Why real Christmas trees may be a better bargain this year

With 19 days to go until Christmas, the rush is on to get ready, including finding just the right tree. Andres Gutierrez has more on the search.

Christmas celebrations return in occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem

Christmas celebrations returned to the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem after two years of war in Gaza. Imtiaz Tyab has more on the festivities and hope for economic recovery.

At least 18 migrants die after boat sinks near Greek island of Crete

The migrants were attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in an inflatable boat when it capsized south of the island of Crete, Greek authorities said Saturday. At least two people have been rescued.

Russia targets Ukraine's energy infrastructure

Russia targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure overnight, meaning another winter of power outages for Ukrainians as Vladimir Putin tries to crush their resolve. Holly Williams reports.

Ukraine war briefing: With no Miami breakthrough, Zelenskyy turns to European allies

Positive tone after Florida talks with Ukrainian president heading to London Street to see Starmer, Macron and Merz. What we know on day 1,383

Three days of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami, Florida produced no evident breakthrough by the end of Saturday. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he joined his negotiators for a “very substantive and constructive” call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “Ukraine is committed to continuing to work honestly with the American side to bring about real peace,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram, adding that the parties agreed on the next steps and a format for talks.

Zelenskyy will next turn to European allies when he visits London on Monday for an in-person meeting with leaders Keir Starmer of Britain, Emmanuel Macron of France and Friedrich Merz of Germany. Macron said the group would “take stock” of peace negotiations. The four leaders took part in a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” about two weeks ago, where they discussed plans to put a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

Russia launched more than 700 drones and missiles at Ukraine over Friday night, targeting critical infrastructure, such as energy sites and railways, and triggering heating and water outages for thousands of households. “The main targets of these strikes, once again, were energy facilities,” Zelenskyy said. “Russia’s aim is to inflict suffering on millions of Ukrainians.”

Macron, the French president, slammed what he called Russia’s “escalatory path”, adding: “We will continue these efforts with the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which no robust and lasting peace will be possible. We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace.”

The protective shield over the Chornobyl disaster nuclear reactor in Ukraine, which was hit by a drone in February, can no longer perform its main function of blocking radiation, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced. In February a drone strike blew a hole in the “new safe confinement”, which was painstakingly built at a cost of €1.5bn ($1.75bn) next to the destroyed reactor and then hauled into place on tracks, with the work completed in 2019 by a Europe-led initiative. The IAEA said an inspection last week of the steel confinement structure found the drone impact had degraded the structure.

Hungary’s rightwing, Putin-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has announced he is sending a business delegation to Russia in preparation for the end of the Ukraine war – claiming he was in discussion with both Washington and Moscow and could not “share every detail”. “If God helps us and the war ends without us being dragged into it, and if the American president succeeds in reintegrating Russia into the global economy and the sanctions are dismantled, we will find ourselves in a different economic landscape.”

According to media in Hungary, its MOL oil and gas firm is considering acquiring refineries and petrol stations in Europe owned by Russian groups Lukoil and Gazprom, both of which are subject to US sanctions. Under Orbán’s leadership, Hungary has remained dependent on Russian oil and gas, flouting decisions of the European Union whose other countries have diversified their imports away from Russia since the February 2022 invasion.

Bulgaria has denounced the towing of a crippled tanker, the Kairos, into its waters just over a week after the ship was hit in a drone attack claimed by Ukraine. A Turkish ship towed it there and returned to Turkey, said Rumen Nikolov, director general of Bulgarian maritime rescue and relief operations. “This is not normal,” Rumen said, adding that an explanation was sought “through diplomatic channels”. Ten crew members on board had requested evacuation but the weather was too bad at the moment, said the Bulgarian transport ministry.

The Kairos and another Gambian-flagged tankers, the Virat, were attacked on 28 November in the Black Sea off the Turkish coast. Both are under western sanctions for belonging to the “shadow fleet” that illicitly and unsafely continues to export Russian oil. They had been heading for the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Ukraine confirmed at the time that it had targeted vessels “covertly transporting Russian oil”.

Immigration crackdowns in Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York

Immigration and Customs Enforcement began conducting enhanced operations in Minnesota this week, focused primarily on the city's Somali residents. Ali Bauman has the latest details on immigration efforts and reaction around the U.S.

