The U.S. offers Ukraine a 15-year security guarantee for now, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday the United States is offering his country security guarantees for a period of 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan.

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

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

Winter storm over Great Lakes and Northeast could turn into bomb cyclone

A winter storm over the Northeast and Great Lakes regions might turn into a bomb cyclone. Rob Marciano breaks down the latest as severe weather continues to slam the U.S.

China launches live-fire drills around Taiwan simulating blockade of major ports

Taipei condemns exercise that Chinese army calls ‘a stern warning’ against separatist and external forces

China has launched live-fire military drills around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of major ports, attacking maritime targets, and fending off international “interference”, in what it calls a warning to “separatist” forces in Taiwan.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – the military wing of the ruling Communist party in China – sent its navy, air force, rocket force and coastguard to surround Taiwan on Monday morning for a surprise exercise called “Justice Mission 2025”, which began less than an hour after it was announced.

10-year Treasury yield dips as investors assess interest rate outlook for 2026

The moves come as traders digest the latest economic data and assess the Federal Reserve's monetary rate path.

‘Why should we pay these criminals?’: the hidden world of ransomware negotiations

Cybersecurity experts reveal what they do for high-profile clients targeted by hackers such as Scattered Spider

They call it “stopping the bleeding”: the vital window to prevent an entire database from being ransacked by criminals or a production line grinding to a halt.

When a call comes into the cybersecurity firm S-RM, headquartered on Whitechapel High Street in east London, a hacked business or institution may have just minutes to protect themselves.

Is claim Ukraine deal is ‘95% done’ just another empty assertion from Trump?

A sober observer assessing the US president’s claim may react the same way as Zelenskyy – with shock and disbelief

• Zelenskyy says US has agreed to offer Ukraine ‘strong’ 15-year security guarantees

A deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine was “95% done”, Donald Trump claimed after his meeting over the weekend with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago.

Unfortunately, the 5% still remaining includes the small matter of getting Vladimir Putin to agree to a deal – and there are precious few indicators that that is any closer. Instead, Trump’s claim seems to be the latest in a long line of overoptimistic statements anticipating a swift end to the conflict, starting with his campaign promise that he would end the war in 24 hours.

Copper price on track for biggest rise in 15 years amid global shortage fears

Metal that underpins the renewable energy industry joins silver and gold as a safe haven asset for investors

• Business live – latest updates

Copper, the metal that underpins the fast-growing renewable energy industry, is on course for its biggest annual price rise in more than 15 years as traders react to fears of global shortages.

As one of the main beneficiaries of the “electrification of everything”, copper has soared by more than 35% in value this year, spurred by US tariff uncertainty and concerns about mining disasters that could restrict supply.

GM's record stock performance beats Tesla, Ford and other automakers in 2025

General Motors' stock is having its best year since the company's reemergence from bankruptcy in 2009.

Zelenskyy says US has agreed to offer Ukraine ‘strong’ 15-year security guarantees

Future of Donbas region remains unresolved after Ukrainian president’s talks with Donald Trump in Florida

• Ukraine war – latest updates

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the US has agreed to offer “strong” security guarantees to Ukraine for 15 years, but acknowledged that the future of the country’s eastern Donbas region was unresolved after his two-hour meeting on Sunday with Donald Trump in Florida.

Speaking on his way back to Europe, Zelenskyy said the US Congress and Ukraine’s parliament would jointly vote on American pledges. These were a key part of a 20-point peace plan discussed with the US president at his Mar-a-Lago residence, he said.

Drinks ideas to get your NYE party fuelled

Stop stressing about 31 December, keep things simple and go with a flow of prosecco, lambrusco or maybe even a Korean soju …

Oh, you thought it was all over? After all the carolling, gifting and tree-ing (not to mention the eating and drinking) of the actual Christmassy bit, it feels almost cruel to have to do it all again, and on – in my opinion – one of the most stressful nights of the year: New Year’s Eve.

If you’re not paying over the odds and going out, with long queues and stressed-out staff, you’re the stressed-out one yourself. “Is everyone good for drinks?” “When was the last time anyone saw [insert child’s name here]?” And then there’s the clean glass matrix, where no one can remember whose is whose and you’re caught in an endless cycle of washing-up. The antidote to all of the above is, for me, just to stay in with your immediates and a bottle of something nice. Five guests maximum. I don’t like going into the New Year already tense – what hope will I have for 2026 if I’m going into it with high blood pressure and flat wine in a warm glass?

Men’s transfer window January 2026: all deals from Europe’s top five leagues

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

My big night out: I woke up on a llama farm in Germany – hungover and lying beside a naked punk

At 20, I went on a European road trip for the summer, where a chance encounter in Cologne taught me the importance of friendship

The clock that ticks at 6am on a Saturday morning at a llama farm in rural Germany, when you wake up hungover next to a naked punk, ticks much more loudly than any other clock. In this case, it was a proper rustic European clock – none of your chrome or plastic nonsense – wooden and ancient, with little figurines which bustled around inside it, on the hour, every hour.

I was 20, on a European road trip, chugging around in an older man’s van in 2014, perpetually hungover.

Women’s transfer window January 2026: all deals from world’s top six leagues

Every deal in the WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

‘The most culturally Iranian of all Iranians died so far from Iran’: the towering legacy of Bahram Beyzaie

Beyzaie, who has died aged 87, wove myth, folklore and classical Persian literature into stories that defend against a regime which sought to obliterate them

One of the last messages I sent to the great Iranian stage and screen writer-director Bahram Beyzaie was a recent photograph, taken by a friend, of the interior ruins of Tehran’s oldest cinema, Cinema Iran. There, on one of the walls, hung posters of Beyzaie’s 1988 film Maybe Some Other Time, positioned above and below the torn portraits of the supreme leaders of the theocratic regime.

The symbolism – the ideological ruin; cinema and the future – was too striking for something so accidental, particularly given that Beyzaie’s theatre and cinema are intricate mazes of carefully constructed and overlapping allegorical moments.

Trump says Ukraine peace is closer. And, how funding cuts affect anti-poverty groups

Trump and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled momentum on peace talks after a meeting yesterday. And, anti-poverty groups address challenges they are facing that impact Americans who need help.

