‘Those who eat Chilean salmon cannot imagine how much human blood it carries with it’

The country is the world’s second-largest producer of the popular fish, and the biggest supplier to the US, but its farms are beset by accusations of dangerous labour conditions, antibiotic overuse and ecological harm

Julia Cárcamo López’s house faces the sea, near enough to hear the gulls calling through the salt-encrusted windows. She lives in the small town of Maullín, on the edge of Chile’s Patagonia, an area where almost everyone works in the fishing industry.

Outside, it is drizzling and the sky is darkening as she recalls 1 May 2019, one of the worst days of her life. “Two men knocked on my door and told me they had bad news: my husband had had an accident while working at sea,” she says. Since then, she has discovered that the accident seems to have been caused by negligence.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a technical marvel and game design nightmare

After a decade of development, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a beautiful but befuddling game full of misguided design decisions and annoying sidekicks.

Apartment rents drop further, with vacancies at record high

A good supply of new multifamily units is coming online at a time of much weaker demand.

What to know about antitrust trial between NASCAR and Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin

NASCAR is being sued by two racing teams in federal court, one of which is co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan, alleging the premiere racing organization in the U.S. is violating antitrust laws. NASCAR says it has done nothing wrong. Adriana Diaz reports.

Pope Leo wraps up his visit to Lebanon with prayers at the site of Beirut's port blast

Pope Leo XIV ended his first overseas papal trip with prayers at Beirut's devastated port and a Mass attended by 150,000 worshippers in a country desperate for signs of hope amid fear of renewed war.

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

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

The slow death of Pokrovsk

An 18-month battle, now in its endgame, has left the strategically important Ukrainian city in ruins

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

For a time Pokrovsk was a haven, a wartime Ukrainian boom city because of its strategic position in the east, 30 miles (48km) from the front. But that was before the summer of 2024, when a rapid Russian advance engulfed the industrial centre in a shattering conflict, a duel only now reaching its endgame.

The 18-month battle for Pokrovsk epitomises the current state of the Ukraine war: an attritional struggle in which gradual Russian advances have been made at extraordinary human cost. Though it demonstrates Russia cannot easily capture urban areas, the fight has also drained Ukraine, and consequences are emerging elsewhere.

As regime change looms at the Fed, one candidate emerges as front-runner for chair

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

Quarter of police forces missing basic policies on sexual offences, says Sarah Everard report

Official report says forces in England and Wales yet to implement policies for investigation

A quarter of police forces in England and Wales are yet to implement “basic policies for investigating sexual offences”, an official report has found, with women still being failed despite promises of change after the murder of Sarah Everard four years ago.

The report by Dame Elish Angiolini follows an inquiry set up after Everard was murdered by a serving police officer, Wayne Couzens, in March 2021. She was abducted off a London street while walking home.

‘An unprecedented void’: Brussels goes record-breaking 542 days without a government

No sign of an end to rancour among 14 parties elected to the Belgian capital’s 89-seat parliament after 542 days

It is a city that prides itself on the art of political compromise. But recently that quality has been sorely lacking in Brussels, which has gone a record-breaking 542 days without a government.

The Brussels Capital Region, which governs the Belgian capital of 1.25 million people, has not had a government since elections in June 2024.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk defends H-1B visas, says tariffs distort markets

Tesla CEO raises concerns over Trump's tariff policy and says he does not support closing of the H-1B visa program.

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.

Revealed: Mexico’s industrial boomtown is making goods for the US. Residents say they’re ‘breathing poison’

Polluting facilities in Monterrey, which has close ties to the US, are pumping toxic heavy metals into the city’s air and threatening residents’ health

• Leer en español en Quinto Elemento Lab

An industrial boom in a US manufacturing hub in Mexico is contributing to a massive air pollution crisis that is threatening residents’ health, according to new research by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab.

The polluting facilities in Monterrey include factories that are operated by companies from around the world – including the US, Europe, Asia and Mexico – but export largely to the US.

It’s entirely reasonable to be in awe of surgeons – but patients need someone they can talk to | Ranjana Srivastava

Technical prowess must not come at the cost of good bedside manner – and being able to balance facts with empathy

Some time ago, a judicious and considered surgeon was describing the complex operation required by our mutual cancer patient. The operation necessitated a large incision, prolonged anaesthesia and possibly a second operation. Then there were the long-term complications, including pain and disfigurement. The patient was elderly and somewhat vulnerable to begin with, so just listening to the plan filled me with consternation.

So, without telling him how to do his job, I asked politely: “What does the patient want?”

Ranjana Srivastava is an Australian oncologist, award-winning author and Fulbright scholar. Her latest book is Every Word Matters: Writing to Engage the Public

St Lucia prime minister Philip Pierre keeps majority as ruling party wins

The Labour party holds at least 13 seats after a campaign centered on crime, the economy and passport sales

St Lucian prime minister Philip Pierre’s Labour party (SLP) has held its legislative majority, putting Pierre on course for reelection after a campaign centered on economic management, violent crime and passport sales.

