White House confirms follow-up strike on alleged drug boat

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the commander of a September operation "worked well within his authority and the law" when ordering a follow-on strike.

Luigi Mangione fights to have some evidence excluded at trial

Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was in court for pretrial hearings about which evidence will be allowed in his upcoming trial in New York City. Jericka Duncan has details.

Thousands of U.S. flight delays, hundreds of cancellations, after Thanksgiving

A major winter storm disrupted air travel in several big cities in the days after Thanksgiving, including Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis and New York City.

Snowstorm triggers crashes and flight chaos across Midwest

The second winter storm in days blanketed parts of Missouri with several inches of snow, leading to slick roads and multiple crashes across the state. It followed a more powerful storm over the weekend that dumped up to a foot of snow across the Midwest, snarling holiday travel. Ash-har Quraishi reports, and Lonnie Quinn has the forecast.

Costco sues for Trump tariff refunds before Supreme Court rules if they're illegal

Costco joins dozens of other companies that are seeking to protect their rights to refunds of Trump's tariffs without first waiting for the Supreme Court.

Kids with smartphones by age 12 at higher risk of health issues, study says

Children and adolescents who own smartphones by age 12 have higher risks of depression, poor sleep and obesity, according to a new study.

Don't get angry, but the 2025 Oxford Word of the Year is 'rage bait'

The 2025 selection follows its predecessors, "brain rot" from 2024, "rizz" from 2023 and "goblin mode" from 2022.

How does anyone get on a government board these days? | Fiona Katauskas

It helps to have friends in high places

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

Wounded National Guard member responded to nurse and wiggled toes, governor says

Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe​ remains in serious condition after last week's shooting in Washington, D.C.​, but West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Monday that the National Guard member is showing "a positive sign."

Thousands of U.S. trucking schools could lose accreditation under DOT crackdown

The U.S. Transportation Department is threatening to shut down thousands of truck driving schools, part of the Trump administration's widening crackdown on industry.

Luigi Mangione returns to court for pretrial hearings in NYC

Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering the UnitedHealthcare CEO​, is in court for hearings on which evidence will be allowed​ at trial.

British public’s verdict is in: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie

Survey also reveals Britons’ favourite festive film, views on tear-jerkers and family cinema trips

When Macaulay Culkin recently said he didn’t consider Die Hard to be a Christmas film – wading into one of pop culture’s most heated holiday debates – he was booed by a live audience.

But it looks like the British people are behind the actor, with a survey revealing that Home Alone is the UK’s favourite festive film, while Die Hard has officially been voted not a Christmas movie.

‘They’re intelligent people’: Frank feels Spurs owners will give him time to build success

• Manager criticised supporters for booing on Saturday

• Says Pedro Porro’s posts were ‘fair in every aspect’

Thomas Frank believes he will be shown patience by Tottenham’s owners despite the fractious home defeat against Fulham on Saturday which resulted in him criticising ­supporters for booing the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

After the 2-1 defeat – a third for Spurs in the space of six days – Frank said those who took aim at the ­Italian after his mistake led to a second ­Fulham goal for Harry ­Wilson were “not true fans”.

Mammoth series two review – it is a subversive thrill to laugh at these offensive jokes

This old-school sitcom about a PE teacher who wakes after being frozen since the 70s is an impeccably deadpan send-up of masculinity. But it hits hardest when this unreconstructed man turns out to be right about life today

You can lay the demise of political satire at the door of stranger-than-fiction governmental turmoil. You can attribute the disappearance of pop culture pastiche to a fractured zeitgeist and the thinning out of the artistic mainstream. Yet there’s no obvious reason for the scarcity of jokes about contemporary society in comedy. Maybe it has something to do with the decline of the sketch show; perhaps it’s simply because there’s far less funny stuff on TV in general (during the 2010s, the BBC’s comedy output almost halved). Whatever the reason, when we get a chance to laugh at modern mores, we should probably take it.

Re-enter Mammoth, an old-school sitcom from the Welsh comedian Mike Bubbins. The 53-year-old stars as the eponymous Tony Mammoth, a PE teacher who was buried by an avalanche on a school skiing trip in 1979. A quarter of a century later he was unearthed – nice one, global warming! – with his middle-aged body and dated values perfectly preserved. Yes we can laugh at this swaggering alpha’s outmoded tastes and borderline offensive views. But the beauty of this series is that the comedy flows both ways: when Mammoth looks aghast at the things that pass for normal in 2020s Britain, it can be hard to deny that he has a point.

Months of tumult and waves of staff cuts take a toll on the CDC

After losing thousands of staffers and facing attacks this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hampered in its ability to protect the public from health problems and emergencies.

For the first time since 1988, the U.S. is not officially commemorating World AIDS Day

Noting the decision not to mark the day, the State Department stated: "An awareness day is not a strategy." Activists in the fight to end the ongoing AIDS epidemic disagree.

Son of "El Chapo" pleads guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges

As part of the plea deal, Joaquin Guzman Lopez admitted to helping oversee the production and smuggling of large quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and fentanyl into the U.S.

As regime change looms at the Fed, one candidate emerges as frontrunner for chair

President Donald Trump knows who he's going to select as the next Federal Reserve chair but isn't saying yet.

TSA will start charging travelers without a Real ID $45 in February

Flyers without Real IDs, passports or other accepted forms of identification will need to pay a $45 fee starting Feb. 1.

Meta's Instagram orders employees back to the office 5 days a week

The RTO policy only applies to Instagram and not to Meta's other family of apps, like Facebook and WhatsApp.

Yankee Candle maker Newell Brands to close stores and cut 900 jobs

Newell Brands shares have sunk nearly 62% this year as the consumer products giant grapples with slowing growth.