‘He has come back from the dead’: Chevy Chase spent eight days in a coma during Covid pandemic

In documentary I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, the actor and his family revealed that doctors told them to ‘prepare yourselves for the worst’

Chevy Chase suffered “near fatal” heart failure which led to him being placed in an induced coma during the pandemic in 2021, according to a new film about the American actor and comedian.

As documented in I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, the star of films such as Caddyshack and the National Lampoon movies, who hosted the Oscars twice, spent a total of five weeks in hospital.

Arteta wants every team to ‘suffer’ at Arsenal with revenge on mind against Villa

• Aston Villa snatched last-gasp win earlier in December

• Arteta: ‘It was quite cruel, the way we lost it’

Mikel Arteta has said he wants every visiting team to suffer at the Emirates Stadium, as Arsenal host Aston Villa on Tuesday night bidding to avenge their “cruel” defeat from the reverse fixture earlier this month.

Arteta’s league leaders lost 2-1 at Villa Park three weeks ago, when Emi Buendía scored a 95th-minute winner with the last kick of the game.

‘A total knockout!’ The best television you never watched in 2025

From the most beautiful show Netflix has ever made to a thriller about a menopausal hitwoman and a dazzling documentary set in outer space, here are some TV gems that may have passed you by this year

In a bizarre move, Netflix released this series by Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda – the Palme d’Or winner renowned for movies such as Shoplifters and Nobody Knows – with absolutely no fanfare this year. But Asura was a total knockout – a rich and sumptuously shot drama about four sisters in the 70s who discover that their dad has been having a lifelong affair. It was so good, in fact, that it might even be the most beautiful show they’ve ever released. Talk about selling yourself short. Watch it on Netflix.

‘Cities need nature to be happy’: David Attenborough seeks out London’s hidden wildlife

Attenborough, 99, enthuses about tube-riding pigeons, foxes, parakeets and others in Wild London for the BBC

Filming the wildlife of London requires an intrepid, agile presenter, willing to lie on damp grass after dark to encounter hedgehogs, scale heights to hold a peregrine falcon chick, and stake out a Tottenham allotment to get within touching distance of wary wild foxes.

Step forward Sir David Attenborough, who spent his 100th summer seeking out the hidden nature of his home city for an unusually personal and intimate BBC documentary.

Tell us: have you changed your career plans because of the risk of an AI takeover?

Did you decide not to pursue your dream profession or did you have to retrain? We would like to hear from you

AI will affect 40% of jobs and probably worsen inequality, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said.

What has your experience been of trying to future-proof your career? Have you retrained or moved jobs because your previous career path is at risk of an artificial intelligence takeover?

Influx of cheap Chinese imports could drive down UK inflation, economists say

As Trump’s tariffs take effect, Britain is likely alternative destination for cars, telecoms and sound equipment

• Business live – latest updates

The UK is poised for an influx of cheap Chinese imports that could bring down inflation amid the fallout from Donald Trump’s global trade war, leading economists have said.

After figures showed China’s trade surplus surpassed $1tn (£750bn) despite Washington’s tariff policies hitting exports to the US, the Bank of England said the UK was among the nations emerging as alternative destinations for the goods.

From data center spas to servers in space: How the energy crunch is reshaping cloud computing

Data centre developers and designers are starting to get creative.

Japanese town reeling from year of record bear encounters

Bears are becoming a growing problem in some of Japan’s urban areas as they are forced to venture further in search of food

It came as no surprise, least of all to the residents of Osaki, that “bear” was selected as Japan’s kanji character of the year earlier this month.

The north-eastern town of 128,000 people is best known for its Naruko Onsen hot springs, autumn foliage and kokeshi – cylindrical dolls carved from a single piece of wood. But this year it has made the headlines as a bear hotspot, as the country reels from a year of record ursine encounters and deaths, with warnings that winter will not bring immediate respite.

The secrets of a great sex life: how to keep the flame alive in the bedroom

Sex is an appetite like any other and there is much you can do to make it a priority, from making sure you find the time for it to building your confidence and maintaining intimacy throughout the day

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

If you have sex, chances are, you’ll have a good day. But scheduling it makes it feel like a chore. And unlike any other chore or fitness enterprise, you conceive it more as self-indulgence than self-improvement, and as such, even if you’re already in a relationship, it’s hard to find that chin-out determination to get it done. Yet sex is an appetite like any other, a necessity like any other, a nourishment like any other. If you let it go dormant the effect on your relationship might be as if one or both of you are on a permanent diet – and also lonely. That might be fine for both of you, but for many of us, sex is a thing worth prioritising.

At its core, before you introduce any other domestic obstacles, it’s a two-person job, so you have to be attuned to one another; you can’t just decide unilaterally. To take this in ascending order of hurdles; if you’re a childless couple, the main block is going to be each other – not being in the same mood at the same time, not being in the house at the same time. This is true for your entire relationship, not just sex; I once interviewed a fertility doctor, who described working with a couple, trying to find an appointment time for when one was ovulating and both were in the country. They scrolled through several weeks before they managed it. “I felt as if I was beginning to get to the bottom of why they couldn’t conceive,” she said.

'Raising questions' isn't enough. The best films of the year took a stance

Now is not the time for subtlety, nostalgia or neutrality on screen.

Poem of the week: The Man in the Wind by Anne Stevenson

This haunting poem depicts an elusive, dangerous figure of overwhelming destructive power

The Man in the Wind

The man in the wind
who keeps us awake tonight
is not the black monk of the wind
cowering in corners and crevices,
or the white face under the streetlight
stricken with the guilt of his noise,
or the great slapping hand of the wind
beating and beating the rainy alleyways
while the torturer proceeds with the interrogation
and the prisoner’s risen voice
bleeds over cymbals and timpani.

Mine in South Korean to offer U.S. new source of a critical war metal

China dominates the supply of critical minerals such as tungsten, but a U.S. push for alternative sources has found one, deep inside a South Korean mountain.

Pensions timebomb: why Europe’s social contract is becoming unsustainable

Ageing populations and falling birthrates have left ever fewer workers to support growing number of retirees

It has played a starring role in one of the worst periods of political turmoil in France since the 1960s. In Germany, it threatens the future of the coalition government. In Spain, thousands have taken to the streets to demand change.