Official election results on Tuesday showed the social democratic SLP winning at least 13 seats in the small Caribbean island’s 17-seat House of Assembly, matching its current majority with two seats left to be called. The results showed Pierre with 57.1% of the popular vote against conservative opposition leader Allen Chastanet’s 37.3%.

A fallen sculpture and a desert storm: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Reeves and Starmer are a two-for-one deal - if she goes, he goes. What a cheering thought | Marina Hyde

It’s week two of budget black-hole gate. When will it all end? Probably after the May elections

Good times for Britain when the chancellor is saved by the Office for Budget Responsibility being slightly more inept than her at a single convenient moment. Following the accidental early publication of the fiscal watchdog’s market-sensitive budget document, chair Richard Hughes has now fallen on his sword. Although it’s possible he meant to fall on his feet but just mistimed it. On Monday we discovered that the OBR’s website is not securely hosted but was built using WordPress. Oh man. That’s definitely budget, but is it responsible? It may as well just have had a Tumblr.

This series of unfortunate events meant the OBR bigwigs were a man down when they appeared before the Treasury select committee this morning, butching out the decision to go to war with Rachel Reeves by releasing their draft economic assessments in the weeks leading up to the budget. Did the chancellor seriously mislead the country about the state of the public finances? That is the £4.2bn question. Are our problems going to turn out to be a whole lot bigger than something that could be addressed with £4.2bn? The answer to that is regrettably too obvious too state.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Luigi Mangione's lawyers try to exclude his notebook, other evidence from trial

Luigi Mangione, who is charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, returns to a New York court on Tuesday. His defense team is asking the court to exclude some evidence from his trial, including Mangione's notebook, which prosecutors believe reveals a motive.

Plea deal for drug kingpin El Chapo’s son details abduction of cartel boss

Joaquín Guzmán López’s alleged kidnapping was to show cooperation with US leaders, attorney says

Armed men entered through a window to ambush Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the most elusive of the Sinaloa cartel’s leaders, who was then loaded onto a plane, drugged and spirited across the border to the United States, according to details revealed on Monday in the plea hearing of the drug trafficker who abducted him.

Joaquín Guzmán López, the 39-year-old son of former Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise in federal court in Chicago after admitting his role in overseeing the transport of tens of thousands of kilograms (pounds) of drugs to the US.

Florida charter school company run by GOP figure leaves parents frustrated: "They dropped the ball"

Taxpayer-funded charter schools are spreading in communities around the country, offering a curriculum with a Eurocentric focus that stresses traditional values. Our CBS News investigation found these taxpayer-funded schools operate with limited public oversight. Mark Strassmann spoke with a group of parents who feel betrayed after one Florida school failed to open.

12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct cases over Hillsborough, says watchdog

None of the former officers named by the IOPC will face disciplinary proceedings because they have all retired

• Hillsborough disaster report: latest updates

• Timeline: decades seeking justice and change

Twelve police officers would have faced disciplinary cases of gross misconduct for a catalogue of professional failings relating to the Hillsborough disaster if they were still serving, the police watchdog has said.

However, no former officer named by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) will face disciplinary proceedings because they have all retired. Some, including Peter Wright, the chief constable of South Yorkshire police at the time of the 1989 disaster, have died.

‘They’re a lot like us’: saving the tiny punk monkeys facing extinction

In the tropical dry forests of northern Colombia, a small team is gradually restoring the degraded habitat of the rare cotton-top tamarin

Luis Enrique Centena spent decades silencing the forest. Now, he listens. Making a whistle, the former logger points up to a flash of white and reddish fur in the canopy. Inquisitive eyes peer back – a cotton-top tamarin, one of the world’s rarest primates.

“I used to cut trees and never took the titís into account,” says Centena, calling the cotton-tops by their local name. “I ignored them. I didn’t know that they were in danger of extinction, I only knew I had to feed my family. But now we have become friends.”

New York City bill aims to ban toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in firefighting gear

Approval of legislation to ban Pfas would be major win for advocates pushing for safer gear alternatives across US

A new bill proposed in the New York city council would ban the use of toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” in protective gear worn by the city’s 11,000 firefighters.

The New York fire department is the nation’s largest firefighting force, and approval of the legislation would mark a major win for advocates who are pushing for safer “turnout gear” alternatives across the US. Massachusetts and Connecticut last year became the first states to ban the use of Pfas in turnout gear, and Illinois enacted a ban this year.

California shooting marks 20-year low in US mass killings – but the bigger picture is complex

Experts warn the drop doesn’t necessarily mean safer days are here to stay – and US deaths from firearms are still staggering

A shooting last weekend at a children’s birthday party in California that left four dead was the 17th mass killing in the US this year – the lowest number recorded since 2006, according to a database that tracks them.

The mass killings – defined as incidents in which four or more people are killed in a 24-hour period, not including the killer – are tracked in a database maintained by the Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

National Guard attack suspect's crisis. And, U.S. official sheds light on boat strike

A U.S. official disputes the White House account of the deadly Caribbean boat strike. And, a person familiar with the National Guard shooting suspect says he was suffering a personal crisis.