Trump reportedly gave Maduro ultimatum to relinquish power in Venezuela

US president sent a ‘blunt message’ to his South American counterpart, sources say

• Analysis: Trump’s pardon of Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is ‘based on lies and hypocrisy’

• How US campaign against Venezuela has unfolded

• US politics – live updates

Donald Trump reportedly gave Nicolás Maduro an ultimatum to relinquish power immediately during their recent call – but Venezuela’s authoritarian leader declined, demanding a “global amnesty” for himself and allies.

On Sunday, the US president confirmed the call had taken place, telling reporters: “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly, it was a phone call.”

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs decries Netflix series by 50 Cent as ‘shameful hit piece’

Disgraced and incarcerated music mogul claims footage in docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning was stolen

Sean “Diddy” Combs has taken issue with a splashy new Netflix docuseries on his life and many legal troubles, that is executive produced by his longtime rival 50 Cent.

The former Bad Boy Records executive and hip-hop star, currently serving a four-year sentence for prostitution-related charges, blasted Sean Combs: The Reckoning as a “shameful hit piece”, and accused Netflix of incorporating stolen footage.

National guard shooting suspect spent ‘weeks on end’ in isolation, emails show

Mental health of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who is charged with murder, had reportedly been unravelling for years

The suspect in the shooting of two West Virginia national guard soldiers in Washington DC on the eve of Thanksgiving had been struggling with his mental health, sometimes spending “weeks on end” in isolation, as he struggled to assimilate in the years since arriving in the United States, it has emerged.

According to emails obtained by the Associated Press, Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s mental health had been unravelling for years, leaving him unable to hold a job and flipping between long, dark stretches of isolation and taking sudden weeks-long cross-country drives.

White House blasts Boston Globe, CBS News and The Independent for coverage of 'illegal orders' video

Last week, six Democrats with military or national security experience, released a video reminding service members they have the right to refuse illegal orders.

Eli Lilly cuts cash prices of Zepbound weight loss drug vials on direct-to-consumer site

The announcement comes weeks after President Donald Trump inked deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to make their GLP-1 drugs easier for Americans to access.

Gas prices dip below $3 per gallon, the lowest since 2021

The average price across the U.S. now stands at $2.95 per gallon, down 8.5 cents from a week ago, according to GasBuddy.

Shopify hit with hours-long outage on Cyber Monday

Select merchants were unable to log in to Shopify, while others couldn't access their point-of-sale systems, the company said.

Luigi Mangione under ‘constant watch’ in prison to prevent ‘Epstein-style situation’

Corrections officer testifies that Mangione had constant watch to prevent him from dying in custody like Epstein

Luigi Mangione was kept under tight supervision in a Pennsylvania state prison last year because officials “did not want an Epstein-style situation”, a corrections officer said during Manhattan state court testimony on Monday.

This striking allusion to Jeffrey Epstein, the well-connected financier who died in jail awaiting trial on sex-trafficking, came during day one of a potentially weeklong proceeding to weigh the legality of evidence gathered during Mangione’s arrest at a McDonald’s restaurant after the killing of a prominent healthcare executive.

What we know about the vetting process of the National Guard shooting suspect

The shooting raised questions about whether the government missed any red flags about the alleged attacker, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal.

Democrats begin congressional probe of Kash Patel's use of FBI Gulfstream jet

House Democrats allege Patel has used the FBI's Gulfstream jet for a "date night" in Tennessee and an outing with friends in Texas.

Trump says he will pardon former Honduran president for drug trafficking sentence

Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted in U.S. court of conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S. He had served two terms as the leader of Honduras.

Americans spending more for the holidays despite dour economic views

Holiday spending is hitting new records, but some data shows that people are buying fewer items amid higher prices.

As political winds shift, top chipmaker TSMC looks beyond Taiwan

The lifeblood of Silicon Valley — advanced microchips — pumps from a science park on Taiwan's west coast, mostly from TSMC, the world's biggest chipmaker. But now the company is looking abroad for places to grow.

Afghan suspect in D.C. National Guard attack appeared to suffer personal crisis

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, is accused of shooting two National Guard soldiers on Nov. 26. One of those soldiers, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died from her wounds.

Shopify outage disrupts some merchants on Cyber Monday

Shopify said merchants that use its e-commerce platform might experience issues when trying to log in.

White House releases details of Trump's MRI scan

The White House said President Trump's October MRI analyzed his cardiovascular system and abdomen.

From subways to galleries: Miami's Museum of Graffiti traces the appeal of street art

A new show at Miami's Museum of Graffiti traces the origins and development of street art. What began in the 1970s with teenagers tagging New York subway cars has grown into a worldwide art movement.

Iran sentences award-winning director Jafar Panahi to year in prison for ‘propaganda activities’

Iranian film-maker won Cannes film festival’s Palme D’Or prize earlier this year for It Was Just an Accident

Iran has sentenced the Palme d’Or-winning film-maker Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and a travel ban over “propaganda activities” against the country.

The sentence includes a two-year ban on leaving Iran and prohibition of Panahi from membership of any political or social groups, his lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that they would file an appeal.

OBR chair quits after inquiry into early release of budget document

Richard Hughes takes ‘full responsibility’ for watchdog error as Starmer attempts to secure chancellor’s position

The chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility has resigned after a damning internal inquiry into the leak that threw Rachel Reeves’s budget into chaos described it as the “worst failure” in the institution’s history.

The departure of Richard Hughes, who said he took “full responsibility” for the watchdog’s failure to handle sensitive information, dragged the rolling recriminations over the budget into a fifth day.

White House insists Trump’s recent physical shows ‘perfectly normal’ health

US president, who is 79, had October exam amid concerns over his cognitive abilities and mental fitness

• US politics live – latest updates

The White House on Monday released details of Donald Trump’s recent “comprehensive executive physical” after the president admitted Sunday night he had “no idea” what part of his body had been the subject of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.

