‘Extremely dangerous precedent’ set by Trump’s attack on Venezuela, six countries warn – live

Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay say US actions ‘constitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security’

• Top Republicans backpedal from Trump claim that US will run Venezuela

Keir Starmer also told the BBC that he thinks we are living in a more “volatile” world than we have been for “many, many years” and said global affairs have much more of a “direct impact” on the UK than they have in a long time, citing the effects of military conflicts and the climate crisis.

Asked if Donald Trump is worsening global turmoil, Starmer dodges the question and speaks about the so-called special relationship between the UK and the US.

The relationship between the US and the UK is one of the closest relationships in the world. It is vitally important for our defence, for our security, for our intelligence.

It is my responsibility to make sure that relationship works as the prime minister of this country, working with the president of the United States. Not only have I stepped up to that responsibility, I have made it my business and I do get on with President Trump.

Australia v England: fifth Ashes Test, day two – live

Over-by-over updates from Sydney Cricket Ground
Live scorecard | The Ashes top 100 | Email Tanya

47th over: England 223-3 ( Root 78, Brook 83) Here comes England’s spectre. Brook pulls his first ball, splendidly stopped on the rope by Webster. Pancakes his fifth in a not altogether convincing way, but gets away with it.

46th over: England 217-3 ( Root 77, Brook 79) With Brian Draper’s Jerusalem being sung by men in white T-shirts with a printed MCC tie, Root nicks his first ball from Scott Boland for four.

High tides and heavy rain flood parts of California’s Bay Area

King tides cause highest floodwaters in decades for area, while people are rescued from trapped cars and roads close

High tides and heavy rains have flooded parts of the Bay Area, prompting road closures and rescues of people trapped in cars.

Five northern counties remained under a flood watch, with up to 3in (7.6cm) of rain possible through Monday night in areas that have been drenched off and on since around Christmas, said the National Weather Service office in Eureka. At least a foot (0.3 meters) of snow was likely in the mountains.

Miami mayor calls for Trump to 'immediately' reinstate TPS for Venezuelans

Higgins said the Trump administration ending TPS for Venezuelans in early 2025 was "reckless, dangerous, and wrong."

Evangeline Lilly reveals she has brain damage after hitting her head in fall

Marvel, Lost and Hobbit actor says ‘almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity’ after she fainted and fell face-first into a boulder

Evangeline Lilly has revealed she has brain damage, months after she suffered a concussion when she fainted and fell face-first into a boulder.

The 46-year-old Canadian actor, known for her roles in Lost, The Hobbit films and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shared the “bad news” video on her Instagram, one of many updates she has shared since she suffered the traumatic brain injury (TBI) in May, when she fainted on a beach and hit her head on a rock.

Maduro and his wife to appear in federal court on Monday, court spokesperson says

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured overnight from their home in Caracas during a U.S. military operation.

Nicolás Maduro will appear in U.S. federal court on Monday

The Venezuelan president, who was captured by U.S. forces early Saturday, is awaiting trial in New York City on federal criminal charges.

Amorim’s Manchester United future in balance amid Wilcox transfer tension

• Coach believed club would back him in January window

• Amorim had cast doubt on long-term future at United

Ruben Amorim’s future at Manchester United is in the balance, with the head coach’s strained relationship with the director of football, Jason Wilcox, a factor in what is viewed as an unpredictable situation at the club.

Amorim believed United were prepared to back him in the January transfer window should a major signing become available but at the moment this has changed, causing him discontent. The 40-year-old is believed to have been informed of this on the authority of Wilcox, who reports to Omar Berrada, the chief executive.

Denmark tells Trump to stop threatening to seize Greenland

President Donald Trump has sought to acquire Greenland since his first term.

UK’s plans to seize asylum seekers’ phones condemned by campaigners

People who are sent to Manston processing centre will be eligible for searches for electronic devices from Monday

Home Office plans to immediately begin seizing asylum seekers’ mobile phones and sim cards without the need for an arrest have been condemned by a solicitor and anti-torture campaigners.

People who arrive by small boat and are sent to Manston processing centre in Kent will from Monday be eligible for searches for electronic devices, a minister has said, with technology on site to download data.

Few in Caracas are celebrating as they face an uncertain post-Maduro future

Stockpiling not partying is the priority for Venezuelans who say they fear crackdowns by the regime the US left in place

There was a whirlwind of emotions on the streets of Caracas on Sunday, 24 hours after the first-ever large-scale US attack on South American soil and the extraordinary snaring of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

“Uncertainty,” said Griselda Guzmán, a 68-year-old pensioner, fighting back tears as she lined up outside a grocery store with her husband to stock up on supplies in case the coming days brought yet more drama.

US ‘has no right’ to take over Greenland, Danish PM says after renewed Trump threats

Mette Frederiksen responds to president amid febrile atmosphere after US actions in Venezuela

• Venezuela crisis – latest updates

Denmark’s prime minister has urged Donald Trump to stop threatening to take over Greenland after the president said the US “absolutely” needs the territory.

Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday: “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland. The US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish kingdom.”

Brahim Díaz fires winner as Afcon hosts Morocco survive scare against Tanzania

• Last 16: Morocco 1-0 Tanzania (Brahim 64)

• Cameroon await in last eight after beating South Africa

Brahim Díaz scored his fourth goal for Morocco at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to put the hosts into the quarter-finals with a nervous 1-0 victory over Tanzania in Rabat.

Morocco dominated possession but Tanzania had opportunities to cause a huge shock, and it took a fine strike from Brahim to book a place in the last eight.

Rubio says there's 'not a war against Venezuela' despite U.S. capture of Maduro

Top Democrat calls operation 'a violation of the law' and promises Senate vote on President Trump's war powers.

Denmark's prime minister says 'stop the threats' of U.S. annexing Greenland

The wife of Trump's deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted a photo implying a U.S. takeover of Greenland, hours after the U.S. attacks on Venezuela.

Liam Rosenior arrives in London to discuss taking over as Chelsea manager

• Strasbourg manager, 41, to have talks on Monday

• He could be in place before Wednesday’s game at Fulham

Chelsea are closing in on the appointment of Liam Rosenior after the Strasbourg manager flew to London to hold talks over the role.