The right to a decent state pension has been a central plank of the European social contract for decades, but people are living longer, birthrates are falling, and the continent’s pension systems are, increasingly, unsustainable.

Most Europeans think state pensions will become unaffordable, polling shows

YouGov survey finds many say payments are too low and oppose reforms such as raising retirement age or cuts

Most Europeans believe their country’s state pension system will soon become unaffordable – but they also think the current scheme is not generous enough, and do not support options for overhauling it such as raising the retirement age.

As populations age and fertility rates decline, Europe’s “pay as you go” state pension systems, cornerstones of the welfare state that have always relied on people in work paying the retirees’ pensions, are coming under increasingly heavy pressure.

‘Pure euphoric escapism’: why Adventureland is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers highlighting their most rewatched comfort films is an ode to the charming 80s-set comedy

While casting his knockout quasi-biopic The Social Network, film-maker David Fincher must’ve really dug how eventual Mark Zuckerberg portrayer Jesse Eisenberg handled being dumped on screen. A year before the award-lassoing Facebook drama, which led to an Oscar nomination for Eisenberg, the actor agonised through the dreamy foreground of Adventureland as reluctant carny James Brennan.

The parallels between Fincher’s and Greg Mottola’s movies begin and end with their opening unceremonious separations, yet an admittedly romantic logic does allow me to soak in the notion that the great directorial mind behind such zingers as Zodiac and Gone Girl also found solace in this cinematic time machine.

Arc Raiders review – pure multiplayer pleasure

PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5; Embark Studios
The breakout hit, which has players coming together (or turning on each other) to battle intimidating robots in an apocalyptic future, is worth the hype

Arc Raiders is an extraction shooter from Embark Studios – so, a game where you deploy into a map full of other players and do as much shooting and looting as you can before making an escape. This is my first real go at the genre, and it’s excellent. It has smooth, only occasionally cumbersome combat, sound design that scratches the brain just right and robotic enemies that genuinely terrify. And it satisfies my constant need to sift through my inventory and rifle through every drawer.

But I have to keep my head on a swivel: Arc Raider’s player v player element means I can get jumped for my precious cargo by a malicious rival at any moment. And also, the knowledge that this game was made with the help of generative AI voice acting makes me slightly ashamed of how much I enjoy it. I play every game sheepishly looking over my shoulder (and my character’s) in case someone in-game takes my sought-after blueprint, or someone in real life kicks down my door to call me a hypocrite.

Why the quarter-zip trend is about much more than jumpers

Young men swapping Nike Tech fleeces for quarter-zips are all over TikTok, as well as staging IRL meetups worldwide. What’s behind the growing movement centring a once unremarkable garment?

As I’m wearing a quarter-zip jumper and sipping on an iced matcha, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s my last day of term before the school holidays. The giveaway is it’s a Saturday in London’s Soho, and I’m surrounded by 20 or so young men between the ages of 13 and 21 who are all here for London’s first ever “quarter-zip meetup”.

Organised, rather bizarrely, by sibling rappers OKay the Duo, the meetup is the latest manifestation of a growing tongue-in-cheek trend for quarter-zips and matcha that has taken over TikTok globally. Previous meetups have taken place in Houston and Rotterdam.

Why do so many people ring in the new year on Jan. 1?

Much of the world follows the Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who put the finishing touches on a Roman system that integrated ideas from other cultures.

Teens are having disturbing interactions with chatbots. Here's how to lower the risks

Teen use of AI chatbots is growing, and psychologists worry it's affecting their social development and mental health. Here's what parents should know to help kids use the technology safely.

Weather tracker: Polar wind set to end warmth in US south and midwest

Spring-like weather experienced by many Americans to end, while heavy snow in Japan brings deadly conditions

A week of extremes in the US as Arctic air plunges southwards across many states, sweeping away record-breaking warmth from last weekend. With low pressure in the west drawing up warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico, much of the south and midwest basked in spring-like weather this weekend with temperatures widely an extraordinary 15-20C above normal for late December.

This week, however, most people will ditch their summer clothes for hats and scarves as a ridge pressure builds across the west, allowing for a polar air mass to dive southward, bringing freezing temperatures and the risk of snow.

For those who help the poor, 2025 goes down as a year of chaos

Local anti-poverty groups have had to scramble and scale back this year as the Trump administration targeted safety-net programs. They are bracing for what may come next.

ICC rates MCG pitch ‘unsatisfactory’ after two-day Ashes Test

• ‘Too much in favour of bowlers,’ says match referee

• No batter made a half-century

The MCG pitch has been rated ‘unsatisfactory’ by the International Cricket Council after England beat Australia inside two days in the fourth Ashes Test. The head curator, Matthew Page, said he was in a “state of shock” at how the match unfolded on a surface that had 10mm grass left on, producing lavish movement for seam bowlers.

Despite their four-wicket win, the England captain, Ben Stokes, said there would be “hell on” if the Melbourne pitch was produced elsewhere in the world and the ICC has handed down its second-lowest rating.

The English House by Dan Cruickshank review – if walls could talk

A deep dive into the creation of eight buildings from the 1700s to the 1900s tells some very human stories

History used to be about wars and dates, but to the architecture writer and TV presenter Dan Cruickshank, it’s more about floors and grates. In his new book, he takes a keen-eyed tour of eight English houses, from Northumberland to Sussex, dating from the early 1700s to exactly 100 years ago, and ranging from an outlandish gothic pile to one of the first council flats. In Cruickshank’s pages, classical influences from Rome and Greece give way to a revival of medieval English gothic and the emergence of modernism.

He is particularly interested in who commissioned and built his chosen dwellings, and how they got the job done. It’s a new spin on the recent fashion for historians to explore the homes of commoners, as opposed to royalty and aristocrats, in order to tell the life stories of their occupants. This probably began with the late Gillian Tindall, who wrote a highly original book about the various tenants of an old house by the Thames next to the rebuilt Globe theatre. That was followed by several series of A House Through Time, fronted by Traitors star David Olosuga.