Trump, the oldest-ever US president, underwent the procedure during a surprise “semiannual physical” on 10 October and faced questions about it from reporters on Air Force One as he traveled back to Washington DC after a Thanksgiving break in Florida.

Several protesters arrested after ICE raid thwarted in New York City

Demonstrators blocked the exit of ICE vehicles from a parking lot using garbage bags and metal barriers

A raid by federal immigration authorities on Saturday in New York City was thwarted by about 200 protesters, several of whom were arrested after scuffles with police officers.

The episode was the latest in which citizen activists have stood up to agents enforcing Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda through targeted raids in various cities across the country after his second presidency began in January.

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.

Max Verstappen prepared to ‘maximise everything’ in F1 season-deciding finale

• Red Bull driver can win fifth world title in Abu Dhabi

• He was 104 points behind top after Dutch GP in August

Max Verstappen is fired up to go to Abu Dhabi and compete for his fifth F1 world championship after the Dutchman won in Qatar, narrowed the gap to 12 points within the championship leader, Lando Norris, and overtook Oscar Piastri to set up a three‑way season-deciding finale at the Yas Marina circuit.

Verstappen produced a superb drive for Red Bull in Lusail on Sunday but it was a victory handed to him by McLaren, who made a calamitous strategy call for Norris and Piastri.

‘The current could kill an elephant’: Asia flood survivors describe escaping with their lives

From Thailand to Indonesia, torrential flooding has carried away people’s possessions and homes, upending entire communities

• How cyclones and monsoon rains converged to devastate parts of Asia – visual guide

Aminah Ali, 63, was at home in the Pidie Jaya district of Indonesia’s Aceh province when the rains started at midnight on Wednesday. The waters rose gradually. It seemed like the usual flooding that happens during monsoon season, but then came a loud roar of water: her village was suddenly inundated.

With help from her son, she managed to clamber on to her rooftop, where she waited for 24 hours. Flood waters, 3 metres high, stretched into the distance. “I saw many houses being swept away,” she said.

Pablo Fornals emerges as Betis’s ‘New King’ in emotional Sevilla derby win | Sid Lowe

Manuel Pellegrini’s team had key players missing but still enjoyed a first triumph at the Sánchez-Pizjuán since 2018

“What can I say?” Pablo Fornals said, “really nice”. Mostly, in truth, it hadn’t been, but it was in the moment when he had illuminated everything, taking Batista Mendy, César Azpilicueta and Kike Salas out for a walk – first this way, then that – and it was now, the 144th Seville derby finally ending 20 minutes behind schedule and with a Real Betis win.

“You dream of playing games like this, just playing them,” Fornals said as high in the south-east corner of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium, 600 supporters in green sang, adding: “so to score and win, well, me, my teammates, all those lunatics up there and back home, you can imagine how happy we are”.

National Guard shooting suspect spent weeks in isolation, 2024 emails say

According to 2024 emails obtained by CBS News, Rahmanullah Lakanwal had been struggling to hold a job and had not been doing well mentally for more than a year.

India orders phone makers to preload devices with state-owned cyber safety app

Critics voice concern as government says its Sanchar Saathi app combats cybersecurity threats for 1.2bn telecom users

India’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cybersecurity app that cannot be deleted, a government order showed, a move likely to antagonise Apple and privacy advocates.

In tackling a recent surge of cybercrime and hacking, India is joining authorities worldwide, most recently in Russia, to frame rules blocking the use of stolen phones for fraud or promoting state-backed government service apps.

FBI under Kash Patel has become ‘internally paralyzed by fear’, new report reveals

Leaked assessment based on confidential accounts from 24 FBI sources describes organization as a ‘rudderless ship’

• US politics live – latest updates

The FBI director, Kash Patel, is “in over his head” and leading a “chronically under-performing” agency paralyzed by fear and plummeting morale, according to a scathing 115-page report compiled by a national alliance of retired and active-duty FBI special agents and analysts.

The leaked assessment, obtained by the New York Post and prepared for both congressional Senate and House judiciary committees, is based on confidential accounts from 24 FBI sources.

Zillow deletes climate risk data from listings after complaints it harms sales

Site removes feature after real estate agents and some homeowners say scores appear arbitrary and hurt sales

Zillow, the US’s largest real estate listing site, has removed a feature that allowed people to view a property’s exposure to the climate crisis, following complaints from the industry and some homeowners that it was hurting sales.

In September last year, the online real estate marketplace introduced a tool showing the individual risk of wildfire, flood, extreme heat, wind and poor air quality for one million properties it lists, explaining that “climate risks are now a critical factor in home-buying decisions” for many Americans.

NHS to pay 25% more for innovative drugs after UK–US zero-tariff deal

Agreement could cost NHS an extra £3bn a year, industry sources estimate

The UK has agreed to pay 25% more for new medicines by 2035 as part of a US-UK drug pricing deal that will cost an estimated additional £3bn a year.

The transatlantic agreement will also see the health service in England, which currently spends £14.4bn a year on innovative therapies, double the percentage of GDP it allocates to buying such products, from 0.3% to 0.6% over the next decade.

After East Wing demolition, White House tours are back just in time for the holidays

For the first time in three months, the White House is reopening for public tours, just in time for the holidays.

Eben Etzebeth to appear at hearing after red card for alleged eye-gouging

• Mid-range offence could see eight-week ban

• Apology after match will be considered

Eben Etzebeth is expected to appear at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday after his red card for alleged eye-gouging in the dominant victory against Wales on Saturday, with the Springboks lock potentially facing a long ban. The verdict is likely to be announced on Wednesday.