The 41-year-old is due to meet with the west London club on Monday and it is expected that discussions will end with him agreeing to replace Enzo Maresca, who left Stamford Bridge in acrimonious circumstances earlier this.

NFL roundup: Falcons’ win over Saints throws NFC South title to Panthers

• Panthers win NFC South after Falcons beat Saints 19–17

• Jags rout Titans to clinch AFC South, extend hot streak

• Garrett gets sack No 23 to set NFL single-season record

• Giants beat Cowboys as Vikings finish season on a high

Dee Alford’s red-zone interception stopped a potential go-ahead drive by New Orleans, and the Atlanta Falcons beat the Saints 19-17 on Sunday to give the NFC South title to the Carolina Panthers.

By closing the season with four consecutive wins, the Falcons (8-9) finished in a three-way tie with Carolina and Tampa Bay for first place in the NFC South. The Panthers won the tiebreaker with the best record within the division.

Rubio explains how U.S. might 'run' Venezuela after Maduros' ouster

President Donald Trump on Saturday said the U.S. will "run" Venezuela until a new leader is determined.

Protests erupt in US cities over Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela

Hundreds came out to protest in large cities coast to coast, even as many in the diaspora celebrated ousting of Maduro

• Top Republicans backpedal from Trump claim that US will run Venezuela

Protests bubbled up in several US cities over the weekend as people demonstrated against the Trump administration’s unilateral military intervention in Venezuela – even as many in the diaspora publicly celebrated the forced removal of president Nicolás Maduro.

Gatherings took place as crowds expressed opposition to a potential war with Venezuela and to declare illegal the US operation to snatch Maduro early on Saturday and bring him to the US to face drug-trafficking charges in court.

Donald Trump warns of ‘big price to pay’ if Caracas fails to toe line

Washington keeping 15,000-strong military presence in Caribbean in case interim president hinders US objectives

• US politics live

The prospect of the United States seizing direct control of Venezuela appeared to recede on Sunday after the shocking seizure of President Nicolás Maduro – but US officials said Washington was keeping a 15,000-strong force in the Caribbean and might make a fresh military intervention if Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, did not accommodate their demands.

While Rodríguez kept up a defiant tone in public, the substance of conversations she had had in private with US officials was not clear.

Last 16 victims of Crans-Montana fire identified, police say

Hundreds of people join silent procession in Swiss town, with youngest known victim just 14-years-old

• Visual guide: what happened in Crans-Montana?

Investigators have identified the last 16 people who died in the New Year’s Eve bar fire at the Swiss mountain resort of Crans-Montana, police said on Sunday.

Officers in Valais canton said they had managed to identify the last of the 40 bodies from the blaze, one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history, with forensic work particularly slow-going due to the horrific burns sustained by most of the victims.

Trump admin pressed on pardon for ex-Honduras president after Venezuela’s Maduro snatched

The U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday and charged him with drug-related crimes.

Marco Rubio says "the president always retains optionality" to occupy Venezuela

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump always has options when it comes to what comes next in Venezuela, after a U.S. strike and capture of the country's president, Nicolás Maduro.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Jan. 4, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Chris Van Hollen join Margaret Brennan.

Anne Frank stepsister and Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss dies aged 96

King Charles leads tributes to Holocaust education campaigner, who he met in 2022, saying he and Camilla ‘admired her deeply’

King Charles has paid tribute to Anne Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss, who has died at the age of 96.

The king, who danced with Schloss while visiting a Jewish community centre in north London in 2022, said he and Queen Camilla had “admired her deeply” and he was “privileged and proud” to have known her.

Rep. Jim Himes says Maduro capture is "clearly illegal under international law"

Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, pointed to the broader implications of the operation to remove former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Man who died after being pulled from sea was trying to rescue a mother and daughter

Mark Ratcliffe, 67, had been trying to save Sarah Keeling, 45, and her daughter Grace, 15, who remains missing, police say

A man who died trying to save two people from the sea in East Yorkshire on Friday was attempting to rescue a mother and her teenage daughter, Humberside police have said.

The body of Sarah Keeling, 45, was recovered from Withernsea on Friday, while Grace Keeling, 15, remains missing after being washed away.

Months in planning, over in two and a half hours: how the US snatched Maduro

The operation to capture the Venezuelan president and his wife involved at least 150 aircraft, months of surveillance – and reportedly a spy in the government

It took the US two hours and 28 minutes to snatch President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the small hours of Saturday morning, an extraordinary display of imperial power that plunges 30 million Venezuelans into a profound uncertainty. But it was also months in the planning.

Critical to Operation Absolute Resolve was the work of the CIA and other US intelligence agencies. From as early as August, their goal was to establish Maduro’s “pattern of life”, or as Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, described it, to “understand how he moved, where he lived, where he travelled, what he ate, what he wore, what were his pets”.

The Guardian view on the US seizure of Maduro: Trump has turned the world’s superpower into a rogue state | Editorial

The illegal abduction of Venezuela’s president, and threat to ‘run’ his country, is a dangerous act. Its repercussions will be felt far beyond the region

Amid the immense confusion surrounding the US strikes on Venezuela, the seizure of the president, Nicolás Maduro, and Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will “run” the country and “take back the oil”, one thing is clear – they set a truly chilling precedent. The US has a grim history of interference, invasion and occupation in the region, but the early hours of Saturday saw its first major military attack on South American land. “American dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again,” Mr Trump declared. The decision to unilaterally attack another country and abduct its leader – days after he publicly sought an off-ramp – has still wider repercussions. It should alarm us all.