Stork of Hope review – Belarusian Holocaust drama paints a flattering portrait of its citizens

Cliche-ridden, excessively sentimental and lacking in historical rigour, this film is a grave act of nationalist self-soothing

Nothing says happy Hanukah like a Holocaust-themed movie, especially if it ends on a feelgood note of survival and reunion after a run of tragic deaths and lashings of suffering. But this Israeli-Belarusian co-production is so excessively sentimental, cliche-riddled and arguably hypocritical considering its provenance, it’s not easy to forbear.

It opens in contemporary Tel Aviv with an elderly man named Ilya receiving news he can barely believe is true: someone dear to him from his childhood is alive. This prompts Ilya to tell his grandsons for the first time about what happened to him during the second world war. Desaturated cinematography then unfolds his story in flashback, showing young Ilya (Andrey Davidyuk) and his little brother Sasha as preteen Jewish boys living in Minsk with their parents, just as the war starts. Dad goes off to the front and is never seen again; the brothers and their mother are soon rounded up by the Nazis, represented by one German actor (Jean-Marc Birkholz) who keeps cropping up throughout to ruin life for Ilya. It’s as if the production didn’t have enough budget to afford a second German-speaking actor or (charitably) because the film-makers are making some kind of symbolic point about the banality – or in this case indistinguishability – of evil. I suspect the former is the case.

British-Egyptian rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah apologises for ‘hurtful’ tweets

Campaigner recently released from prison makes statement after PM’s support is questioned by Tory MPs

Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian human rights campaigner, has apologised unreservedly for what he accepted were shocking and hurtful tweets that he wrote more than 10 years ago in what he described as heated online battles.

He said he was shaken by the criticism that has rained down on him since the tweets were highlighted by shadow ministers challenging Keir Starmer’s support for him since he was released by the Egyptian government to travel to the UK after his release from more than 10 years in prison.

The hill I will die on: Pigeons are working-class heroes and deserve some respect | Toussaint Douglass

These unfairly maligned animals were nuggets for our ancestors and served for the UK during the second world war

Is there something I would figuratively die on a hill for? Yes, there is – and as it happens, I’m sitting on a literal hill right now, feeding them. Pigeons. Why pigeons? Because it’s about time they get the respect they deserve.

I like pigeons. Because they’re like me, working class. You can tell pigeons are working class because every pigeon looks knackered. It’s about this point in the conversation that people politely make their excuses and slowly back away (literally) while avoiding eye contact. No doubt, reading this, you are doing the same (figuratively).

Toussaint Douglass is a comedian from Lewisham, south London. His show Accessible Pigeon Material will be showing at Soho Theatre, 26-31 January 2026

I was there: Europe’s dramatic Ryder Cup win signed off a strange week

Some extraordinary golf was often overshadowed by the Donald, colourful fans, crazy MCs and tempers flaring

I was out by the practice green late afternoon on the Monday of the Ryder Cup, and so was Bryson DeChambeau. He was on his own, signing autographs for the handful of people on the other side of the railings, and there was this one woman leaning over towards him, a bottle blonde, late middle-aged, in a tight white dress. She was only a couple of feet away from him but she was screaming in his ear like she was trying to reach someone across the far side of the golf course. “We love you Bryson! Bryson! We love you! We love you for everything you’ve done for the Donald! We love you for everything you’ve done for the Donald!”

It was a long, strange week, and when I think back on it now the golf is entirely overwhelmed by technicolour memories of the weird scenes around the grounds of Bethpage Black and in the surrounding town of Farmingdale. I wish I could say that the things I remember best are that approach shot Scottie Scheffler hit from 180 yards at the 10th, or the 40ft putt Rory McIlroy made on the 6th, or Jon Rahm’s chip-in from the rough at the 8th. But they’re not.

‘Seeing all the work that goes into DIY scenes changed my life’: the bitterly optimistic indie-rock of Prewn

Like her forebears Fiona Apple and Giant Drag, Izzy Hagerup puts a distinctly twisty take on indie-rock, and is unafraid of dark emotional truths

From Chicago
Recommended if you like Wednesday, Fiona Apple, Giant Drag
Up next European/UK tour kicks off in May

A word that Prewn, AKA Izzy Hagerup, often uses to describe her music is “dissociation” – the disconnected emotional state embodied by many of the Chicago-born musician’s songs. It’s not an impression anyone would be left with from listening to her bitter, potent take on indie-rock. Hagerup’s guitar lines snake as they thrash; her balladry is grimy and expansive, steered by febrile vocals that recall mid-period Fiona Apple and the drone of the cello she played as a kid. Unexpected moments lurk, such as the shadowy slip into trip-hop on recent single Dirty Dog.

Is it true that … you’re more likely to get sick when you’re stressed?

Stress releases hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which can suppress your immune system – but chronic concerns are more of an issue than short-term worries

‘Stress has a well-established effect on your immune health,” says Daniel M Davis, head of life sciences at Imperial College London. “But stress is a very broad phenomenon. You can feel stressed watching a horror movie, or you can experience long-term stress, like going through a divorce.”

Short-term stress can temporarily affect your immune system. “The number of immune cells in the blood changes,” says Davis. “But it returns to normal within about an hour, so it’s unlikely to have any major impact.”

Boy, 5, died after arm trapped in ski resort travelator in Japan

Hinata Goto reportedly fell as he was trying to get off the 30-metre-long walkway

A five-year-old boy has died after becoming trapped in a moving travelator at a ski resort in northern Japan, local media have said.

The victim, Hinata Goto, died on Sunday after his right arm became trapped in the walkway’s winding mechanism during a family skiing trip to Otaru, a city on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido.

A Swedish city is being moved — building by building — amid Europe’s minerals push

Sweden's northernmost city of Kiruna is on the move because of ground subsidence from the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine.

Kettles to roof leaks: expert tips on home care to avoid surprise bills

Prevention and and keeping on top of the small problems will save you money in the long term

Looking after electrical goods will save you money in the long term. “Regular, small tasks keep appliances working efficiently and help you avoid early replacements,” says Paula Higgins, the founder of the HomeOwners Alliance.