As South Africa closed in on a record 73-0 win in Cardiff, Etzebeth clashed with the Welsh back-row Alex Mann, appearing to make contact with his opponent’s left eye in a fracas involving several players from both sides.

Guglielmo Vicario boos show a creeping toxicity is taking hold at Tottenham | Rob Davies

Reaction to goalkeeper’s error on Saturday was reprehensible but fans have had enough of being let down by the team

In my 35 years as a Tottenham fan, 15 of them as a season‑ticket holder, I’ve seen the home atmosphere turn ugly more than a few times. Chants of “We want our Tottenham back” have resurfaced during times of struggle, while mounting fury at Daniel Levy finally grew too loud to ignore for the Lewis family over the summer.

I remember well the chorus of boos that ultimately sounded the death knell for Nuno Espírito Santo, when he subbed off a lively Lucas Moura against Manchester United. And if you want a deeper cut, I was there in May 2007 to witness the visceral anger and disgust when Hossam Ghaly threw his shirt on the ground after being substituted by Martin Jol, half an hour after coming on.

Scarlett Johansson says she was pressed to remove Holocaust narrative from directing debut

A backer of Eleanor the Great, about a woman who pretends to be a Holocaust survivor, dropped out after Johansson refused to make changes

Scarlett Johansson has said she was pressed to remove Holocaust references in her feature directing debut Eleanor the Great, which stars June Squibb as an elderly woman who pretends to be a Holocaust survivor.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Johansson said that during the film’s pre-production phase, one of the film’s backers threatened to pull out unless the plot elements relating to the Holocaust were cut out.

Hundreds flee central Haiti after gangs launch large-scale attacks and burn homes

Official confirms nearly a dozen deaths, including a mother and her child, in Artibonite region over the weekend

Heavily armed gangs attacked Haiti’s central region over the weekend, killing men, women and children as they set fire to homes and forced survivors to flee into the darkness.

Police made emergency calls for backup, asserting that 50% of the Artibonite region had fallen under gang control after the large-scale attacks targeting towns including Bercy and Pont-Sondé.

Bitcoin prices extend slide, falling below $85,000

Bitcoin has lost roughly a third of its value since Oct. 6, when the cryptocurrency hit a record high of nearly $125,000.

‘Mansplaining’ was once a contender for word of the year. Here’s why we should stop using it

‘Rage bait’ is Oxford word of the year in 2025. But I think we should be able to decommission words that have brought more trouble than they’re worth, starting with the 2015 runner-up

The Oxford word of the year has been chosen, and it’s “rage bait”. It was a close-run contest with “aura farming” – that just means charisma, for which a number of perfectly fine words already exist – and “biohack”, a non-specific lifestyle improvement in which you’ve somehow got into the mainframe of time itself, and made some aspect of your body immune to its ravages. Since “aura farming” is extraneous and “biohacks” are almost all bollocks, the competition can’t have been that close, but the neologism isn’t necessarily welcome.

Rage bait, as you probably already know, is the publication, usually online, of material designed to make people angry. It’s not a made-up phenomenon; we’ve known for some time that online engagement is most strongly driven by out-group animosity, but nor is it a cute feature of modern life, like iced matcha lattes and Labubus. It creates intellectual silos, drives deep social divisions, and ultimately corrodes trust in institutions and reason itself, as people feel so alienated from any but their own tribe that they cease to believe anything except word of mouth. I’d argue that it’s a bit like making “ethnic cleansing” your word of 1992, during the Bosnian war. Yes, people were using it a lot, but that didn’t make it a fun answer for a quiz. Turns out it was named Un-Word of the year by the GfdS (society for spoken German), which deplored its euphemistic nature. And that is fair. Anyway, good luck in the dictionary business, Oxford, if you collude to make rage bait all the rage. Your alphabetical list of meanings isn’t going to get anyone’s dander up.

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.

Jorja Smith’s label requests share of royalties from ‘AI-cloned’ TikTok viral song

Uncredited vocals on song I Run by British dance act Haven alleged to infringe copyright as impersonation of Smith

Jorja Smith’s record label has called for a share of the royalties from a TikTok-viral song that it claims used an AI-cloned version of the British singer’s voice.

The song I Run, by British dance act Haven, went viral in October and was due to chart in the UK and the US after reaching No 11 on the US Spotify chart and No 25 on the platform’s global chart.

US-Russia talks may pile pressure on Kyiv to make concessions, says EU foreign policy chief

Kaja Kallas says negotiators should not ‘lose focus that it’s actually Russia who has started this war’

• Europe live – latest updates

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said she fears talks between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will pile pressure on Ukraine to make concessions with the two men expected to meet on Tuesday.

Witkoff, the property developer turned envoy recently exposed for coaching Russian officials on how to win Trump’s favour, is arriving in Moscow after leading a US delegation in talks with Ukraine at the weekend, nearly four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Fired worker sues government in a case that could upend civil rights laws

A fired immigration judge says she was dismissed from her job because of her gender, her status as a dual citizen of Lebanon and the fact that she once ran for municipal office in Ohio as a Democrat.

Appeals court disqualifies Trump's N.J. prosecutor pick Alina Habba, rejecting DOJ challenge

The ruling affirming Habba's disqualification came one week after another Trump-picked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was deemed invalidly appointed.

Marty Supreme review – Timothée Chalamet a smash in spectacular screwball ping-pong nightmare

Following every dizzying spin of Chalamet’s table tennis hustler, Josh Safdie’s whip-crack comedy serves sensational shots – and a smart return by Gwyneth Paltrow

This new film from Josh Safdie has the fanatical energy of a 149-minute ping pong rally carried out by a single player running round and round the table. It’s a marathon sprint of gonzo calamities and uproar, a sociopath-screwball nightmare like something by Mel Brooks – only in place of gags, there are detonations of bad taste, cinephile allusions, alpha cameos, frantic deal-making, racism and antisemitism, sentimental yearning and erotic adventures. It’s a farcical race against time where no one needs to eat or sleep.