Venezuelans have endured a repressive, kleptocratic and incompetent regime under Mr Maduro, widely believed to have stolen the last election. They now face profound uncertainty at best. Mr Trump has suggested that Mr Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, would follow US instructions, and dismissed the rightwing opposition leader and Nobel prize-winner María Corina Machado as a plausible replacement. But Ms Rodríguez, now interim president, has so far struck a defiant tone – and other parts of the decapitated regime are more hardline.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

The Guardian view on Zohran Mamdani’s task: a high-stakes test case for progressive ambition | Editorial

New York’s new mayor will face headwinds as he attempts to carry out a programme of civic renewal. But his affordability agenda speaks to the times

The multiple firsts achieved by New York’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, have been well chronicled: he is the first Muslim to occupy that role, the first south Asian and the first to be born in Africa. He is also the youngest mayor of the largest city in the United States for over a century, having received more votes in November’s election than any candidate since the 1960s. And politically, he is probably the most leftwing incumbent of the office since Fiorello La Guardia in the 1930s and 40s.

Hardly surprising then, that Mr Mamdani’s extraordinary rise to prominence should be accompanied by high expectations and tense anticipation. At last Thursday’s inauguration ceremony, he promised to “govern expansively and audaciously”. Whether he succeeds in doing so will have considerable ramifications for progressive politics more widely.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Wisconsin judge resigns after being convicted of obstructing immigrant arrest

Hannah Dugan faced calls to resign from state Republicans amid threats to impeach her if she did not

The Wisconsin judge convicted of obstruction for helping an immigrant evade federal officers has resigned.

Hannah Dugan was convicted on 19 December and faced calls to resign from state Republicans, who threatened to impeach her if she did not.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Jan. 4)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, featuring guest host Lee Cowan.

USA’s Summer Britcher boosts Olympic luge bid with another World Cup gold

• Britcher rallies in Sigulda for second win of season

• American leads World Cup singles despite missing race

• USA Luge star can capture historic overall crown

USA Luge’s Summer Britcher is flying into the Olympics.

Britcher got her second women’s singles luge win of the season on Sunday, moving her atop the World Cup standings and further cementing her status as a medal contender for the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.

Reed’s rocket rescues Fulham point and denies Liverpool in thrilling finish

Perhaps they underestimated Harrison Reed. Certainly there was little reaction when the ball came back to the Fulham substitute with 97 ­minutes gone. Liverpool ­simply stood off, almost daring Reed to shoot, and they rued their lack of urgency when one of Fulham’s more unfashionable ­players rescued a point for Marco ­Silva’s ­stubborn side by ­ripping a stunning shot into ­Alisson’s top corner.

It was a jawdropping moment – after all, it was only the scurrying 30-year-old midfielder’s fourth goal in six years in west London – and it spoke to some of Liverpool’s issues this season. The champions were vague in attack despite scoring twice and, where once there was the determination to force themselves over the line, here there was only defensive inertia when the task was to hold on after going 2-1 up through Cody Gakpo in the fourth minute of ­stoppage time.

‘The Glastonbury of sport’: Luke Littler effect takes darts to new heights

A peak audience of 2.5m watched the world championship final on Sky as Luke Litter defended his title

If further proof was needed about the burgeoning popularity of Luke Littler and darts, it came with early viewing figures from Barb that showed the 18-year-old’s second world title victory on Saturday night was watched by a peak audience of 2.5m on Sky.

They are huge numbers in a sport that, not so long ago, would have been delighted with anything over a million. That is the Littler effect in action. But after thrashing the Dutch player Gian van Veen 7-1 in the final, he promised that his latest success – and the £1m first prize, a record for his sport – would not change him.

Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid

Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore

German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.

The fire that broke out on a bridge across the Teltow canal in the south-west of the capital early on Saturday could deprive up to 35,000 homes and 1,900 businesses of electricity – and in many cases heat – until 8 January, the grid company Stromnetz Berlin said.

Maduro’s capture and a Stonehenge sunrise: photos of the weekend

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

2025 was ICE’s deadliest year in two decades. Here are the 31 people who died in custody

The deaths came as the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement, detaining a record number of people

Camille Rast ends Mikaela Shiffrin’s slalom winning streak in Slovenia

• Swiss skiier topped the American by 0.14 seconds

• Shiffrin satisfied with her run ahead of Milan Cortina

The duel between Mikaela Shiffrin and her Swiss rival Camille Rast is shaping up nicely with 45 days to go until the women’s slalom race at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Rast ended Shiffrin’s six-race winning streak in World Cup slaloms Sunday, beating the American star by 0.14 seconds after clocking the fastest time in both runs at an event in Slovenia.

Airlines scramble to add Caribbean flights after airspace restrictions strand tens of thousands of travelers

U.S. airlines resumed flights to Puerto Rico and other Caribbean destinations early Sunday after aviation authorities lifted temporary airspace restrictions.

Stephen Lillie on Trump’s intervention in Venezuela – cartoon

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Snow forecast hits Scottish schools and cold health alerts in place for England

Flights cancelled and travel warnings issued with 30cm of snow expected on high ground in northern Scotland

Transport delays, treacherous driving conditions and school closures will greet many people as they return to work and study after the Christmas break, with winter weather warnings in place across the UK.

Four amber warnings for heavy snow in northern Scotland are in place until Monday morning, while yellow snow and ice warnings cover all of Northern Ireland, Wales and much of England.

Starmer says closer ties with EU single market preferable to a customs union

Prime minister gives clearest sign yet that government is seeking to further deepen Britain’s links with Brussels

Closer ties with the EU single market are preferable to a customs union, Keir Starmer has said, in his clearest sign yet that the government is seeking to further deepen links with Brussels.

The prime minister said the UK should consider “even closer alignment” with the single market. “If it’s in our national interest … then we should consider that, we should go that far,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

When a heart attack left me in a coma, my hallucinations inspired a novel – and a new life

After his heart stopped beating for 40 minutes, the former lawyer experienced weeks of hallucinations. The visions he experienced during his recovery set him on the path to a new career

On the evening of Monday 1 February 2021, during the third Covid lockdown, my wife Alexa and I sat down on the sofa to have sausages and chips in front of the TV. The children were tetchy, and we were worn out from trying to home-school them while working from home, me as a lawyer in the music industry and Alexa as a charity fundraiser. But at least, Alexa said to me, we had made it through January.

Then I started making strange noises. “Are you joking?” she asked. Then, “are you choking?”