Pipe bomb suspect told FBI he targeted U.S. political parties, memo says

The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of Jan. 6, 2021 told investigators someone needed to "speak up" for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen, prosecutors said Sunday.

‘A watery gold sunrise lights the turbulent water’: the wild beauty of the Suffolk coast

Coastal erosion may threaten the area around Southwold, but a new ‘movable’ cabin makes a great base for exploring its windswept beaches, remote marshes and welcoming inns

The crumbling cliff edge is just metres away. An automatic blind, which I can operate without getting out of bed, rises to reveal an ocean view: the dramatic storm-surging North Sea with great black-backed gulls circling nearby and a distant ship on the horizon. A watery gold sunrise lights the clouds and turbulent grey water.

I’m the first person to sleep in the new Kraken lodge at Still Southwold, a former farm in Easton Bavents on the Suffolk coast. It’s a stylish wooden cabin, one of a scattering of holiday lets in an area prone to aggressive coastal erosion. The owner, Anne Jones, describes the challenges of living on a coast that is rapidly receding in the face of climate-exacerbated storms: the waves have eroded more than 40 hectares (100 acres), and the family business “is no longer a viable farm”. Instead, it is home to low-carbon cottages and cabins, “designed to be movable when the land they stand on is lost to the sea”. The latest projects include a sea-view sauna and a ‘dune hut’ on the beach for reflexology treatments “with the sea and waves as the backdrop”.

This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin – set to be a standout novel of 2026

From an acclaimed short-story writer, this epic of power and class across generations in Pakistan is brutal, funny and brilliantly told

Imagine a shattering portrayal of Pakistani life through a chain of interlocking novellas, and you’ll be somewhere close to understanding the breadth and impact of Daniyal Mueenuddin’s first novel. Reminiscent of Neel Mukherjee’s dazzling circular depiction of Indian inequalities, A State of Freedom, it’s a keenly anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed short-story collection with which he made his debut in 2009, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders – also portraying overlapping worlds of Pakistani class and culture.

We begin in the squalor and bustle of a Rawalpindi bazaar in the 1950s, where the heartbreaking figure of a small child, abandoned to his fate and clutching a pair of plastic shoes, is scooped under the protection of a tea stall owner. He proceeds to raise the boy as his own son, having only daughters, but Yazid is also adopted by the stall’s garrulous regulars, who teach him both to read and to pay keen attention to the currents of class, wealth and power which flow past him every day.

A French Youth review – bullfighters grapple with the horns of valour and acceptance

Jérémie Battaglia’s captivating documentary follows two north African raseteurs battling bulls and systemic racism in southern France

In southern France, the ancient and controversial tradition of Camargue bullfighting remains to this day. In contrast to more lethal forms of the sport, participants – or raseteurs – win points by snatching various ribbons attached to the bulls, each of which comes with a cash prize up to thousands of euros. Following a group of athletes of north African descent, Jérémie Battaglia’s documentary paints a captivating portrait of multicultural France.

For Jawad Bakloul and Belkacem Benhammou, the two young men at the centre of the film, the hardships multiply. Because of their ethnic background, the pair encounter a world of contradictions when they step into an arena. Not only do they face mortal danger, they also face racial abuse from the older, largely white spectators, despite upholding a piece of traditional French culture.

Chinese military stages drills around Taiwan to warn 'external forces'

The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at U.S. arms sales, and a statement by Japan's prime minister saying its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan.

‘Too important not to fight for’: Spain’s wine industry seeks infusion of new blood

Rural depopulation compounding challenges of climate emergency and changing technologies in drawing young people to sector

The huge concrete vats that have held countless litres of verdejo white wine in the 90 years since the Cuatro Rayas cooperative winery was founded are dwarfed by the stainless steels tanks that sit opposite and serve as reminders that, even in an enterprise as ancient as winemaking, times change.

Outside, a chilly but welcome rain falls on the surrounding vines, autumn-brown after another furnace-hot summer in the northern Spanish province of Valladolid. But changing technologies and the vagaries of the climate emergency are not the only challenges facing Spain’s €22.4bn (£20bn) wine industry.

‘They want to destroy my career’: Kiwi Chow on life as a dissenting director in Hong Kong

With his new film rejected by official censors, the award-winning film-maker says he is being punished for his outspoken views

In Hong Kong, where dissent is now characterised by silence, few dare openly criticise the government or the Chinese Communist party (CCP) that controls it. Film-maker Kiwi Chow is one of the few.

“The Chinese Communist party’s practice is to try and destroy history and truth,” the 46-year-old director says from his home in the region. “It’s ridiculous that I can still live in Hong Kong without being in jail.”

Netanyahu to meet Trump in US amid fears of Israeli regional offensives

Israel’s PM travels to Mar-a-Lago as US administration reported to be running out of patience over Gaza ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday evening amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.

The Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday on his fifth visit to see Trump in the US this year.

The BBC tells the story of Britain in a way Netflix simply cannot. In the year to come, please remember that | Tony Hall

I love many shows on the streaming channels, but the BBC is our storyteller. It defines a nation and its culture – and we must defend it

• Tony Hall was director general of the BBC between April 2013 and August 2020

Don’t let President Trump cloud the real debate about the BBC. Of course, his demand for damages of no less than $5bn has dominated our thinking about the corporation over the past few weeks, as has its cause. But let’s get this into perspective. This was a serious own goal and journalists make mistakes. Salvation in this case would have been a line of script between the clips, or once a mistake had been discovered, a very speedy public acknowledgment. Now, though, the BBC is right not to yield on this. It has apologised. And, unlike other broadcasters and institutions in the United States, it doesn’t need the president’s support. This is a chance to demonstrate the BBC’s independence. Fight on.

But we must not let this cloud the debate here about the sort of BBC we all want and need, and I hope that is what dominates our conversation in the coming crucial year. The government’s green paper, published in December, starts off with a reminder of what, despite all its travails, the BBC delivers for the country. “It’s not just a broadcaster,” says the introduction, “it’s also a national institution … if it did not already exist, we would have to invent it.” The secretary of state, Lisa Nandy, is even more forthright: “I believe the BBC, alongside the NHS, is one of the two most important institutions in our country. While one is fundamental to the health of our people, the other is fundamental to the health of our democracy.” Seeing the BBC not just as a media organisation, but as a cultural organisation helping to define who we are, is crucial to next year’s debate about what we want the BBC to be. It should be seen as part of our social infrastructure.