Timothée Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, a spindly motormouth with the glasses of an intellectual, the moustache of a movie star and the physique of a tiny cartoon character. He’s loosely inspired by Marty “The Needle” Reisman, a real-life US table tennis champ from the 1950s who was given to Bobby Riggs-type shenanigans: betting, hustling and showmanship stunts. The movie probably earns the price of admission simply with one gasp-inducing setpiece involving whippet-thin Chalamet, a dog, a bathtub, cult director Abel Ferrara in a walk-on role and a scuzzy New York hotel room. Talk about not being on firm ground. Similarly disorientating is the climactic revelation of Chalamet’s naked buttocks prior to one of the most upsetting displays of corporal punishment since Lindsay Anderson’s If….

What we’re reading: Geoff Dyer, Andrew Michael Hurley, Marcia Hutchinson and Guardian readers on the books they enjoyed in November

Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

I finally got round to Thoreau’s Journal. It is determinedly down-to-earth and soaring, lyrical and belligerent, humane and cantankerous. Walt Whitman thought Thoreau suffered from “a very aggravated case of superciliousness”, but as Walt also said (of himself) the Journal of this brooding, solitary figure is great; it “contains multitudes.”

Homework by Geoff Dyer is published by Canongate (£20). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson is published by Cassava Republic. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

Airbus shares fall on reports of new quality issue on dozens of A320 aircraft

Shares of Airbus plunged to the bottom of the pan-European Stoxx 600 index on Monday morning.

Israeli settlers attack and rob Italian and Canadian volunteers in West Bank

Group beaten in early hours of morning in village where they volunteered to help protect Palestinians from settler violence

Italy and Canada have raised concerns about the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early on Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, where they had volunteered to help protect the Palestinian population from intensifying settler violence.

Frozen-in tenor: Italian mayor apologises over Pavarotti statue stuck in ice rink

Late singer’s widow says building ‘ugly’ ice rink around statue in Pesaro is disrespectful and ridicules his memory

An Italian mayor has apologised to the family of Luciano Pavarotti after a Christmas ice rink entrapped a statue of the legendary opera singer – and skaters were invited to “give [him] a high five”.

The lifesize bronze, featuring Pavarotti wearing a tuxedo with his arms outstretched and holding a handkerchief in one hand, was unveiled to much fanfare last year in a square in the centre of Pesaro, a coastal city in the Marche region.

‘There was rage and pain and iron in him’: Patrick Marber on the great hits – and fond smokes – he had with Tom Stoppard

The director worked with theatre colossus Tom Stoppard on two smash hits. Here, he remembers their heated rehearsals, the night they stayed up watching Jaws – and the last four cigarettes they smoked together

Tom was my hero from the night I first saw Travesties in 1979. I was 15. The older kids at school did a production of it and I was spellbound; it was glamorous, sensual and completely incomprehensible. I wanted to know everything about this cool, obscure playwright. I started in the school library with the Encyclopedia Britannica. Then I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (incomprehensible) and then I read a third of Jumpers before giving up (totally incomprehensible).

As an English Lit student in the mid 1980s, I studied Stoppard and found his work slightly less incomprehensible. But in 1993, I saw the original production of Arcadia and felt that same spell I’d felt as a child. Let’s call it art. And beauty. And words spoken from a stage like no one else. A couple of years later, my first play, Dealer’s Choice, had just opened at the National Theatre and Tom was on the board. Someone told me: “Stoppard saw your play and mentioned it in some speech to donors as a good example of new writing at the NT.” A week or so later, I met him at a drinks do. He approached me. He approached me. All hair and suit and cigs and warmth. He gave me a hug and told me I was a proper young playwright.

Appeals court disqualifies Alina Habba as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a lower court decision that disqualified Alina Habba as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

Face the Nation: Schlesinger, Sullivan, Brands

Missed the second half of the show? The latest on...CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that "consumers are a little unnerved" by President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, one day after Hamas released a propaganda video featuring Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that the Biden administration has been in touch with Alexanders' family, andHistorian H.W. Brands, author of "America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War," tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that a major question facing the U.S. was "should the United States, must the United States, take a leading role in the world?"

Austria's rebel nuns refuse to give up Instagram to stay in their convent

The trio of octogenarian nuns gained global fame after fleeing their care home and breaking into their former convent. Now their superior has asked the Vatican to intercede in the dispute.

Hole in Antarctic ozone layer shrinks to smallest since 2019, scientists say

EU’s Copernicus monitoring service hails ‘reassuring sign’ of progress observed this year in hole’s size and duration

The hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic this year was the smallest and shortest-lived since 2019, according to European space scientists, who described the finding as a “reassuring sign” of the layer’s recovery.

The yearly gap in what scientists have called “planetary sunscreen” reached a maximum area of 21m sq km (8.1m sq miles) over the southern hemisphere in September – well below the maximum of 26m sq km reached in 2023 – and shrank in size until coming to an early close on Monday, data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) shows.

Philharmonia/Rouvali review – Fazil Say’s concerto sounds an urgent wakeup call

Royal Festival Hall, London
The UK premiere of the Turkish composer’s piano concerto Mother Earth was balanced with theatrical Sibelius and a sure-footed reading of Dvorak’s upbeat Eighth Symphony

The Philharmonia closed their 80th-anniversary season in style with a pair of late-Romantic big hitters and the UK premiere of a seven-movement piano concerto by Turkish composer Fazil Say. With nature at its heart, the programme journeyed from the frozen wastes of Finland to the sun-kissed woodlands of Bohemia and beyond.