‘Durham’s other cathedral’: mining union hall reopens after £14m restoration

Considered one of world’s finest trade union buildings and famous for its ‘pitmen’s parliament’, Redhills was built on a grand scale

Outside the impressively grand, Edwardian baroque building in Durham are two wooden benches, each dedicated to men who died too young.

They were, the inscription reads, both “sacked and victimised” during the 1984-85 miners’ strike. Yet they’re in grounds that look as if they might have been owned by rich, exploitative mine owners.

Here's a partial list of U.S. elected officials opposing Trump's invasion of Venezuela

Trump's decision to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has drawn praise inside the U.S., especially from Republican leaders. But the invasion also faces significant opposition from elected officials across the political spectrum.

World reaction to U.S. strikes on Venezuela pours in

Many U.S. adversaries condemned the U.S. strikes on Venezuela, while other governments called for deescalation.

11/30: Face the Nation

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

Nature: Lake Champlain in New York

We leave you this Sunday Morning along the frozen shores of Lake Champlain in upper New York State. Videographer: Jamie McDonald.

Heartwarming follow-ups to "Sunday Morning" stories

Lee Cowan revisits some of the most impactful "Sunday Morning" stories of 2025, with updates on the positive outcomes since they aired.

How Mayor Fiorello La Guardia made New York the greatest city in the world

After taking office in the middle of the Great Depression, the NYC mayor – a 5'2" bundle of dynamite and inveterate PR hound – reshaped the city through massive public works projects, while changing the role that government plays in people's lives.

How Mayor Fiorello La Guardia made New York the greatest city in the world

After he took office in the middle of the Great Depression, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia reshaped the city through massive public works projects (like housing, bridges, schools and hospitals) while championing immigrants and the working class. Mo Rocca talks with historian Kenneth T. Jackson about how La Guardia – a 5'2" bundle of dynamite and inveterate PR hound – changed the role that government plays in people's lives, and became the mayor that made New York great.

Former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson says her twin babies may never walk

The 34-year-old posts emotional video saying the girls will ‘fight all the odds’ after spinal muscular atrophy diagnosis

The former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson has said her twin babies will “fight all the odds” after being diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that means it is unlikely they will ever be able to walk.

The 34-year-old singer and her fiance, Zion Foster, welcomed their twins, Ocean Jade and Story Monroe Nelson-Foster, in May after they were born prematurely. In an emotional Instagram video posted on Sunday, Nelson revealed the girls had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1).

Kindness of strangers: I was ill and about to miss my flight when a well-dressed man helped me to the airport

I was running an hour late and couldn’t think clearly. I was in despair that I might miss my plane home

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

Twelve years ago, I was in Queanbeyan to see a specialist for my chronic health condition. I was headed home to Queensland early the next morning and had set my alarm to wake me for the taxi I had ordered to the airport. But when I woke up, I realised that I had forgotten to allow for daylight savings. I was now running an hour late to the airport, with no taxi to get me there.

I ordered another taxi and made my way out to wait in front of the motel, in despair that I might miss my flight. I stood on the dark footpath and spoke on the phone to my sister in Queensland about how I had missed my taxi and how unwell I felt. My health condition can affect my ability to think clearly, and I was telling her how my brain just wasn’t working that day. Then the taxi arrived – phew. Except, as the driver told me when I opened the door to get in, it wasn’t for me.

Actor and writer Paterson Joseph: ‘Tilda Swinton asked me a question that changed everything that came next’

Joseph on sussing the school system at the age of four, an awkward audition for the National Youth Theatre, and why he loves his ‘horrible’ Peep Show character

Born in Willesden, north-west London, in 1964, Paterson Joseph is an actor and writer. A graduate of Lamda, he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving into TV and film, with roles including Alan Johnson in Peep Show and Keaty in The Beach. He published his award-winning debut novel, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, in 2022. His children’s book, Ten Children Who Changed the World, is out now. Joseph is a judge for the debut fiction category of the 2025 Nero Book Awards. The winners will be announced on 13 January.

This was taken by my sister Glenda, who had decided she wanted to get into hair and makeup. She was pulling together a portfolio and used me as a guinea pig, something my sisters had done since I was small. I was going for that slightly curmudgeonly old man expression, but it came out more like a smirk.

World ‘may not have time’ to prepare for AI safety risks, says leading researcher

AI safety expert David Dalrymple said rapid advances could outpace efforts to control powerful systems

The world “may not have time” to prepare for the safety risks posed by cutting-edge AI systems, according to a leading figure at the UK government’s scientific research agency.

David Dalrymple, a programme director and AI safety expert at the Aria agency, told the Guardian people should be concerned about the growing capability of the technology.

‘I’ve got a fearlessness to being laid bare’: how Yungblud became Britain’s biggest rock star

In 2025 the Doncaster-born singer-songwriter has earned two UK No 1s, three Grammy nominations and the respect of rock’s greats – and he says it’s all down to putting fans first

In November, Dominic Harrison, better known as Yungblud, received three Grammy nominations. The news that he had become the first British artist in history to be nominated that many times in the awards’ rock categories came as a suitably striking finale to what, by any metric, was an extraordinary year for the 28-year-old singer-songwriter.

In June, his fourth studio album, Idols, entered the UK charts at No 1, outselling its nearest competitor by 50%. The same month, the annual festival he curates and headlines, Bludfest, drew an audience of 30,000 to The National Bowl in Milton Keynes. In July, he played at Back to the Beginning, the farewell performance by Black Sabbath, whose frontman Ozzy Osbourne died 17 days after the gig. On a bill almost comically overstuffed with heavy metal superstars paying tribute – Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Anthrax, Slayer – his rendition of Black Sabbath’s 1972 ballad Changes unexpectedly stole the show, appearing to win him an entirely new audience in the process: the crowd at the gig skewed considerably older than the gen Z fans Harrison traditionally attracts.

How to make the perfect breakfast tacos – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

Roll up, roll up for the yummiest start to the day with this tantalising TexMex mishmash of refried beans, eggs, potatoes. But just what goes in, and what should be left out?