Georgina Hayden’s quick and easy recipe for pimento cheese and pickle loaded crisps | Quick and easy

Move over, nachos: a loaded crisp platter is the new party snack in town

Pimento cheese, a much-loved American spread, has been a permanent fixture in my kitchen this month. Whether it’s a quick sandwich filling in times of chaos or an effortless party dip, I am addicted. My favourite way to serve it, though, is as part of a loaded crisp platter. Use salted or pickle crisps, and load them up with spoonfuls of pimento cheese, sliced pickles, herbs and heat. Move over nachos, there’s a new crisp platter in town.

‘My target was just to take the gun’: wounded hero Ahmed al-Ahmed speaks of saving lives at Bondi beach

‘I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost,’ Ahmed tells CBS News of those who died in Bondi attack on 14 December

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Ahmed al-Ahmed, who disarmed one of the Bondi gunmen before being shot five times, says he knows his bravery saved many lives but is sad for those who were killed in the attack.

In an interview with CBS News, Ahmed said he “didn’t worry about anything” except for the lives he could save as he disarmed Sajid Akram on 14 December. The act was caught on camera and shared around the world.

Freemasons seek injunction against Met policy requiring officers to declare membership

Exclusive: Organisation accuses Sir Mark Rowley of religious discrimination and ‘whipping up conspiracy theories’

Freemasons have demanded an emergency injunction from the high court to halt the Metropolitan police’s new policy that orders officers to tell their bosses if they are members of the organisation.

The Freemasons filed papers in London on Christmas Eve and claim the Met’s policy amounts to “religious discrimination” against Freemasons who are also police officers.

The mystery of flight MH370: will a new search find the missing airliner after more than a decade?

In 2014 the Malaysian Airlines jet vanished over the Indian Ocean. Now the team that located Shackleton’s Endurance is looking again with the latest undersea robots

• Search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 expected to resume on Tuesday

More than a decade after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing after veering thousands of miles off course, its location remains unknown.

The Malaysian government has promised to pay a private company, Ocean Infinity, $70m (£56m) to search for the plane on a “no find, no fee” basis.

What happened next: Maggots, rats and growing despair – a year of the Birmingham bin strike

Action began in January, before an all-out strike in March. For locals, the flytipping, vermin, maggots and mess are taking a huge environmental and emotional toll

It’s an icy cold winter morning, and 80-year-old Mohammed Bashir is armed with a broom, tackling the large pile of rubbish that has accumulated outside his terraced house in Small Heath, Birmingham.

This has become an almost daily activity for Bashir since the city’s bin strike started 50 weeks ago and, like many in the city, he is starting to lose patience.

The photographs that defined 2025 – and the stories behind them

As wars in Ukraine and Gaza continued, anti-government protests erupted around the world. Amid the violence, there were moments of humanity, sporting glory and stunning natural beauty. Photographers reflect on the moments behind the pictures

A man cries out in distress as a fire spreads across multiple buildings on a housing estate in Hong Kong
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
A massive fire broke out around 3pm at Wang Fuk Court, a densely packed housing estate in Tai Po, and I arrived about an hour later. By then, the flames were raging across multiple blocks, with thick black smoke. Unsafe bamboo scaffolding and foam may have led to what became Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades. Residents were streaming out in panic, while emergency crews fought a losing battle against the inferno spreading from one tower to the next.

The mood was jubilant at Italy’s far-right Atreju festival. But has Meloni’s success peaked? | Jamie Mackay

The prime minister has been lauded for her country’s growing role on the world stage. But poverty and precarity are forcing vast numbers to emigrate

Earlier this month, the gardens of Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo were filled with families enjoying some unseasonably warm sun by a pop-up ice rink. Teenage couples skated hand in hand, while the watching crowds sipped mulled wine and hot chocolate to a soundtrack of Nat King Cole. At first glance, it looked like a normal Christmas market. The stands, however, revealed a different reality. Among the nativity displays and kitsch decorations were adverts for nationalist newspapers and something called “patriot radio”. On a wall near the kids’ play area, a mural depicted an unlikely cast of characters, tracing a lineage from the fascist poet Gabriele D’Annunzio to the late American Maga influencer Charlie Kirk.

This was the setup I witnessed at this year’s Atreju, Italy’s biggest rightwing festival, which has been running since 1998 as an annual celebration of patriotism and nationalism. During the early editions, proud neo-fascists, including black-hooded thugs from street movements such as CasaPound and Forza Nuova, made up a visible portion of the attenders. At this year’s event, however, the Celtic crosses and odal rune tattoos were tucked under well-ironed shirts. The crowd was made up of nerdy students, gen-Z influencers, civil society campaigners and passersby who had been lured off the street by the glittery lights.

Jamie Mackay is a writer and translator based in Florence

Heat, drought and fire: how extreme weather pushed nature to its limits in 2025

National Trust says these are ‘alarm signals we cannot ignore’ as climate breakdown puts pressure on wildlife

Extremes of weather have pushed nature to its limits in 2025, putting wildlife, plants and landscapes under severe pressure, an annual audit of flora and fauna has concluded.

Bookended by storms Éowyn and Bram, the UK experienced a sun-soaked spring and summer, resulting in fierce heath and moorland fires, followed by autumn floods.

Passengers on cruise ship that ran aground off PNG to be flown home after refloat efforts fail

Coral Adventurer, being investigated for allegedly leaving behind passenger who died, ran aground with 124 people on board on Saturday

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

An Australian cruise ship remains stuck on a reef off Papua New Guinea despite efforts to free it, with passengers set to be flown home early.

The Coral Adventurer, which ran aground on Saturday morning, was already under investigation as a result of an unrelated incident in October, in which a passenger died after being allegedly left behind on an island. It was on its first voyage since the passenger’s death when it ran aground.

12/24: CBS Evening News

Her Altadena home survived a wildfire, but now she faces the threat of mudslides; Why flamingos are returning to Florida

Tracking winter "bomb cyclone" snarling flights. Maps show the latest forecast

More than 51 million Americans live in areas under winter storm alerts stretching from northern Minnesota to the Eastern Seaboard.