En Saga, a last-minute substitute for Falla’s Love the Magician, was Sibelius’s first tone poem, poorly received in 1893 but successfully revised nine years later. The composer refused to furnish any specific literary explanations, yet the colourful score is redolent with imagery, from patriotic pageantry to dusky forests and midnight sleigh rides. It proved meat and drink to fellow Finn Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Plunging into its shadowy dramas, the conductor sustained the musical momentum effortlessly across its substantial arc while striking some fantastical podium attitudes of his own to tease out its more theatrical effects.

Two Met officers running spycops unit were ‘incredibly racist’, inquiry told

Undercover unit monitored Stephen Lawrence’s family, as well as thousands of mainly leftwing political activists

Two senior officers who supervised an undercover Scotland Yard unit spying on political campaigns were “horribly and incredibly” racist, a whistleblower has told a public inquiry.

Peter Francis, a former member of the unit, testified that one regularly used the “N-word”, while the other used a repertoire of explicit racist slurs.

How cyclones and monsoon rains converged to devastate parts of Asia – visual guide

Extreme weather kills more than 1,100 people across south and south-east Asia as cyclones turbocharge rain systems

• Devastating floods hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand – latest updates

Tropical cyclones have combined with heavy monsoon rains to lay waste to swathes of Asia, killing more than 1,100 people as of Monday, with the death toll expected to rise, and leaving many more homeless.

A confluence of three tropical weather systems – including a rare cyclonic storm that built up in the strait of Malacca – has fuelled intense wind and rainover the past week, devastating areas of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam with flooding and mudslides.

EsDeeKid: why do people think the Liverpudlian rapper might actually be Timothée Chalamet?

The incognito hip-hop act known as EsDeeKid has been identified by online sleuths as Chalamet in disguise. The pair even have the same scarf – case closed

Name: EsDeeKid.

Age: Unknown.

PSG drop points in Monaco but Marseille fail to capitalise … again

Luis Enrique was scathing after PSG’s ‘worst match of the season’ but Marseille are too flaky to make them pay

By Get French Football News

Paris Saint-Germain were flat and lethargic in their 1-0 defeat to Monaco on Saturday afternoon. Luis Enrique called it their “worst match of the season” and “a very bad night”. His players created very little, although it might have been a very different story had the Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara been sent off for his lunge on Lucas Chevalier early in the first half. The France international said his “career could have taken a turn” and that he considered himself “lucky” to continue after the tackle that was sanctioned with a yellow, rather than a red.

Takumi Minamino gave Monaco the lead midway through the second half before they did go down to 10 men, Thilo Kehrer receiving a red card in the 80th minute, but PSG failed to create any clear openings. It felt like a simple off night, even if the lack of goals from their forwards remains a cause for concern. The result gave Marseille the chance to land a psychological blow.

Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba serving unlawfully as US attorney, says appeals court

Habba disqualified from serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, appeals court says

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba, whom his administration has maneuvered to keep in place as New Jersey top federal prosecutor, is disqualified from serving in the role, an appeals court said Monday.

A panel of judges from the third US circuit court of appeals sitting in Philadelphia sided with a lower court judge’s ruling after hearing oral arguments at which Habba herself was present on 20 October.

Josh Brolin on Donald Trump: ‘There’s no greater genius than him in marketing’

The actor met the future president while making Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and says he is ‘not scared’ of him

Actor Josh Brolin says President Trump was a “different guy” when he first met him in 2009, and that “there is no greater genius than [Trump] in marketing”.

Brolin was speaking to the Independent to promote his new film Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and said that while his clergyman character was not based on the president, there was a similarity in that once he “garners a sense of power, then there are no boundaries”.

‘We’re true guardians of the forest’: quilombola community near Belém demand land rights and recognition

Short boat ride from Cop30 host, Afro-descendant residents of Menino Jesus say their voices are not being heard

Walk through the conference centre where the recent UN climate talks were held and representations of Indigenous people and culture were everywhere, from the spear-carrying, fiery-headed Cop30 mascot Curupira to huge mural-sized photos of people navigating the Amazon in dugout canoes and the many protests demanding dialogue outside.

Yet a short boat ride down the river from Belém, into the forest itself, takes you to another forest-dwelling community also fighting for further recognition within the Cop process. The quilombola community of Menino Jesus has existed for six generations. Quilombolas are the descendants of former enslaved people who fled into the forest as a site of refuge. Over hundreds of years, they established a unique way of life separate from mainstream Brazilian society, living in harmony with nature as fugitives protected by the jungle.

‘We were swimming in the mind pool of Tom Stoppard!’ – actors salute the great playwright

Rufus Sewell, Christine Baranski, Susan Wokoma, Toby Jones and Harriet Walter share their unforgettable encounters with a theatrical giant

I worked with Tom when I was quite young, on Arcadia in 1993, and again on Rock’n’Roll 13 years later. In the interim it slowly dawned on me that not all jobs were like that. He was one of the most intelligent people you could ever meet but the extraordinary thing was that you’d walk away from conversations with him feeling like you were not unintelligent or unwitty yourself. That’s not always the case with incredibly brilliant writers and funny people. That generosity of spirit marked my time with him. He was incredibly good company, very sweet, and you felt encouraged to put forward your own ideas, make your own jokes.

‘We didn’t think Back to the Future sounded plausible – or good’: Huey Lewis and the News on The Power of Love

‘I told the producers I didn’t know how to do a song for a film – and added that, frankly, I didn’t fancy writing one called Back to the Future. They said, “No problem, just give us one of your songs”’

Steven Spielberg and Bob Zemeckis asked to meet us, along with Bob Gale and Neil Canton. They said they’d just written this film whose lead character was a guy called Marty McFly, and whose favourite band would be Huey Lewis and the News. They asked: “How about writing a song for the film?” I said: “I’m flattered but I don’t know how to write for film necessarily. And frankly, I don’t fancy writing a song called Back to the Future.” They said: “No problem. We just want one of your songs.” I said: “Tell you what, we’ll send you the next one we work on.”