Breakfast tacos should not be confused with tacos eaten for breakfast. Of course, they often are eaten for breakfast, but the stuffed flour tortillas eaten on both sides of the southern US border are quite different from the tacos mañaneros of central and southern Mexico, the rich, corn-based tacos de canasta (“tacos in a basket”) or the smoky beef barbacoa that Monterrey-born Lily Ramirez-Foran recalls being her dad’s favourite Sunday breakfast. Instead, Texas Monthly explains, breakfast tacos “marry the key elements of an American morning – scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes – with the Mexican staples of salsa, cheese, refried beans … genius.”

Although they’re originally a Mexican creation, according to José R Ralat, the magazine’s taco editor (what a job title!), these $3 treats are now so popular north of the border that they’re the subject of regular taco wars, mostly between those who claim Austin as their spiritual home (often blow-ins, according to their fiercest critics), and those who know that no single city can take the credit. The fillings may vary, from pork chops to chilaquiles and beans to cheese, but Ralat maintains that all should be salty, soft and, above all, comforting, and told the Washington Post a few years ago that “the greatest breakfast taco is the one made at home”. Which, if you live 5,000 miles from the Mexican border, is good news indeed.

After Trump’s illegal Venezuela coup, there are two dangers: he is emboldened, but has no clue what comes next | Rajan Menon

The US president used largely fictitious charges to seize control, but can’t know how Venezuelans will react. He may also overstep now as regards Iran

During his presidential campaigns, Donald Trump pledged to end “forever wars”, abandon “nation-building” interventions and focus instead on reviving a US economy that, in his telling, had been deindustrialised by a floodtide of imports. Though Trump’s electoral victories cannot be attributed to any one thing, his “America first” narrative certainly struck a chord.

But Trump’s use of force to seize the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, his full-bore support for Israel’s demolition of Gaza and his bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment installations show that he’s no less willing than his predecessors to resort to military interventions.

Rajan Menon is a professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York and a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies

Canadian officials say US health institutions no longer dependable for accurate information

Misinformation from the Trump administration is cited as fuelling Canadians’ concerns over childhood vaccinations

Canadian officials and public health experts are warning that US health and science institutions can no longer be depended upon for accurate information, particularly when it comes to vaccinations, amid fears that misinformation from the Trump administration could further erode Canadians’ confidence in healthcare.

“I can’t imagine a world in which this misinformation doesn’t creep into Canadians’ consciousness and leads to doubt,” said Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor at McMaster University in Ontario.

Venezuela is the latest in the U.S.'s long history of interventions in Latin America

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Eduardo Gamarra, professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University, about the history of U.S. intervention in Latin America.

The cost of AI slop could cause a rethink that shakes the global economy in 2026

Revenues may be rising rapidly, but not by nearly enough to cover the wild levels of investment under way

The US dictionary Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop”, which it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence”. The choice underlined the fact that while AI is being widely embraced, not least by corporate bosses keen to cut payroll costs, its downsides are also becoming obvious. In 2026, a reckoning with reality for AI represents a growing economic risk.

Ed Zitron, the foul-mouthed figurehead of AI scepticism, argues pretty convincingly that, as things stand, the “unit economics” of the entire industry – the cost of servicing the requests of a single customer against the price companies are able to charge them – just don’t add up. In typically colourful language, he calls them “dogshit”.

From the AI bubble to Fed fears: the global economic outlook for 2026

Analysts and investors voice caution about tech valuations and Trump’s influence on the US central bank

Investors expect global stock markets to keep rising in 2026, despite fears that the AI bubble could burst, and anxiety about chaos engulfing the US central bank.

Wall Street strategists broadly expect the S&P 500 share index of US-listed companies to continue to rise over the next 12 months, but said it could be a volatile year if geopolitical tensions increase and inflation fails to fall.

‘This is where it all started’: Nina Simone’s childhood home gets long-awaited rehabilitation

North Carolina home preserved to commemorate legendary musician and civil rights activist, and to serve as arts hub

It was a surreal experience for Dr Samuel Waymon, Nina Simone’s youngest sibling, to walk back into the renovated childhood home that he once shared with the singer and civil rights activist. On that day in the fall of 2025, Waymon, an 81-year-old award-winning composer, said that memories flooded back of him playing organ in the house and cooking on the potbelly stove with his mother as a child in Tryon, North Carolina. He was overjoyed to see the large tree from his youth still standing in the yard. Simone, born Eunice Waymon, lived in the 650 sq ft, three-room home with her family from 1933 to 1937.

After sitting vacant and severely decayed for more than two decades, the recently restored home is now painted white, with elements of its former self sprinkled throughout the interior. On the freshly painted mint-blue wall hangs a shadow box that encases the rust brown varnish of the original home. A small piece of the Great Depression-era linoleum sits on the restored wooden floor like an island of the past in a sea of the present.

Dining across the divide: ‘I think gentrification is a social good. He said you lose communities’

A psychotherapy trainee and a retired software engineer bonded over living abroad, but did they agree on gentrification, second homes and mental health?

Rupert, 36, Worthing

Occupation Psychotherapy trainee

Wellness trends worth taking into the new year (and some that aren't)

We reported on all sorts of products and practices promising to make you healthy last year. Here are the ones that stood up to science, and those that were mostly hype.

Belgian PM’s cat Maximus is social media star with ‘subliminal political message’

Maximus Textoris Pulcher, an official resident at Rue de la Loi 16, shows a warmer side of Bart De Wever

For nearly 15 years, Britain’s Larry the Cat has charmed visitors to 10 Downing Street. Now another prime ministerial pet is proving a social media hit in Belgium.

Maximus Textoris Pulcher was announced in August as an official resident at the Belgian prime minister’s office, Rue de la Loi 16 in central Brussels.