‘The biggest decision yet’: Jared Kaplan on allowing AI to train itself

Anthropic’s chief scientist says AI autonomy could spark a beneficial ‘intelligence explosion’ – or be the moment humans lose control

Humanity will have to decide by 2030 whether to take the “ultimate risk” of letting artificial intelligence systems train themselves to become more powerful, one of the world’s leading AI scientists has said.

Jared Kaplan, the chief scientist and co-owner of the $180bn (£135bn) US startup Anthropic, said a choice was looming about how much autonomy the systems should be given to evolve.

Death toll from Indonesia floods passes 700 as 1 million evacuated

About 3.2 million people on Sumatra island have been affected, 2,600 have been injured and 504 are missing

The number of people killed by floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island rose to 708 on Tuesday, the country’s disaster agency said, with 504 people missing.

The toll was a sharp increase from the 604 dead reported by the agency on Monday.

Nvidia-backed $4 billion AI startup announces major London expansion

U.S.-based Luma AI is targeting 200 hires in the U.K. by early 2027 as a wave of North American tech companies eye European growth.

Charlie Kirk tops Wikipedia’s list of most-read articles in 2025

Zohran Mamdani, Ozzy Osbourne and Sinners also feature in encyclopedia’s top 20 most-read English-language pages

Wikipedia’s article on Charlie Kirk was the most read on the online encyclopedia this year, as users sought out information on the conservative activist.

People viewed the entry on Kirk nearly 45m times, many after he was shot at a university campus debate on 10 September.

Charlie Kirk, 44.9m page views

Deaths in 2025, 42.5m

Ed Gein, 31.2m

Donald Trump, 25.1m

Pope Leo XIV, 22.1m

Elon Musk, 20.2m

Zohran Mamdani, 20.1m

Sinners (2025 film), 18.2m

Ozzy Osbourne, 17.8m

Superman (2025 film), 17m

Pope Francis, 15.3m

Severance (TV series), 13.9m

United States, 13m

Thunderbolts*, 12.9m

Weapons (2025 film), 11.8m

JD Vance, 11.6m

Adolescence (TV series), 11.6m

MrBeast, 11.5m

Cristiano Ronaldo, 10.8m

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, 10.8m

AI poses unprecedented threats. Congress must act now | Bernie Sanders

Despite the speed at which it is progressing, AI is getting far too little discussion in Congress, the media and within the general population. That has got to change

Artificial intelligence and robotics will transform the world. It will bring unimaginable changes to our economy, our politics, warfare, our emotional wellbeing, our environment, and how we educate and raise our children. Further, there is a very real fear that, in the not-so-distant future, a super-intelligent AI could replace humans in controlling the planet.

Despite the extraordinary importance of this issue and the speed at which it is progressing, AI is getting far too little discussion in Congress, the media and within the general population. That has got to change. Now.

David Squires on … making the World Cup great again

Our cartoonist on the people and themes that are fuelling the buildup to next summer’s tournament in North America

• Buy a Squires cartoon now in our Print Shop

• View key to cartoon here | Buy David’s latest book

Terminally ill Ajax fan will be only supporter allowed in to rearranged fixture

• Game against Groningen was abandoned on Sunday

• Fan will be permitted to watch behind-closed-doors game

A seriously ill Ajax fan will be the only supporter in attendance when the Eredivisie side complete their abandoned game against Groningen on Tuesday afternoon.

The fan, named Peter, is living in a hospice and had expressed the wish to attend an Ajax game for potentially the final time. They arranged for him to visit the fixture on Sunday but there was immense disappointment when it was curtailed within five minutes of kick-off owing to a huge pyrotechnic display by a section of the support.

David Lammy tells of ‘traumatic’ racial abuse in youth after Farage allegations

Deputy PM contrasts apologies from former classmates to Reform UK leader’s response to claims against him

David Lammy has spoken of his own “traumatic” experience of being racially abused at school as he called on Nigel Farage to apologise for comments he allegedly made while a teenager.

Lammy, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, said the testimony of more than 20 of the Reform leader’s school contemporaries of his racist and antisemitic behaviour was “deeply troubling”.

The Breakdown | Thirty years of Champions Cup has given us the beastly, beautiful and bizarre

Bloodgate, the ‘Hand of Back’ and a drop goal off ‘someone’s arse’ are among the tournament’s delightful eccentricities

On the eve of a new Champions Cup season it is worth remembering when and where it all began. The answer is 30 years ago on the shores of the Black Sea where Farul Constanta of Romania hosted France’s mighty Toulouse in the opening pool game of the old Heineken Cup on 31 October 1995.

Let’s just say they were different times. The match was played on a Tuesday and, while the crowd was recorded as 3,000, eyewitnesses were focused on the large number of security personnel with barking Alsatian dogs straining at the leash. Toulouse, boasting an array of internationals including Émile Ntamack and Thomas Castaignède, duly registered eight tries and won 54-10.