Autumn maples and Frankfurt in the fog: photos of the day – Monday

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

F-16s scrambled, flares deployed to intercept plane near Mar-a-Lago

NORAD has tracked over 40 temporary flight restriction violations over Palm Beach since President Trump's inauguration.

Expert explains how asylum seekers are vetted in the U.S. after National Guard attack

The Trump administration has paused asylum decisions following the attack on two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week. Sam Vinograd, a CBS News contributor and former DHS assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention under President Biden, explains the vetting process.

James Cameron says AI actors are ‘horrifying to me’

Avatar director, known for his advocacy of new technology, told interviewer generative AI performance puts ‘all human experience into a blender’

Avatar director James Cameron has called AI actors “horrifying” and said what generative AI technology creates is “an average”.

Cameron was speaking to CBS on Sunday Morning in the run-up to the release of the third Avatar film, subtitled Fire and Ash, and was asked about the pioneering technology he used in his film-making. After praising motion-capture performance as “a celebration of the actor-director moment”, Cameron expressed his disdain for artificial intelligence. “Go to the other end of the spectrum [from motion capture] and you’ve got generative AI, where they can make up a character. They can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt. It’s like, no. That’s horrifying to me. That’s the opposite. That’s exactly what we’re not doing.”

‘It would take 11 seconds to hit the ground’: the roughneck daredevils who built the Empire State Building

They wrestled steel beams, hung off giant hooks and tossed red hot rivets – all while ‘strolling on the thin edge of nothingness’. Now the 3,000 unsung heroes who raised the famous skyscraper are finally being celebrated

Poised on a steel cable a quarter of a mile above Manhattan, a weather-beaten man in work dungarees reaches up to tighten a bolt. Below, though you hardly dare to look down, lies the Hudson River, the sprawling cityscape of New York and the US itself, rolling out on to the far horizon. If you fell from this rarefied spot, it would take about 11 seconds to hit the ground.

Captured by photographer Lewis Hine, The Sky Boy, as the image became known, encapsulated the daring and vigour of the men who built the Empire State Building, then the world’s tallest structure at 102 storeys and 1,250ft (381m) high. Like astronauts, they were going to places no man had gone before, testing the limits of human endurance, giving physical form to ideals of American puissance, “a land which reached for the sky with its feet on the ground”, according to John Jakob Raskob, then one of the country’s richest men, who helped bankroll the building.

Five of the best food books of 2025

Sami Tamimi celebrates Palestine’s culinary heritage, Helen Goh uncovers the psychological benefits of baking and Roopa Gulati reveals tricks used in the best Indian kitchens

Lugma: Abundant Dishes & Stories from My Middle East
Noor Murad (Quadrille)
One of the greatest tests of a cookbook is not just whether the recipes appeal on first glance, but whether they have the power to weave themselves into your regular cooking life. By this measure, Lugma is my top food book this year. Its author, Noor Murad, is a young Bahraini-British food writer who has previously worked with Ottolenghi. It is a delight to find her writing here in her own voice about the Middle Eastern ingredients that mean so much to her (you’ll need black limes!). The recipes hit a sweet spot between ease and specialness. Even a simple side dish of greens becomes a feast, sauteed with fried onions and turmeric oil. Alongside a pantheon of rice dishes for celebrations, there are simpler midweek hits such as tuna jacket potatoes enlivened with a spicy tomato sauce and preserved lemons. Noor’s deeply fragrant Middle Eastern bolognese is now the recipe against which I judge all other ragus.

Baking and the Meaning of Life
Helen Goh (Murdoch)
The idea of baking as therapy is often bandied around, but Helen Goh knows whereof she speaks. Alongside her career as a baker, Goh (who was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents) was for a long time a practising psychologist. Whatever the theory behind the effect, every time I follow Goh’s wonderfully precise yet creative recipes, I feel a deep calm and happiness as well as a sense that she is teaching me new skills (“learning, growth and achievement” are among the psychological benefits of baking, according to Goh). The Shoo Fly buns are the currant buns of dreams (with a whole raw orange pureed into the dough) and I wanted to make the chocolate financiers with rosemary and hazelnuts so much that I bought a financier tin specially (no regrets there).

Georgia court drops case against Trump and allies over 2020 election

President Trump and more than a dozen of his allies were charged with offenses in Georgia relating to the 2020 presidential election.

Travelers face thousands of flight cancellations and delays in return from Thanksgiving

Sunday was expected to be the busiest day of the Thanksgiving travel rush, but travelers across the Midwest dealt with a powerful winter storm while trying to return home. Over the weekend, more than 2,900 flights were canceled and 21,000 were delayed.

‘Posh-poor divide’: the rise in areas of England where wealth and deprivation appear side by side

Data shows increase in neighbourhoods where few metres of asphalt, hedgerow, or wall can separate deep inequality

The homes of people in Nunsthorpe, a postwar former council housing estate known locally as “The Nunny”, sit only a few metres away from their more affluent neighbours in Scartho with their conservatories and driveways.