Pete Hegseth doubles down on boat strikes: "We will find you and we will sink you"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats, saying President Trump can take decisive military action as he sees fit. Willie James Inman reports on the latest.

Prominent U.S. playwright arrested in Japan for alleged ecstasy smuggling

Japanese officials said Jeremy O Harris, known for his Tony-nominated "Slave Play" and his role in the series "Emily in Paris," was arrested on the island of Okinawa on Nov. 16.

Former NASCAR driver Michael Annett dies at 39

Former NASCAR driver Michael Annett has died at 39 years old. He made more than 400 NASCAR national series starts over the course of his 13-year career. No cause of death has been announced.

Several tourists among at least 23 killed in blaze at Goa nightclub

Fire broke out at midnight in the popular club in Arpora in the North Goa district, according to reports

At least 23 people have been killed in a fire at a popular nightclub in the Indian resort city of Goa, officials said.

Several tourists were among the dead in the fire, which broke out at about midnight at a club in Arpora in the North Goa district, according to the Press Trust of India.

Trump awards medals to the Kennedy Center honorees in Oval Office ceremony

President Trump presented medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees during an Oval Office ceremony.

Magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes remote area near Alaska-Canada border

Although people reported ‘things falling off shelves and walls’, no injuries or structural damage were reported

A powerful, magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck a remote area near the border between Alaska and the Canadian territory of Yukon on Saturday. There was no tsunami warning, and officials said there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck about 230 miles (370km) north-west of Juneau, Alaska, and 155 miles (250) west of Whitehorse, Yukon.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Dec. 7)

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

The Setup Murder of Kristil Krug

A stalker sends menacing messages to a young mother before she is murdered. The investigation reveals a sinister setup. "48 Hour" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.

European football: Harry Kane hits hat-trick off bench as Bayern rout Stuttgart

• England captain comes on in 60th minute of 5-0 win

• Ferran Torres hat-trick helps Barcelona sink Real Betis

Harry Kane scored a hat-trick after coming on as second-half substitute to guide Bayern Munich to a 5-0 victory at Stuttgart.

The Bavarian club, who have opened up an 11-point lead at the top, were a goal up but struggling against the aggressive hosts until the introduction of Kane on the hour mark. Stuttgart were also left with 10 men for the last 10 minutes after the dismissal of Lorenz Assignon.

‘It’s not your turn,’ the board's selection committee chair said. Instantly I felt as though I was back in the school yard | Julianne Schultz

While the tension between meritocracy and ‘jobs for mates’ is always there, the best boards are more than the sum of their parts

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Many years ago, I was encouraged to put my name forward to chair a significant government board. It seemed like a long shot to me, I wasn’t in anyone’s club, but my supporters were insistent. I agreed to let my name go into the mix.

It was a surprise then when the chair of the selection committee called a few weeks later and said with an apologetic tone: “Sorry Julianne, it’s just not your turn.”

Julianne Schultz is deputy chair of the Sydney writers’ festival board

Trump calls on Baseball Hall of Fame to admit Roger Clemens

The 63-year-old Roger Clemens has been accused of using performance-enhancing drugs, which he has denied.

National parks fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and adds Trump's birthday

The Trump administration, which has railed against what it describes as "woke" policies, removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from next year's list of fare-exempt days for visitors at dozens of national parks.

Messi, Inter Miami win first-ever MLS Cup title, defeating Vancouver 3-1

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF are Major League Soccer champions, defeating Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3-1 and earning their first MLS Cup title on Saturday.

Qatar and Egypt urge Israeli withdrawal to secure next step in Gaza peace deal

Mediators of delicate truce say troop removal and deployment of international force crucial to second phase

Qatar and Egypt, the guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, called on Saturday for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the deployment of an international stabilisation force as the necessary next steps in fully implementing the fragile agreement.

The measures were spelt out in the US- and UN-backed peace plan that has largely halted fighting, though the warring parties have yet to agree on how to move forward from the deal’s first phase.

Winter weather alerts to impact 18 million people across West and Midwest

Winter storms are forecast to bring heavy snows and bitter winds across the regions.