Helicopters collide above New Jersey, 1 pilot dead, another critically injured

One pilot is dead and another has life-threatening injuries after the helicopters they were operating collided in mid-air above New Jersey, about 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia. CBS Philadelphia's Ray Strickland has more.

Inside the effort to bring back California condors

More than a dozen California condors born in captivity are getting their first flights of freedom. Joy Benedict reports.

Brazilian ex-president Bolsonaro treated for persistent hiccups

Doctors say they blocked his right phrenic nerve in procedure that took place after jailed former president was hospitalised last week for hernia operation

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro underwent “a phrenic nerve block procedure” on Saturday to treat his persistent hiccups, his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, said on social media.

The doctors treating Bolsonaro said later that they blocked the right phrenic nerve and scheduled a new procedure in 48 hours to block the left one.

Large gas leak north of Los Angeles shuts down interstate

Utility crews in California are trying to determine the cause of a rupture in a massive natural gas line that forced a major interstate to shut down. Andres Gutierrez has more.

Trump meets with Zelenskyy, insists Putin is ready for peace

President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone before meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida on Sunday. Mr. Trump said he thinks both men are ready for peace. Willie James Inman reports.

Another massive storm snarling travel across the country

A new storm system is threatening to complicate post-holiday travel across the country. This weekend, messy weather delayed or cancelled thousands of flights, many of them in the Northeast. Shanelle Kaul reports from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport and CBS News meteorologist Andrew Kozak has a look at the forecast.

Trump says ‘a lot closer’ to Ukraine peace deal after Zelenskyy meeting, though thorny issues remain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was scheduled to arrive at Mar-a-Lago in President Donald Trump's latest attempt to end the war with Russia.

AI being used to help cut A&E waiting times in England this winter

Forecasting tool predicts when demand will be highest, allowing NHS trusts to better plan staffing and bed space

Hospitals in England are using artificial intelligence to help cut waiting times in emergency departments this winter.

The A&E forecasting tool predicts when demand will be highest, allowing trusts to better plan staffing and bed space. The prediction algorithm is trained on historical data including weather trends, school holidays, and rates of flu and Covid to determine how many people are likely to visit A&E.

Titanic Sinks Tonight review – it’s like you’re reliving that terrifying night

Our grim fascination with the doomed ship shows no sign of abating – so here’s a four-parter which makes it feel like you’re onboard. A truly intense watch

April 2026 will mark 114 years since the night that the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg, but our grim fascination with the disaster shows no sign of abating. There was, of course, a surge of interest in the Titanic in the late 90s – thanks to James Cameron’s Oscar-bothering blockbuster – and there has been a steady stream of documentaries, dramas and podcasts about its demise ever since, some more sensitive than others (among the less tactful offerings: the 2010 film Titanic II – directed by Dick Van Dyke’s grandson Shane – a cash-in about a replica ship ravaged by a tsunami). Occasionally, the subject matter lurches starkly from the past back into the present. In June 2023, five people died on board an experimental submersible made by the company OceanGate; its passengers had hoped to see the liner’s rusting wreckage up close.

Titanic Sinks Tonight is a part-documentary, part-drama series playing across four nights, its episodes constructed from letters and diaries written by those on board, as well as interviews the survivors would give in the decades after. On the strength of the two episodes released for review, there’s no denying that it sates our appetite for Titanic-themed content. However, in centring the words and memories of those who lived through the terror of that night, it restores much-needed agency to those people. It also does well to bring a sense of reality to events that can sometimes feel unreal on account of their ubiquity, and that uncanny valley of Titanic-themed media. Central to its success is the presence of experts such as historian Suzannah Lipscomb and former Royal Navy admiral Lord West, to sharpen the corners of the story that Hollywood has sanded down.

NFL round-up: Seahawks close in on NFC’s top seed with win over Carolina

• Ewers hits rookie deep ball as Dolphins edge Bucs

• Chase, Burrow power Bengals past lowly Cardinals

• Maye throws five as Patriots rout Jets, clinch mark

Zach Charbonnet ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns, and the Seattle Seahawks turned two third-quarter Carolina turnovers into TDs to beat the Panthers 27-10 on Sunday and close in on the No 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Sam Darnold threw an interception in the end zone but finished 18 of 27 for 147 yards with a touchdown for the Seahawks, who can wrap up the NFC West title and the top seed if the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams both lose or tie.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Dec. 28, 2025

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, CBS News correspondents Major Garrett, Robert Costa, Jan Crawford, Jennifer Jacobs and Scott MacFarlane join Margaret Brennan.

Bernie Sanders criticizes AI as ‘the most consequential technology in humanity’

Republican senator Katie Britt also proposes AI companies be criminally liable if they expose minors to harmful ideas

US senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to economic insecurity for millions of Americans – and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democratic party, said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was “fearful of a lot” when it came to AI. And the senator called it “the most consequential technology in the history of humanity” that will “transform” the US and the world in ways that had not been fully discussed.

Ella Baron on Trump and Zelenskyy’s Ukraine peace talks – cartoon

Continue reading...

Kyrgios defeats Sabalenka but Battle of the Sexes veers too close to circus

Nick Kyrgios won 6-3, 6-3 against Aryna Sabalenka in an intriguing Dubai contest with celebrity interruptions

Nick Kyrgios won tennis’s latest Battle of the Sexes against Aryna Sabalenka in a dispiriting contest in Dubai that veered uneasily between exhibition, gimmick and outright circus.

The Australian, who has won only one competitive singles match since the end of 2022 and has slipped to 671 in the world rankings, was sweating heavily and breathing hard as early as the fifth game of the match. Yet to no one’s great surprise, the extreme power of his serve, combined with the spin and velocity of his groundstrokes, proved too much for the women’s No 1 player.

US strikes on Nigeria and Syria are ‘consistent’ with policy to combat IS, Republican says

House armed services committee’s Mike Turner denied that military strikes showed new Trump approach to US forces

• US warns of more Nigeria strikes as Abuja talks of ‘joint ongoing operations’

A senior Republican on the US House armed services committee has said that the country’s recent military strikes in Nigeria and Syria are consistent with American foreign policy to combat Islamic extremism that have existed across Donald Trump’s two presidential terms.