Walking between the two is almost impossible because of a 1.8-metre-high (6ft) barricade between them, which blocks off roads and walkways that link the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

11/30: Face the Nation

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

‘No party on the planet was safe from Hoggy rocking up!’ Irvine Welsh on his friend Pam Hogg

‘I spent the 90s with Pam – clubbing and partying in the way those times demanded. What I saw was a truly groundbreaking artist, and a life marked by independence, courage and kindness’

• Pam Hogg, fashion designer with a rock’n’roll spirit, dies at 66 – news
• Pam Hogg – obituary

There are people who live life to the full, then there’s Pamela Hogg. Pam’s tenure on this earth is a trawl through just about every significant cultural and creative moment in the UK over the last 30-odd years. One of our most groundbreaking artists, Pam was a colourist of Warholian proportions, creating art to be hung on the body rather than the walls of a gallery. She was a punk who provocatively mashed up gender and sexual stereotypes. Fashion was the art form that freed her imagination, and her success was due to her talent and drive being greater than her disdain of the conformist industry and the gatekeepers surrounding it.

I sat in St Joseph’s hospice in London by her unconscious but serenely beautiful figure – as if she’d made her exit into another work of art – telling her that her jam-packed life was characterised by creativity, independence, courage and kindness. “Hoggy, you left absolutely nothing on the table.”

UK pulls $1.15bn support for Mozambique gas project after climate and terror concerns

TotalEnergies scheme became lightning rod for terror in region and was accused of violating human rights

• Business live –latest updates

The UK government has pulled a controversial $1.15bn (£870m) package of support to a giant gas project in Mozambique that has been accused of fuelling the climate crisis and deadly terror attacks in the region.

The business secretary, Peter Kyle, said the UK would withdraw its export finance to the Mozambique liquified natural gas project, five years after it ignited bitter opposition from campaigners over its impact on human rights, security and the environment.

Hong Kong apartment fires: have you been affected?

We would like to hear from people in Hong Kong who have been impacted by the apartment fires

146 people are known to have died, in last week’s devastating fire at an apartment complex in Hong Kong, with about 200 still unaccounted for.

Authorities have arrested 13 people on suspicion of manslaughter related to the fire amid growing criticism from residents about arrests under national security laws of at least two civilians calling for accountability.

Crossword editor’s desk: a genius uncloaked

The many ambiguities in a recent puzzle are teased out …

When November’s Genius puzzle germinated in July, no one knew how popular its hidden theme would be by the time of publication. “A celebrity version of The Traitors?” sniffed the sceptics. “We – and they – will already know the personalities. Typical terrible TV idea. Won’t work.”

Eleven million live viewers later, we can now have a look at the filled version of Glyph’s remarkable grid. Or rather, grids. Solvers are told:

Entrants must pick a side. The majority of down clues must have a letter removed before solving. These letters, taken in clue order, inform the solver of one who may not pick a side.

BEARS or BARES
PATER or PRIOR
FAT or OAT
GOLFBALL or GOLFBAGS

Luigi Mangione's attorneys set to argue over what evidence should be admitted

Luigi Mangione's defense argues certain evidence should not be allowed during trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in NYC.

Heidenheim hex scuppers Union in last-gasp drama to leave Mainz looking down | Andy Brassell

Bo Henriksen and Mainz are now floundering at the foot of the Bundesliga after a humiliation in the Black Forest

It was, as the clock chimed metaphorical midnight in Berlin, just another Bundesliga day for Heidenheim, without help, hope or points as they trailed Union going into the 90th minute, heading towards another weekend at the foot of the table and, no doubt, for the umpteenth time so far this season, veteran coach Frank Schmidt warning that at current pace, relegation was less a fear and more an inevitability.

Then it all changed. A burst down the right from Omar Haktab Traoré and a cross to the front post was met by fellow substitute Stefan Schimmer, and a wobbling Union had stumbled. The away side sensed the moment and a corner from Arijon Ibrahimovic, swung in just after the announced four minutes of stoppage time in moments added by Schimmer’s goal and its aftermath, was headed in by another sub, Jan Schöppner, to spark pandemonium. Referee Patrick Ittrich almost immediately blew for full-time and finally, more than two months after their hitherto solitary Bundesliga win of the season, Schmidt and company were taking three points home.

Aipac over affordability: Democratic candidates come under fire for support of Israel

Democrats like congressman Ritchie Torres face backlash for pro-Israel stances as Americans’ views of Israel sour

At a campaign event in the Bronx last month, a congressional candidate quizzed a cheering crowd: “What do you think would happen if the US ended all aid to Israel?” At a Thanksgiving gathering with voters, another candidate in the same race fielded questions about affordability – but also about “moral leadership” when it came to Israel’s war in Gaza. A third candidate vying for the same seat devoted much of his campaign’s launch video to lambasting the current member of Congress representing the district over the funding he’s received from the pro-Israel lobby.

The incumbent in question – congressman Ritchie Torres – is one of the most staunchly pro-Israel advocates in Congress. Dalourny Nemorin, one of his challengers for the Democratic nomination to represent the district calls him the “poster boy” for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac. “Ritchie Torres cares more about Bibi than he does about the Bronx,” Michael Blake, another challenger, said in the launch video.

Ravneet Gill and Mattie Taiano’s recipes for a Friendmas sharing menu

The husband and wife team cook up a winter storm with lamb shoulder, dauphinoise and brown sugar meringues – just don’t ask them who’s doing the cleaning up

When I first started seeing Mattie, there was a constant dinner party at his mum’s house,” recalls pastry chef Ravneet Gill. “There were loads of people there all the time, being fed with massive bowls of home-cooked food and a big block of parmesan.” There was an open-door policy, with pastas and roast meats on heavy rotation, confirms her now-husband and fellow chef, Taiano. And it’s this sentiment that has carried through to the couple’s restaurant, Gina, which opened in Chingford, east London, earlier this year, a process they documented in their newsletter, Club Gina.

Named after Taiano’s late mother, it is very much a neighbourhood joint, Gill points out, with the food – from pithiviers and vol au vents to Gina’s pasta with tomato sauce, half a roast chicken with little gems and aioli to share on Sundays, and slabs of “Ravi’s” chocolate cake – an extension of how the couple like to eat.