Spanish swine fever outbreak may be linked to food eaten by boar, say officials

Hundreds of police, rangers and military personnel deployed to tackle virus threatening pork export industry

Spanish authorities have deployed hundreds of police officers, wildlife rangers and military personnel in an effort to contain an outbreak of highly infectious African swine fever (ASF) outside Barcelona before it becomes a major threat to the country’s €8.8bn-a-year pork export industry.

Officials believe the virus, detected in the municipality of Bellaterra, may have begun to circulate after a wild boar ate contaminated food that had been brought in from outside Spain.

What the story of eight-year-old Lati-Yana Brown tells us about Britain’s callous disregard for Caribbean people | Nadine White

From enslavement to Windrush to Hurricane Melissa, there is a clear pattern to the way Britain has extracted wealth and fractured families

Britain’s long history with the Caribbean, from enslavement to the Windrush scandal, is marked by policies that have fractured families. The Home Office’s latest actions show little has changed. After the devastation of Hurricane Melissa, a tropical cyclone that made landfall across the Greater Antilles area in late October, eight-year-old Lati-Yana Stephanie Brown was left destitute in Jamaica. But after her UK-resident parents appealed for the Home Office to expedite her visa application, officials rejected it and Lati-Yana has been left to sleep on the floor of her elderly grandmother’s destroyed home.

But the rejection rested on factual errors, according to Lati-Yana’s mother, Kerrian Bigby. Dawn Butler, her MP, shared a letter with me raising concerns about “misrepresentations” in the decision notice, including the claim that Bigby does not have full parental responsibility for the child, which she says is false.

Nadine White is a journalist, film-maker and the UK’s first race correspondent

Robin Smith, former England cricketer, dies aged 62

• Batter made more than 4,000 runs for England

• Smith spent more than 20 years at Hampshire

The former England cricketer Robin Smith has died at the age of 62, with his family and former county Hampshire saying they were devastated by his loss.

Smith played 62 Tests and 71 one-day internationals for England between 1988 and 1996 and was a resolute middle-order bulwark for the side during often difficult times for the team. He particularly excelled against pace, making his highest Test score of 175 against the fearsome West Indies attack at Antigua in 1994.

The best history and politics books of 2025

The revolutionary spirit in politics and architecture; histories of free speech and civil war; plus how the Tories fell apart and Starmer won

We live in a hyper-political yet curiously unrevolutionary age, one of hashtags rather than barricades. Perhaps that’s why so many writers this year have looked wistfully back to a time when strongly held convictions still made waves in the real world.

In The Revolutionists (Bodley Head), Jason Burke revisits the 1970s, when it seemed the future of the Middle East might end up red instead of green – communist rather than Islamist. It’s a geopolitical period piece: louche men with corduroy jackets and sideburns, women with theories and submachine guns. Many were in it less for the Marxism than for the sheer mayhem. Reading about the hijackings and kidnappings they orchestrated makes today’s orange-paint protests seem quaint by comparison.

Why did I ever buy my kids refillable advent calendars? | Zoe Williams

Twenty-four tiny drawers of fun stuff sounds delightful – but not when you’re the one filling the thing

Maybe 10 years ago, I bought permanent Advent calendars for the kids: Scandi-looking Christmas houses with 24 tiny drawers, from Sainsbury’s. I think my original plan was that some of the draws could contain something other than chocolate, not because I’m the kind of almond mum who won’t let anyone eat sweets before breakfast, but because their dad and I are separated and have them half the time each, so it wasn’t unusual for them to wake up and have six Lindt chocolate balls to chomp through before they’d opened their curtains.

The tiny drawers are a curse. Some years I could only find stuff for one of the kids (erasers in the shape of hedgehogs; lip balm); other years, a different one was in luck (Lego Yodas; magnets). It was never, ever fair. One year, I found tons of different batteries for the drawers, and I thought it was the most genius thing I’d ever done, but they said: “How is this a fun gift? If we needed a battery, we’d just go to the kitchen drawer, which is supposed to have batteries in it.” I realised in about 2019 that I’d just have to start planning earlier, around July, if I wanted to strike the perfect balance of parity, festivity and usefulness, and that was a good year, actually. I found some tiny business cards with swear words on them that they could just leave around the house, and ear-splitting whistles and unisex lip balm. We have enough erasers and pencil sharpeners now to last until nobody ever makes a mistake because the written word is just a memory.

The White House’s new media ‘bias’ tracker is a desperate gimmick | Margaret Sullivan

The site isn’t exposing misleading reporting – it’s revealing the bubble Trump increasingly inhabits

Donald Trump has used the mainstream press as a punching bag for many years, but in recent weeks his jabs have become even more frequent – and more ill-tempered.

He threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn last month over the editing of a documentary that aired more than a year ago. He called one White House reporter “piggy”, and told another – the well-regarded Mary Bruce of ABC News – that she was a “terrible person and a terrible reporter”. He called a New York Times reporter “ugly, both inside and out”.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

‘We’re not going anywhere’: how unionization ‘whirlwind’ set stage for historic Starbucks strike

Four years after workers at a Starbucks store in upstate New York became the first to unionize, hundreds of outlets followed – defying intense resistance from the coffee chain. What happened next?