This is how we do it: ‘After 50 years together, I’m more orgasmic than ever’

Valerie and Max have discovered the secret of maintaining an active sex life in your 70s – and are happy to pass on their tips

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I’ve actually found that age has affected sex in a very positive way. Now I can have five orgasms in a row

From K-pop and The Traitors to Dune and the return of Madge: your A-Z of the biggest culture of 2026

With 2025 but a distant memory, it’s time to get stuck into a huge year of entertainment. To help with this daunting task, we’ve provided a handy, alphabetised guide to the big releases and trends coming in the next 12 months, from AI’s continued rise to a whole lot of Zendaya

Bad news: the intellectual property equivalent of The Terminator is here to obliterate the concept that the mug who actually wrote something matters somewhat. Better news: cinemas are fighting back against AI with films anxious about the new tech, including Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (13 February), in which a man apparently from the future (Sam Rockwell) wants to warn people about an incoming AI hellscape, followed by The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (title says it all really), from the film-makers behind Everything Everywhere All at Once, in March. Then, later in the year, Luca Guadagnino unveils Artificial, his biopic of Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. Catherine Bray

Leading UK far-right activist spoke at Russian extreme nationalist event

Exclusive: Patriotic Alternative’s Mark Collett addressed forum along with ideologue described as ‘Putin’s brain’

The head of a leading British far-right group spoke at a summit of European extreme nationalist groups convened in Russia by an influential oligarch linked to Vladimir Putin, it can be revealed.

The revelation has led to renewed concern among MPs over the Kremlin’s links to extremist groups and its attempts to disrupt democracy and sow societal divisions in the UK.

‘Once whispered, now discussed’: the rise of dubious claims of civil war in the UK

Dystopian warnings once reserved for the far right have found a wider audience – but there are good reasons for scepticism

It is a darkly dystopian vision of Britain’s future, in which tens of thousands die in a bitter civil war in just a few years time.

Yet such forecasts are no longer limited to niche corners of the internet or the X feed of Elon Musk, condemned by Downing Street for claiming that war in Britain was inevitable after the post-Southport rioting.

Trump tried to bury evidence of the Jan. 6 riot. NPR's archive preserves the facts

NPR's Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.

Trump wants U.S. oil companies in Venezuela. Here's what to know

President Trump wants more U.S. oil companies to "go in" to Venezuela. But there are economic, historical, and climate reasons that may not be easy. Here's what you need to know about oil in Venezuela.

Aliens: the spread of invasive plants and animals across Europe – in pictures

Erik Irmer has been documenting the spread of invasive plant and animal species that disrupt native ecology across Europe. He focuses on humans’ interactions with these plants and animals. Aliens is published by Fotohof

‘It has become difficult to live’: Hungarian writers bemoan country’s hostile environment

Nobel prize for László Krasznahorkai provides a rare glimpse of unity in a nation divided on party lines

Gyula, a tranquil and picturesque town in the east of Hungary, is best known for its sausages. It has no direct rail connection to Budapest, but it does have a library and a castle. Soon, it will also have an official copy of a Nobel medal.

“Congratulations to László Krasznahorkai, the first Nobel winner from Gyula,” proclaim billboards in the town, paying tribute to the 71-year-old writer who won this year’s Nobel prize in literature for “his compelling and visionary oeuvre.”.

Swim, run, ride and row for charity: 10 challenges for 2026 in the UK, Europe and beyond

Climbing, skiing and paddleboarding also feature in our round-up of this year’s charity challenges

SwimQuest’s annual Isles of Scilly challenge is a 15km island-hopping swim, broken into five sessions with walks in between. The longest swim is the 6km leg from St Agnes to Bryher; the shortest is 600 metres from Bryher to Tresco; and the island walks in between are no longer than 45 minutes. Swimmers can opt to complete the challenge in one tough day, or space it out over two – there is a party after both events.
Entry is £299 for the one-day challenge on 20 September or £379 for two days (17 and 18 September), no minimum fundraising, scillyswimchallenge.co.uk

Digital wallet fraud: how your bank card can be stolen without it leaving your wallet

Fraudsters use phishing to steal card details, which fund a spending spree using Apple Pay or Google Pay

You get a call from your bank and the informed voice asks to you to confirm the personal details they have on file, which you do. You are then asked whether you bought something at an electrical retailer recently for £120 and spent £235 in Birmingham, but neither transaction rings true.

The caller tells you they have blocked the payments but they must now secure your account, and say they will send you a notification to approve, or a code to pass on to them. You feel under pressure to protect your money, so you do what is asked.

Today, Trump’s target was Caracas. What tomorrow? | Stephen Wertheim

He took office promising to annex Greenland and take back the Panama Canal. Now that he has ousted Maduro, other countries could be next

“This is genius,” Donald Trump enthused. It was 22 February 2022. Vladimir Putin had just declared parts of eastern Ukraine to be independent and sent in Russian troops to serve as so-called peacekeepers. The once and future American president was impressed, even inspired. “We could use that on our southern border,” Trump mused.

Trump didn’t know then that he was speaking at the start of a full-scale invasion that has lasted nearly four years and inflicted upwards of 1.5 million casualties and counting. And Trump doesn’t know now what he has unleashed in Venezuela. The South American country is not Ukraine, nor, for that matter, is it Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. But by ordering military strikes to seize dictator Nicolás Maduro, Trump has thrown a country of around 28 million people into uncertainty and tossed aside the most obvious, hard-won lesson of decades of US foreign policy failures: regime-change wars are easy to start and hard to win, much less to turn into anything resembling genuine success.

Stephen Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School

My friend has cancer and talks of ending her life. Should I tell her family? | Annalisa Barbieri

Your friend fears dependency and wants to regain control. Is there someone you can talk to about your own feelings?

I am in my 80s and an old friend has several health issues. She will probably die in the not too distant future due to the inoperable cancer she has been aware of for some years.

She has two adult children, with domestic and career problems of their own, but she sees them frequently, and I know them both.

The hill I will die on: Films and TV shows are better if you read the spoilers first | Jason Okundaye

Please note, this piece absolutely includes spoilers for Cruel Intentions, a film made 26 years ago. Do read on

I love spoiling the plot for myself. It’s something I do fairly regularly. Before watching a film, I tend to open Wikipedia and read the entire plot synopsis. If every episode of a series has been uploaded to a streamer, I often open the last episode, watch the final five minutes, close it and then start from the beginning. I did as such when the final season of Top Boy dropped in the autumn of 2023. When I tweeted about it from my now-deleted X account, I drew a range of bewildered and outraged responses, including from the official Top Boy Netflix account.

