deported, according to authorities.

Fifa to use cooling breaks at every World Cup 2026 game, regardless of weather

• Every game will pause 22 minutes into each half

• Breaks will essentially split games into four “quarters”

• Fifa said the change is in the interest of player safety

Fifa says it will include three-minute hydration breaks in each half of every game at next year’s World Cup, not just those played in hot weather.

The referee will stop the game 22 minutes into each half for players to take drinks, regardless of the temperature, the host country – the United States, Canada or Mexico – or whether the stadium has a roof and air conditioning.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney sell Wrexham stake to US private equity group

Club gets boost for development of Racecourse Ground, but move comes months after it received £14m state aid

The Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have sold a stake in the company to the US private equity investors Apollo, less than three months after the football club was given £14m in state aid.

The Welsh club on Monday announced the investment by Apollo Sports Capital, part of the New York-listed investor. It did not reveal the size of the investment, but said Reynolds and McElhenney, who has changed his name to Rob Mac, would remain majority owners.

Far-right National Rally ‘not a danger’ to France, Sarkozy claims

Nicolas Sarkozy’s new book, The Diary of a Prisoner, is being released this week – and also details the time he spent in jail

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has said Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party is “not a danger” to France, and he would not support a united front of parties against Le Pen at the next election.

In his new book, written at a “small plywood table” in prison where he recently served 20 days of a sentence for criminal conspiracy, Sarkozy said many of his former supporters were now potential Le Pen voters, and he appeared to include the RN in his vision of a broad French right.

Sydney Sweeney, Richard Linklater and Emma Thompson are up for most egregious snub in the 2026 Golden Globe nominations

Linklater is missing from the best director list despite having two nominated films, and actors including Sydney Sweeney and Josh O’Connor are nowhere to be seen. It looks like Paul Thomas Anderson’s year

• Golden Globe nominations: One Battle After Another leads the charge

• Golden Globes 2026: full list of nominations

It’s become traditional to look for the snubs in any award list – and heaven help anyone whose job it is to curate the “in memoriam” montage on the night and then the next morning apologise for the inevitable hurtful omissions.

Snubs have become a cliche of awards season commentary, but you have to wonder about the best director list of this year’s Golden Globes nominations. No Richard Linklater? This amazing director actually has two films in the “best musical or comedy” section (so I guess he can’t really be that depressed). There’s his amazingly witty and poignant chamber piece Blue Moon, with Globe-nominated Ethan Hawke playing depressed Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, and his eerily accomplished pastiche-homage Nouvelle Vague, about the making of Godard’s classic Breathless, shot not in the boring old colour in which these events happened but in a beautifully realised monochrome – a little reverential for my tastes but still a marvellously accomplished picture. Two films in one year, and such different films. Quite a feat.

Jim Caviezel to play Jair Bolsonaro in ‘heroic’ biopic

Actor, who starred in The Passion of the Christ, will play the disgraced ex-Brazilian president in film written by his one-time secretary of culture

Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president now in prison for plotting a coup, is getting the biopic treatment.

Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, is reportedly filming a “heroic” portrait of the rightwing ex-politician in secret. Dark Horse, directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by Mário Frias, who served as secretary of culture under Bolsonaro, started shooting three months ago in Brazil, where Bolsonaro served as president from 2019 until 2023. He was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison in September 2025 for leading a criminal conspiracy to stop his leftwing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, taking power, though his supporters deny the allegations and have compared the prosecution to the “lawfare” allegedly faced by Donald Trump before he was re-elected.

FBI agents sue after being fired for kneeling during racial justice protest

The FBI agents kneeled during a protest in 2020 not to reflect a left-wing political view, but to de-escalate a volatile situation, they say in court papers. The FBI fired them in September.

McDonald’s will assess if franchisees are offering value for customers under new standards

McDonald's has leaned into value to appeal to cash-strapped diners who have been visiting its restaurants less frequently.

Did you solve it? The forgotten Dutch invention that created the modern world

The answer to today’s engineering challenge

Earlier today I asked you to reinvent a component of the sixteenth century Dutch sawmill, which – according to a new book – was the world’s first industrial machine. You can read that post here, along with some great BTL discussion about the world’s greatest inventions. (Spoon or spear? Plough or spectacles? Transistor or trousers?)

Round and up

False claims Afrikaners are persecuted threaten South Africa’s sovereignty, says president

Cyril Ramaphosa says theories, promoted by Donald Trump, ‘conveniently align with wider notions of white supremacy’

White supremacist ideology and false claims that South Africa’s Afrikaner minority is being racially persecuted pose a threat to the country’s sovereignty and national security, the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has warned.

Since taking office for his second US presidential term in January, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that South Africa’s government is seizing land and encouraging violence against white farmers.

Britain’s most desirable home: why it’s probably not what you’d expect

Forget sprawling mansions or quirky architecture, Zoopla’s most-viewed listing in 2025 was notable for being relatively affordable and surrounded by countryside …

Name: Britain’s most desirable home.

Age: Newly crowned.

Home sellers are giving up at 'unusually high rate,' says new Realtor report

Sellers are taking their homes off the market at the highest delisting rate since Realtor.com began tracking the seasonal trend in 2022.