Thousands of Starbucks baristas are on strike across the US, warning the world’s largest coffee chain to brace for the “longest and biggest” bout of industrial action in its history.

Barely a year after Brian Niccol, the Starbucks CEO, tried to draw a line under bitter divisions between its management and unionized workers, pledging to “engage constructively” with them, the American coffee giant is now grappling with an escalating strike during its lucrative holiday trading season.

A short social media detox improves mental health, a study shows. Here's how to do it

Young adults who took just a one-week break from social media showed improvement in depression, anxiety and insomnia symptoms, a new study says. Plus, tips for how to take a break from your feed.

Life Invisible: the fight against superbugs starts in the driest place on Earth – documentary

Cristina Dorador is on an urgent mission in the world’s highest desert, the Atacama in Chile. As the rise of drug-resistant superbugs kills millions per year, Cristina has made it her mission to uncover new, life-saving antibiotics in the stunning salt flats she has studied since she was 14. Against the magnificent backdrop of endless plains, microscopic discoveries lead her team of scientists to question how critically lithium mining is damaging the delicate ecosystem and impacting Indigenous communities

The 100 best female footballers in the world 2025 – Nos 100-41

Olivia Smith, Aggie Beever-Jones and Vicky López make our list for the first time as we continue our countdown to the year’s best players

• Meet the judges | 2024 list | 2023 list | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Subscribe to Moving the Goalposts, our free newsletter

‘We make a great living’: Emma Raducanu on why she won’t moan about the tennis calendar

British No 1 on home comforts of Bromley, joys of commuting and being ‘creeped out’ by paparazzi

Emma Raducanu has garnered many endorsement deals in her nascent career, but there is perhaps one elusive sponsorship that would be most pleasing to the British No 1 women’s tennis player: ambassador of the London Borough of Bromley.

During a roundtable discussion with tennis journalists at the end of a gruelling yet satisfying season, Raducanu is merely attempting to describe a quiet off-season spent in her family home when she finds herself delivering a sales pitch about the benefits of living in Bromley. “I’m just so settled,” she says. “I’ve barely been in the UK this year because I’ve been competing so much, but I think just spending really good quality time with my parents has been so nice. I have loved just being in Bromley. It just reminds me of when I was a younger kid and it’s the same bedroom, same everything.

Naima Green’s striking portraits of pregnancy – in pictures

Artist Naima Green has explored the concept and expectations of motherhood in a solo exhibition called Instead, I spin fantasies which is currently on show at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York City. The photos, which are a mix of real and semi-fictional, feature Green herself with a prosthetic pregnant belly and others in her life and community. ‘I’m trying to explore a very expansive picture across different geographies, different classes, different ideas of family, just as a way of seeing, understanding or creating different possibilities for family-making,’ she said in a recent interview

The rise of deepfake pornography in schools: ‘One girl was so horrified she vomited’

The use of ‘nudify’ apps is becoming more and more prevalent, with hundreds of teachers having seen images created by pupils, often of their peers. The fallout is huge – and growing fast

‘It worries me that it’s so normalised. He obviously wasn’t hiding it. He didn’t feel this was something he shouldn’t be doing. It was in the open and people saw it. That’s what was quite shocking.”

A headteacher is describing how a teenage boy, sitting on a bus on his way home from school, casually pulled out his phone, selected a picture from social media of a girl at a neighbouring school and used a “nudifying” app to doctor her image.

Houseplant hacks: how can I stop my plants dying when I turn on the central heating?

Ease your houseplants into winter by giving them a seasonal reset and moving them away from radiators

The problem
As soon as the heating is switched on, houseplants start to struggle. Warm, dry air strips moisture from leaves, dries soil faster, and turns cosy corners into arid microclimates. Many people mistakenly think radiator heat is similar to sunlight – warm and life-giving – but it isn’t. Sunlight provides energy for photosynthesis, while radiator heat is dry, stagnant and relentless, closer to a slow cooker than sunshine.

The hack
Before turning on the heating, give your plants a seasonal reset. Move them away from radiators or vents (at least half a metre, ideally). Group plants together to create a pocket of humidity, or place a bowl of water nearby to counteract dryness. Top-dress tired soil with fresh compost, trim off any yellowing leaves and wipe dust from the foliage so the plants can breathe. Water lightly, then let them rest in bright, indirect light to adjust before winter sets in.

From Gears of War to Uno: the 15 most important Xbox 360 games

As the Xbox 360 turns 20, we celebrate its most influential and memorable games – both exclusives, and those that came to the console first

Originally featured as a minigame in Project Gotham, this 80s-style twin-stick shooter was rebuilt as a standalone digital-only release, attracting a huge new fanbase. Fast, frenetic and super stylish, with lovely vector visuals, it was the game that first showed the potential of Xbox Live Arcade.

Radar revelation stokes fears Caribbean could be drawn into US-Venezuela crisis

Trinidad PM rejects claims installation is in support of US campaign but opposition says ‘they have sold soul of nation’

• How the US pressure campaign against Venezuela unfolded in the Caribbean

The revelation that Trinidad and Tobago has approved the installation of a US military radar installation has stoked fears that the Caribbean could be drawn into the escalating crisis between the US and Venezuela.

Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, had attempted to allay concerns about a US C-17 aircraft that had landed in the country, claiming it was carrying marines to assist with a road construction project. She also claimed she was told that no marines remained in the country.

Fox News faces critical test in 2nd case over false 2020 election claims

The allegations in the multibillion-dollar case sound familiar: A voting-tech company accuses Fox News of defamation for false claims it broadcast about rigged votes in the 2020 presidential election.

This company charges disabled vets millions, even after VA said it's likely illegal

A Florida-based company is charging military veterans as much as $20,000 for help with disability claims, even though the VA has said that may be illegal and the service should be free. But so far nobody's stopping the company and others like it.

Tell us your favourite albums of 2025

We would like to hear about the best album you have heard this year and why

There have been bold British rap breakthroughs from Jim Legxacy and John Glacier, highly personal grief-stricken albums by Blood Orange, Jerskin Fendrix, Jennifer Walton and the Tubs; breakup albums for the ages by Rosalía, Lily Allen and Cate Le Bon; proof there’s life in Britpop yet from Pulp and Suede; emphatic arrivals on pop’s main stage from CMAT and Olivia Dean.

As the Guardian prepares to count down the best albums of 2025, we’d like to know what your top records were, and why: the returns to form, bolts from the blue, slow-burners and surprises. Let us know and we’ll run the best submissions after the Guardian’s No 1 is unveiled later in December.

Folktales review – taking on tyranny of social media as teens learn to live like hunter-gatherers

In this documentary, high schoolers camp out in subzero temperatures, making their own fires and driving sledges in the wild

The Pasvik Folk high school in remote northern Norway teaches teenagers to grow as young adults and escape the pressures of toxic social media by challenging them to get back in touch with their “stone age brain” and live like hunter-gatherers in the snowy wild. This is the subject of a documentary from Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. Over winter months of almost continuous darkness, the teens cleanse themselves with tasks such as camping out in subzero weather, making their own fires and driving sledges with huskies.

Prior to all this of course is presumably a solemn promise to do without their phones, tablets and laptops, although there are no scenes of the kids actually having to surrender these gadgets (this isn’t rehab, after all). They have to swim in icy water; and they make it look like fun. What doesn’t look like fun is the camping out and there is one tense moment when a whingeing student is told that he cannot avail himself of his teachers’ fire and will have to build his own. As for the hunting part, well, yes, they do hunt, though the moment of the kill isn’t shown on screen.

Hong Kong responds to disaster differently from Beijing – but the gulf is narrowing

Independent inquiry into fire and media questions to leader would not happen in mainland China, but crackdown on dissent has begun

As Hong Kong mourns the victims of its worst fire in decades, the response to the disaster reveals the ways in which the semi-autonomous city retains differences from mainland China – and how some of those differences are being eroded.

Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, announced on Tuesday the creation of an “independent committee” to investigate the blaze, which killed 151 people at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Hong Kong’s New Territories.

‘I can’t hear Mariah Carey for the 1,000th time!’ Professional Santas on their most loved – and hated – Christmas hits

A flock of Father Christmases share the seasonal songs that capture the magic, merriment and occasional heartbreak that comes with donning the red suit

My father was a Santa and my wife got me into doing it. It’s the best thing I ever did. I do schools, universities, supermarkets, Christmas lights switch-ons … As soon as Santa comes along, everybody melts. One little girl brought her guinea pig, who leapt off her hand and dived straight into my Santa beard. The parents were in stitches while we tried to get him out. My favourite Christmas songs are Eartha Kitt’s sultry version of Santa Baby, because it gets all the adults in the mood to get up and have a boogie with Santa, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, because the lyrics are so pure. No Christmas songs drive me mad. It’s Christmas: they’re all great. Paul Fessi

‘I kept smelling a horrible nasty smell’: the risks of England’s old dumping grounds

For some, the smell brings on nausea and headaches. Others fear ‘forever chemicals’ seeping into the water

• UK and Europe’s hidden landfills at risk of leaking toxic waste into water supplies

“I just kept smelling this horrible, nasty smell … like animal excrement, and I was wondering what it was,” says Jess Brown, from Fleetwood, Lancashire.

Brown’s mother suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and she believes the smells make it worse. She also worries for her eight-year-old daughter, whose asthma worsens when the odour seeps indoors.

The fading of Japan’s Shōwa era – in pictures

Lee Chapman’s photographs document the scenes, signages and family businesses of the postwar Shōwa era Japan. They focus on a unique aspect of Japanese life, and one that in Tokyo in particular is rapidly disappearing: the buildings are long past their natural lifespans, and their occupants are reaching the end of theirs. With most of the country’s new buildings resembling those seen in many other cities around the world, the Shōwa era is now being recognised as visually appealing as well as an important period

‘Your column was very unfair’: what happened when I met World Athletics | Sean Ingle

John Ridgeon believes I was downbeat about state of his sport. CEO may have a point … so we thrashed out our differences

It really is quite the scene. Midnight in Tokyo, Usain Bolt is DJing and the launch party for the World Athletics Ultimate Championships is in full swing. And then the World Athletics chief executive, Jon Ridgeon, walks up to me and says: “I read your recent Guardian column, and I thought it was very unfair.”