I’m sure you also probably think I’m a sociopath, a philistine or stubbornly impatient (the last has some truth). But the fact is, sometimes spoilers relieve a sense of burden – that you might have to stick out some film or TV show with this uncertainty hanging over you, this itch to just know who gets snuffed out or who did the snuffing. Isn’t that the point of watching something, I hear you say. Well, yes. But frankly, I’m not willing to put that effort into every bit of media I consume – particularly in the streaming age where there is such a constant abundance of things to watch, all of it varying in quality, and the pay-off is not always guaranteed.

Jason Okundaye is an assistant opinion editor at the Guardian and the author of Revolutionary Acts

Doomscrolling, people pleasing and low-fat foods? Life’s too short! Nine writers on what they won’t bother with this year

Rutger Bregman, Josie Long, Michael Rosen, Meera Sodha and others on what they are no longer wasting their time on

Rutger Bregman, author

North Korea launches ballistic missiles towards sea before South Korean leader’s visit to China

South Korea’s military reports projectile launch hours before Lee Jae Myung was due to head to Beijing

North Korea launched ballistic missiles towards the sea on Sunday, its neighbours said, just hours before South Korea’s president was due to leave for talks in China expected to cover North Korea’s nuclear programme.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that they detected several ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s capital region at about 7.50am local time. They said the missiles flew about 560 miles (900km) and that South Korea and US authorities were analysing details of the launches.

Ukraine war briefing: Ukraine will fight on if peace talks fail, Zelenskyy vows

Ukraine’s top allies hold security talks in Kyiv; Russia condemns US attack on Venezuela. What we know on day 1,411

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says he hopes for a leaders’ summit in the US by the end of January to discuss proposals on how to end the war with Russia. Security advisers from Ukraine’s top allies met in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on a US-brokered plan to end the war, days after Kyiv announced a deal was “90%” ready. Officials from 15 countries including the UK, France and Germany as well as representatives from Nato and the EU joined the meeting. The US special envoy Steve Witkoff also joined virtually, a Ukrainian official said, although the US military attack on Venezuela earlier in the day overshadowed proceedings.

Next week, the talks will continue during a European leaders’ meeting in Paris and then with US negotiators. “And after that … we will be preparing for a meeting in the United States at the leadership level. We would like all of this to happen in January, by the end of January,” Zelenskyy said.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have gained pace in recent weeks, although both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory. Russia, which occupies about 20% of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal. But Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow and said it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday evening, Zelenskyy said that if diplomacy to end the war failed, his country would continue to defend itself. “If Russia blocks all of this – and as I said, it depends on our partners – if our partners do not compel Russia to stop the war, there will be another path: to defend ourselves,” he said.

While the US may be making positive noises about a peace deal, exhausted Ukrainians remain wary after nearly four years of war, the Guardian’s Shaun Walker reports.

Saturday’s meeting capped a week marked by deadly strikes, as well as a Russian claim – denied by Ukraine – that Kyiv had launched drones at a residence of Vladimir Putin in an unsuccessful attack. Russia accused Kyiv of firing drones at a hotel and cafe in the Moscow-held part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region early on Thursday, killing what it said were 28 people celebrating the new year. Ukraine says it was a military gathering.

A woman and three-year-old child died in a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv late on Friday, according to the region’s governor. And early Saturday, Russian bombardment of a Kyiv-held part of the southern Kherson region left two people dead, according to the region’s governor.

Russia on Saturday condemned the US attack on Venezuela and called for the release of its leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was grabbed during an audacious military operation in Caracas. “We strongly urge the American leadership to reconsider its position and release the legally elected president of the sovereign country and his wife,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

In a series of statements, the ministry called for dialogue between Washington and Venezuela’s government and expressed “solidarity” with Venezuela’s people. It stopped short, however, of offering immediate military or financial assistance to its ally.

“This morning, the United States committed an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This is deeply concerning and condemnable,” the ministry said in a statement. “The pretexts used to justify such actions are untenable. Ideological hostility has triumphed over businesslike pragmatism.”

Moscow is one of only a handful of countries to congratulate Maduro on his disputed re-election in 2024. Venezuela is Russia’s closest partner in South America and a major buyer of Russian military hardware.

Airlines cancel hundreds of Caribbean flights after U.S. attacks on Venezuela

U.S. airlines cancel hundreds of Caribbean flights after U.S. strikes on Venezuela.

Waiting for the Out review – totally magnificent TV about philosophy in prison

Dennis Kelly’s brilliant drama about a teacher in prison is moving, gripping and almost painfully vulnerable – plus the main character decimates everyone at a middle-class dinner party. What more could you want?

It’s hard to imagine a better route into true philosophical inquiry than time in prison. Regret, causality, the nature of freedom: these are urgent issues to the incarcerated. Time is both impossibly empty and passing at terrifying speed. You face endless days and nights with only the inside of your head for company. You are at the sharpest end of practical philosophy, whether you like it or not. What is life for? Could it be changed for the better?

Accordingly, the teaching of philosophy in prison is entirely logical. But that depends on who is doing the teaching, and why. This magnificent six-part drama is adapted by Dennis Kelly (with both sitcom romp Pulling and conspiracy epic Utopia on his CV, Kelly is a hard man to predict) from Andy West’s memoir A Life Inside. By becoming a philosophy professor, West – recast here as Dan and brought astonishingly to life by Josh Finan – was escaping his background. But only up to a point. His father, uncle and brother all did time, while he found a different destiny. That didn’t save Andy/Dan from endless, intrusive fantasies that he was doomed to follow them anyway.

Trump says U.S. oil companies will invest billions of dollars in Venezuela after Maduro’s overthrow

U.S. oil companies will invest billions of dollars in Venezuela's energy sector after the overthrow of Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump said.