Inter Miami claim MLS Cup as Messi inspires tight win over Vancouver

• Messi sparks Miami’s opening goal

• De Paul scores 71st-minute winner

• Inter Miami 3-1 Vancouver – as it happened

As the confetti flew, the Philip F Anschutz trophy was lifted into the air, and a player commonly thought to be the greatest ever to kick a ball celebrated the 48th title of his professional career, it was nearly impossible to believe that at several points, there were doubts. Serious doubts. Questions, large and small, about this Inter Miami squad, their manager, and nearly every player on the roster other than Lionel Messi.

Consider them answered. The Herons are MLS Cup champions after a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps in the last game at their temporary home, Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Next year, they will open their new stadium, Miami Freedom Park, as champions, and will face a high bar to clear to top a turbulent 2025 that saw them play 58 games – an all-time MLS record for games played by a team in a calendar year – for five separate trophies.

Mohamed Salah says ‘I’ve been thrown under the bus’ and signals Liverpool exit

• Forward launches astonishing attack on Arne Slot

• Salah benched at Leeds for third consecutive match

Mohamed Salah has accused Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus” after being left out of the starting lineup for the third game running as the champions drew at Leeds, saying he has been made a scapegoat for the poor start to the season and casting severe doubt on his future at the club.

“I can’t believe … I’m sitting on the bench for 90 minutes,” the Egypt international said. “The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career. I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why.

Trump administration waives $11 million fine for Southwest Airlines' 2022 holiday meltdown

The Trump administration said it will forgive the last $11 million of a fine against Southwest Airlines that stems from the carrier's 2022 holiday meltdown.

2026 FIFA Men's World Cup schedule released. The USA's path and full fixtures.

FIFA released the World Cup schedule on Saturday that will feature 104 matches spread across 11 cities in the United States, with three in Mexico and two in Canada.

California officials warn foragers after person dies from poison mushroom

Several additional people, including children, have severe liver damage amid 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning

California officials are warning foragers after an outbreak of poisoning linked to wild mushrooms that has killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in several patients, including children.

The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste.

Africa Cup of Nations shunted into margins as greedy game finds no room at top table | Jonathan Wilson

So long as the Premier League invests in its players and Fifa pays it lip service, the continent’s flagship tournament will always struggle to fit in

Perhaps attitudes are not quite as parochial as they once were, but it remains true that, in England at least, the Africa Cup of Nations is discussed less as a tournament in its own right than in terms of what it means for the Premier League.

There will be the usual harrumphing about why the tournament is played in the middle of our season, but the Confederation of African Football has tried to satisfy European clubs only to be thwarted by Fifa and the increasing demands of the calendar.

Waymo will recall software after its self-driving cars passed stopped school buses

Waymo is issuing a software recall for its self-driving cars after reports the company's autonomous vehicles failed to stop for school buses.

Gunmen kill at least 12 people including three-year-old in hostel in South Africa

Police launch ‘manhunt’ after 25 people are shot in early morning in township attack west of Pretoria

Gunmen have stormed into a hostel in South Africa’s capital and killed at least 12 people, including a three-year-old child, and injured more than a dozen others.

Police said they had launched a “manhunt” for three people and were investigating whether the killings were linked to a bar within the hostel that may have been selling alcohol illegally.

Louisiana inmates on the run after removing concrete and using sheets in jailbreak

Three-person escape is second for state in a year, after 10 people crawled through a wall at a different prison

Two inmates accused of violent crimes, including second-degree attempted murder, are on the run after escaping from a south-western Louisiana jail on Wednesday by removing pieces of a deteriorating interior wall and using sheets to scale another outside wall, officials said.

A third inmate who joined in the breakout died by suicide after he was tracked down.

A Melbourne bakery found TikTok fame, before trolls began harassing its young staff. How the owners responded went viral

Montmorency Bakehouse decided to tackle online abuse head-on, asking viewers to ‘please stop with the thirsty comments’

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Lawrence Du knew instinctively that his parents’ bakery had the potential to pop off on social media.