Imagine Gary Lineker going in two-footed, having never picked up a yellow card in his career. This is the track and field equivalent. Ridgeon, a former world silver medallist over the 110m hurdles, is one of the smartest and most reasonable people in sport. He is saying, in a polite way, that he is really rather annoyed.

Son of 'El Chapo' pleads guilty and details the abduction of a legendary Sinaloa boss

Joaquín Guzmán López, the 39-year-old son of former Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise in U.S. court.

U.S. air travelers without REAL IDs will be charged a $45 fee

The TSA has announced that U.S. air travelers without a REAL ID will face a $45 fee starting in February. The Department of Homeland Security says 94% of passengers are already compliant.

‘The Chinese will not pause’: Volvo and Polestar bosses urge EU to stick to 2035 petrol car ban

Exclusive: Swedish carmakers push to retain target as Germany lobbies to help its own industry by softening cutoff date

As the battle lines harden amid Germany’s intensifying pressure on the European Commission to scrap the 2035 ban on production of new petrol and diesel cars, two Swedish car companies, Volvo and Polestar, are leading the campaign to persuade Brussels to stick to the date.

They argue such a move is a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks in the German car industry, adding that it will not just prolong take up of electric vehicles but inadvertently hand the advantage to China.

Christmas main course made easy: Max Rocha’s braised turkey legs with colcannon – recipes

Roast turkey breast is often dry and overcooked, so why not give everyone a leg instead and serve it with a traditional Irish potato-and-cabbage side?

We often braise chicken and rabbit legs at Cafe Cecilia, because all the preparation and cooking can be done ahead of time, and it’s then just about heating them gently to serve. For Christmas, I often employ much the same process for turkey legs – it’s a lovely way to eat them. Serve with colcannon, although basmati rice, boiled new potatoes or roast carrots would also go great.

UK terror watchdog warns national security plan ignores escalating online threats

Independent reviewer says need to protect against online threats is now as important as need for robust armed forces

The UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism laws has criticised the government’s latest national security strategy for failing to take online threats more seriously, despite Keir Starmer claiming it would result in “a hardening and sharpening of our approach” in the face of Russian menace.

Jonathan Hall KC said it was “a very surprising omission” that the 2025 national security strategy did not focus more on online risks, including from terrorists and hostile states, which he said were now a “major vector of threat”.

Investigation into woman's murder exposes an elaborate stalking plot

Kristil Krug told police in Broomfield, Colorado, that she and her husband, Dan Krug, were receiving threatening texts and emails from an ex-boyfriend. Two months later she was dead, but her alleged stalker had an alibi.

Shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments

Conch-shell trumpets discovered in Neolithic settlements and mines in Catalonia make tone similar to french horn, says lead researcher

As a child, Miquel López García was fascinated by the conch shell, kept in the bathroom, that his father’s family in the southern Spanish region of Almería had blown to warn their fellow villagers of rising rivers and approaching flood waters.

The hours he spent getting that “characteristically potent sound out of it” paid off last year when the archaeologist, musicologist and professional trumpet player pressed his lips to eight conch-shell trumpets. Their tones, he says, could carry insights into the lives of the people who lived in north-east Spain 6,000 years ago.

Saunas, skating and celebratory toilet seats: 25 ways to get into the Christmas spirit

Are you feeling festive? If not, here are some great and unexpected shortcuts, from fish pie to ‘intermittent wrapping’ to watching a seasonal film every day of December

If I haven’t wrapped up warm and wobbled around in circles, it isn’t Christmas. I can measure out my life in London’s ice rinks. Broadgate Circus in the early 00s, because it was cheapest and I was skint. Several seasons of Skate at Somerset House with my ex, because it was our “romantic” Christmas tradition (actually, he hated skating). This year, I’ll be mixing old and new: Hampton Court Palace, where people have been skating since the 1800s, and the inaugural Skate Leicester Square. As long as there’s a mug of something mulled afterwards, I’m happy. Rachel Dixon, travel writer

Years ago, a regrettable ex-boyfriend bought me a merman Christmas tree ornament so bizarre that it short-circuited my brain, unleashing something primal within me. Ever since, I have scoured department stores, gift shops and the darkest reaches of the internet for more mermaid baubles, like some kind of gay Gollum. I now have more than a hundred, including a flautist mermaid, several Santa Claus mermen and (my favourite) a merperson who is somehow also a pig and a ballerina. Unboxing my treasures at the start of December is both the first gladdening sign that Christmas is upon us and – arguably – a cry for help. Joe Stone, lifestyle editor, Guardian Saturday magazine

How Kenya’s jailhouse lawyer turned a life sentence into a legal career behind bars

After being imprisoned for murdering her partner, Ruth Kamande studied the legal system to understand her own case. Now she is fighting to reform Kenya’s laws

It is a cool, overcast morning in Nairobi, and Ruth Kamande is in front of a computer, deep in concentration. Next to her is a thick red hardback book entitled Laws of Kenya. Kamande, 30, a diminutive figure in a stripy black and white tunic dress, graduated with a University of London LLB law degree in 2024, and works with incarcerated women. Her office, a small light and airy room that she shares with about 10 others, is in Lang’ata maximum security women’s prison where she is serving a life sentence for murder.