Mike Turner, an Ohio congressman, said on Sunday that the strikes are a “continuation of our conflict with [the Islamic State]”.

The Guardian view on the new space race: humanity risks exporting its old politics to the moon | Editorial

Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today we look skyward, where a new lunar contest mirrors humanity’s struggle to live within planetary limits

During the cold war’s space race, the Apollo moon missions were driven by the need to prove American superiority. Having made that political and technological point with the 1969 moon landing, the contest between Moscow and Washington petered out. A new dash across the skies kicks off in 2026, reigniting geopolitical competition under the guise of “peaceful exploration”. The moon’s south pole is emerging as the most valuable real estate in the solar system, offering “peaks of eternal light” for solar arrays and ice deposits in craters shielded from the sun.

The US and a China-led bloc are eyeing the lunar surface and its potential to control a post-terrestrial economy. Space had been humanity’s last commons, supposedly shielded by the 1967 UN outer space treaty that bans state exploitation of the heavens. It is vague, however, on private claims – a loophole that is now fuelling a tycoon-led scramble for the stars. The aim is obvious: to act first, shape norms and dare others to object. Two lunar missions launching next year– Nasa’s Artemis II and China’s Chang’e 7 – are competing for strategic supremacy.

Airlines cancel 1,400 more flights but disruptions from winter storm ease. Here’s what to know

Airlines waived change fees ahead of a large winter storm and low temperatures after Christmas holiday.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Dec. 28)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

Off-the-shoulder tops and a signature hair-do: Brigitte Bardot’s style legacy

Model turned actor never lost the poise from her dancing days – but she also made gingham and leopard print her own

• French screen legend dies aged 91

• Brigitte Bardot: a life in pictures

• Obituary: star who shot to fame in the 1950s

And God Created Woman, the title of the 1956 film that made Brigitte Bardot a global star, is the phrase that captures the magic of her. Bardot had an allure that was dazzling in its glamour, yet so natural that to gaze on it felt like a gift from the heavens.

In style, as in life, timing is everything – and Bardot became the poster girl for that sweet spot of postwar France in which the storied heritage of Gallic culture was electrified by the Bohemian spirit of Paris in the 1950s and 60s.

11/23: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as Secretary of State Rubio and other administration officials meet with European allies in Geneva about the administration's 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Olga Stefanishyna and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul join. Plus, Sen. Mark Kelly and Rep. Jason Crow, two of the Democrats who President Trump accused of "seditious behavior," join.

Nature: Sunrise in Texas

We leave you this last Sunday of 2025 with sunrise at the Great Trinity Forest in Dallas, Texas. Videographer: Scot Miller.

2025: The year in photos

"Sunday Morning" looks back at some of the most memorable news images of the past year.

"Hail and farewell": A tribute to those we lost in 2025

"Sunday Morning" looks back at some of the newsworthy men and women who passed away this year – from musicians and storytellers, to activists and statesmen – who touched us with their creativity and humanity.

"Hail and Farewell": A tribute to those we lost in 2025

"Sunday Morning" correspondent Lee Cowan remembers some of the newsworthy men and women who passed away this year – musicians, artists and storytellers who surpassed the ordinary; politicians who defied expectations; and activists who fought for justice – all touching us with their creativity and humanity.

Luke Burbank on making realistic New Year's resolutions

Forget about hitting the gym, or signing up for a foreign language app. Luke Burbank resolves to do far better with his New Year's resolutions in 2026 by committing to goals he can actually keep … probably.

Luke Burbank on making realistic New Year's resolutions

Forget about hitting the gym, or signing up for a foreign language app. Luke Burbank resolves to do far better with his New Year's resolutions in 2026 by committing to goals he can actually keep … probably.

New York snow and baby gibbons: photos of the weekend

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

The history of the New Year's Eve ball drop

Since 1907, New Yorkers have marked the New Year with the ceremonial dropping of a huge ball in Times Square. Now, a brand-new ball, covered with more than 5,000 handcrafted Waterford Crystal discs, will help ring in 2026.

These United States: New Year's Eve ball drop

Since 1907, New Yorkers have marked the New Year with the ceremonial dropping of a huge ball in Times Square. Mo Rocca examines the new Constellation Ball, covered with more than 5,000 handcrafted Waterford Crystal discs, that will help ring in 2026.

Texas father rescues kidnapped 15-year-old daughter after tracking her phone’s location

Authorities say they arrested a man, 23, for kidnapping teen in a Houston suburb as she walked her dog on Christmas

A Texas father used the parental controls on his teenage daughter’s cell phone to find and help rescue her after she was kidnapped at knifepoint while walking her dog on Christmas, authorities allege.

The 15-year-old girl at the center of a case, which quickly gained national attention in the US over the weekend, was reportedly kidnapped in the Houston suburb of Porter. Her parents said she took her dog for a walk and had not returned by the time she was supposed to, according to a statement from the Montgomery county sheriff’s office.

Josh Seftel's mom on cannabis

Filmmaker Josh Seftel's mother, Pat, is having trouble sleeping. Could marijuana gummies be the answer?

US strikes on IS targets in Nigeria may only fan the flames of insurgent violence | Onyedikachi Madueke

The public is looking for relief from terrorism and violence. But Donald Trump’s words bolster narratives of foreign ‘crusader’ aggression

The response of Nigerians to the airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Sokoto state, north-western Nigeria are complicated. The rationale behind them has been widely opposed, but the strikes themselves have been welcomed.

The airstrikes were framed as a response to what have been described as genocidal attacks on Christians in the country. But the Nigerian authorities have consistently rejected this narrative, arguing that armed groups in the country do not discriminate based on religion, and that Christians and Muslims largely coexist peacefully. Ironically, it was Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in November that deepened Muslim-Christian tensions. Many northerners, who are predominantly Muslim, blamed southern Nigerians for championing a narrative that ultimately resulted in US sanctions and international stigma.

Onyedikachi Madueke is a security analyst at the University of Aberdeen