Premier League’s warped economics make £65m fee for Semenyo a snip | Jonathan Wilson

Price tag for winger’s move to Manchester City would make headlines in any other country but not in England

Antoine Semenyo, it seems likely, will soon join Manchester City from Bournemouth for a fee of £65m. Given how well Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden have played from the right this season, it is not immediately obvious why City need him, but the modern game is the modern game, the rammed calendar makes large and flexible squads essential and Pep Guardiola may have some esoteric plan for the Ghanaian anyway. But perhaps what is most striking about the deal is the fee – or, more precisely, how little attention it has drawn.

English football has become inured to big transfers. The fee feels about right. Semenyo is 25. He has four and a half years left on his contract. He is quick, skilful, intelligent and works hard. He is disciplined, but has the capacity to do the unexpected. Of course a player of his ability costs that much. Yet £65m would make him the third-most expensive player in Bundesliga history. He would be the seventh-most expensive in Serie A history, the 14th-most expensive in La Liga history. Only nine non-English clubs have paid a fee higher than that. Even in Premier League terms, Semenyo sneaks into the top 25.

The ‘Putinization’ of US foreign policy has arrived in Venezuela

Trump is no longer bending the rules – he is demolishing them, with consequences far beyond Caracas

Hardly anyone expected 2026 to be a year of peace, and it was barely two days old when the worst fears were confirmed.

The overnight strikes on Venezuela, the abduction of its leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, and Donald Trump’s declaration that the US would “run” the country and sell its oil, have driven another truck through international law and global norms. But that is not even the most concerning thing about it.

Trump's removal of Maduro prompts questions from Congress

Congressional lawmakers say they were not briefed before President Donald Trump launched a land attack on Venezuela and deposed President Nicolas Maduro.

Miranda Otto: ‘It can be a gift when things go absolutely the wrong way’

The stage and screen actor on turning gaffes into gifts, the impact of Eowyn, and the Lord of the Rings stew scene fans won’t stop asking about

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Your latest role is Queen of the Cuttlefish, in The Pout-Pout Fish; if you could be a fish for a day, which one would it be and why?

The blue groper at Clovelly beach – because it’s like an institution, and people go there to see it. I just think it’s cool that there’s a local fish that people actually go and see and talk about – it’s a special fish.

The moment I knew: I was ready to paddle back to shore when she leaned in to kiss me

As Andrew Ngeh and Kathleen Oliver paddleboarded together in a secluded bay in Vanuatu, the chemistry between them was undeniable

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In 2015, I’d been living in Vanuatu for a year, coaching the Vanuatu women’s beach volleyball team as they aimed to qualify for the Rio Olympics. I was a volunteer through an Australian government program, and a new intake of Australians was arriving in Port Vila one afternoon in February, so I went to the Australian High Commission to meet them.

I got chatting with this gorgeous and bubbly girl called Kath, who’d been volunteering in Indonesia. I thought we were meeting for the first time, but as I introduced myself, Kath explained that we had in fact met before, walking across Pyrmont Bridge in Sydney during our training weekend.

Watch Trump's full comments following the U.S. strike against Venezuela

President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak Saturday morning following a stunning, large-scale attack on Venezuela overnight.

Trump: We are going to run Venezuela until we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition

President Donald Trump addressed the attack on Venezuela from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

U.S. indictment against Venezuela President Maduro, wife is unsealed

The indictment was unsealed hours after U.S. forces launched an attack on Venezuela and captured its president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Today an illegal coup in Venezuela, but where next? Donald Trump talks peace but he is a man of war | Simon Tisdall

The world will be anxious, and rightly so. For a man so bent on a peace prize, Trump appears to revel in conflict

The overthrow and reported capture by invading US forces of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s hardline socialist president, will send a shiver of fear and consternation around the world. The coup is illegal, unprovoked and regionally and globally destabilising. It upends international norms, ignores sovereign territorial rights, and potentially creates an anarchic situation inside Venezuela itself.

It is chaos made policy. But this is the world we now live in – the world according to Donald Trump.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

After a bruising 2025, the Fed faces another slew of challenges in the year ahead

The central bank heads into 2026 facing a slew of political and policy challenges.

‘They don’t have a nice socket structure’: how to really look after your knees

From squats and lunges to the importance of maintaining a healthy weight, physiotherapists share advice on how to maintain strong knees and avoid pain

Of all the lower body joints, the knee is probably the one most likely to send you to the physiotherapist.

“It carries most of the weight of the body, and being a hinge joint, it means that it doesn’t have a nice socket structure,” says physiotherapist Dr Jillian Eyles, from the University of Sydney. “It relies on the ligaments and the joint capsules and the muscles around it to really stabilise the joint, and it’s fairly easy to injure compared to another joint that’s more supported.”

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From squirrel picnics to penpals, karaoke to crochet: 43 easy ways to lift your spirits

Guardian writers and readers share the simple tricks they use to bring a bit of joy into their lives

During the pandemic, my husband found some wood on our street and used it to build a tiny, squirrel-sized picnic table. We attached it to the side of our fence with a handful of peanuts on top. Few sights are guaranteed to lift my day more than watching a “dining in” Nutkin parking its rump on the tiny wooden seat, occasionally glancing towards the house as if he’s waiting for you to bring the drinks. If you don’t have as much time on your hands as my husband did during lockdown, you can buy one on Etsy.

‘The children were delighted to see themselves in such bright colours’: Moe Wai’s best phone picture

The photographer’s painted bottles and hoops enhanced a carefree afternoon on a Burmese beach

As a tuk-tuk driver, Moe Wai feels that he has honed both his observational and people skills. Wai lives and works in Myin Ka Par, a village in Myanmar, and became interested in mobile photography several years ago. In this instance, he used his phone to capture this gaggle of local children as they were returning home from school.

“They were playing on a sandbank with their own plastic bottles,” Wai recalls. He’d been collating props for some time; bottles and hoops he had painted in a variety of colours, including neon pink. “The children were happy to let me replace theirs with my own colourful ones for the purpose of this photo.” He later applied some minor edits using the Lightroom app.

Trump orders Chinese-controlled firm to unwind chip asset deal, citing national security risks

A Chinese-controlled company must divest semiconductor assets it bought from Emcore after the White House said the deal could threaten U.S. national security.