“I used to admire lawyers very much,” she says. “It impressed me when I saw them in movies fighting big cases, but also for people in society who are marginalised. I didn’t know that one day, in very difficult and unusual circumstances, I would become one.”

Kamande, a prisoner at Lang’ata maximum-security women’s prison in Kenya, has successfully helped other incarcerated women win cases

11/24: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sens. Rand Paul and Tammy Duckworth discuss President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks after a busy week on Capitol Hill. Plus, Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, joins.

Man charged with theft after allegedly swallowing Fabergé pendant in jewellery store

New Zealand police allege 32-year-old ingested the 18-karat gold egg – a James Bond Octopussy locket – and say the object has ‘not yet been recovered’

A New Zealand man has been charged with theft after allegedly swallowing a Fabergé James Bond Octopussy egg pendant worth more than $33,500 (US$19,200).

Police were called to a central Auckland jewellery store, Partridge Jewellers, on Friday afternoon after staff reported a man had allegedly picked up the pendant and swallowed it, said Grae Anderson, the city’s central area commander.

Japan PM’s pledge to ‘work, work, work, work, and work’ wins catchphrase of year

Sanae Takaichi’s not-so-catchy remarks about everyone working like a horse did not go down well in a country notorious for its demanding work culture

It is not, perhaps, a word many people in Japan will want to hear as they prepare for the bonenkai office party season and some well-earned time off over the new year.

But the promise made by Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, that she would “work, work, work, work, and work” on behalf of her country has clearly struck a chord.

Win in Abu Dhabi and hope for carnage: how Oscar Piastri can still win the F1 world title

Even a second place finish could be enough for the McLaren driver to become the first Australian world champion in 45 years – though he’ll need some luck along the way

If Oscar Piastri is going to break through for Australia’s first Formula One driver title in 45 years, it’s going to be the hard way.

The McLaren driver enters this weekend’s final round in Abu Dhabi trailing teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s four-time reigning champion Max Verstappen in the standings.

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.

Sasha DiGiulian becomes first woman to free-climb El Capitan's longest route

Sasha DiGiulian free-climbed the roughly 3,000-foot sheer granite wall in Yosemite National Park over the course of 23 days.

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.

Age of the ‘scam state’: how an illicit, multibillion-dollar industry has taken root in south-east Asia

Like the narco-state, a ‘scam state’ refers to countries where an illicit industry has dug its tentacles deep into institutions and transformed the economy

For days before the explosions began, the business park had been emptying out. When the bombs went off, they took down empty office blocks and demolished echoing, multi-cuisine food halls. Dynamite toppled a four-storey hospital, silent karaoke complexes, deserted gyms and dorm rooms.

So came the end of KK Park, one of south-east Asia’s most infamous “scam centres”, press releases from Myanmar’s junta declared. The facility had held tens of thousands of people, forced to relentlessly defraud people around the world. Now, it was being levelled piece by piece.

Broncos' Alex Singleton returns to field less than a month after cancer surgery

The Denver Broncos defeated the Washington Commanders in overtime on Sunday night. It was a double victory for Denver, whose leading tackler made a comeback from a health battle. Tom Hanson has the story.

Coffee tariffs lifted, but some Portland cafés still waiting for relief

Relief will take time, because coffee roasters and cafés typically order beans months in advance.

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

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

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.

New details about National Guard shooting suspect's mental health

CBS News has learned new details about the suspect accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, D.C. As Nicole Sganga reports, Rahmanullah Lakanwal's former immigration case worker said that his mental condition deteriorated in recent years.

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.

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.

‘Was it a woman who bit off his ear?’: the wild life and serene photography of Tom Sandberg

Norway’s most celebrated photographer made his name with calm, reflective images that sit at odds with his reckless life. Friends and family remember a paradoxical man

Norway has never looked as wet as in the photographs of the late Tom Sandberg. There are shots of drizzle and puddles, of asphalt slick with mizzle. A ripple of water appears to have a hole in it, a figure looms behind a rain-dappled window, a gutter glows after a downpour.

Shot in either bold chiaroscuro or gentle orchestrations of greys, these are pictures with the power to make the everyday seem dreamlike. But they are also uplifting, in a confusing kind of way, like being told to dress for sun even when the clouds are black.

People living along polluted Thames file legal complaint to force water firm to act

Residents claim raw sewage and poorly treated effluent as result of Thames Water’s failings are threat to health

Communities across south-east England are filing the first coordinated legal complaints that sewage pollution by Thames Water negatively affects their lives.

Thames Water failed to complete upgrades to 98 treatment plants and pumping stations which have the worst records for sewage pollution into the environment, despite a promise to invest in them over the last five years.

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."

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. Nearly half 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.