Shaun Du and Cindy Vuong opened Montmorency Bakehouse on the fringe of Melbourne’s east in 2003, after migrating to Australia from Vietnam. They started selling pillowy, coconut-dusted lamingtons, vanilla slices, chunky steak pies and crusty loaves of bread alongside crispy banh mi and rice paper rolls, creating a traditional country-style Australian bakery with a Vietnamese twist.

Bold shapes and binoculars: Frank Gehry’s stunning California architecture

From his home town of Los Angeles, the architect designed a career around defying what was predictable

In Frank Gehry’s world, no building was left untilted, unexposed or untouched by unconventional material. The Canadian-American architect, who died in his Los Angeles home at 96, designed a career around defying what was predictable and pulling in materials that were uncommon and, as such, relatively inexpensive.

Gehry collaborated with artists to turn giant binoculars into an entryway of a commercial campus, and paid homage to a writer’s past as a lifeguard by creating a livable lifeguard tower. And while dreaming this up, he transformed American architecture along the way.

The moment I knew: we were discussing Jane Austen when I told her I wanted to be with her for ever

After meeting Miranda at a footy screening, Darcy Green found her a little terrifying. Months later, their feelings came pouring out

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 2018 I moved from Sydney to Oxford to complete my masters. My mum was born in London, and I was raised on my gran’s stories about England, so moving to Oxford felt oddly like going home.

I was excited to get my degree, visit as many beautiful libraries as possible and play all the sports I could cram into my calendar. Falling in love wasn’t on my wishlist, but then I met Miranda.

Michael Annett, former NASCAR racing star, dies at 39

Michael Annett won the Xfinity Series' season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway in 2019.

World Cup 2026 fixtures: England to kick off under roof in Dallas during UK primetime

• England to play Croatia at Dallas Cowboys’ stadium

• Scotland’s opener against Haiti starts 2am UK time

England will kick off their World Cup campaign against Croatia in Dallas at 9pm UK time on Wednesday 17 June. They will play at the Dallas Stadium, home of the NFL’s Cowboys, which has a retractable roof and air conditioning. That will mitigate the effects of a 4pm EST kick-off (3pm local time). The roof will be closed for the opener.

England learned the specifics of their group phase schedule at part two of the World Cup draw in Washington DC, on Saturday. Their second game, against Ghana, on 23 June, will be played in Foxborough, near Boston at 4pm EST. It is an open-air stadium. The average June daily temperate high there is 26C.

National guard member wounded in DC attack is ‘slowly healing’, says West Virginia governor

Andrew Wolfe was shot in the head on 26 November, while Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries

The West Virginia national guard soldier who was wounded in the 26 November shooting that killed a colleague of his in Washington DC is “slowly healing”, according to West Virginia’s governor.

Andrew Wolfe, 24, was shot alongside fellow West Virginia national guard soldier Sarah Beckstrom, 20, while they patrolled the US capital as part of the Trump administration’s push to deploy military members on to the city’s streets. Beckstrom died of her injuries the day after she was shot while Wolfe was hospitalized in critical condition.

New Orleans woman, who says she is a U.S. citizen, describes immigration agents chasing her

A 22-year-old woman who says she was born and raised in the United States tells "CBS Saturday Morning" about being chased down the street by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as the Trump administration's New Orleans immigration crackdown ramps up.

Panthers owners help North Carolina bee farm recover after Hurricane Helene

When a North Carolina bee farm was heavily damaged from Hurricane Helene, the Tepper family — who own the Carolina Panthers — stepped in to help them recover.

7 deaths and hundreds of injuries are linked to faulty Abbott glucose monitors

About 3 million glucose monitoring sensors were potentially affected by a production error that caused incorrect low glucose readings.

20,000-pound cocaine seizure by Coast Guard breaks 18-year-old record

Video shows Coast Guard vehicles pursuing a go-fast vessel that appeared to have multiple people aboard.

Charlton’s match against Portsmouth abandoned after supporter’s death

• Supporter had been taken ill during first half at Valley

• Clubs pay tribute after fan passes away in hospital

A Charlton supporter has died after being taken ill during the club’s abandoned Championship fixture against Portsmouth. The fan was treated by medical staff in the stands before being taken to hospital, but it was later confirmed the person had died.

The 12.30pm kick-off was paused in the 12th minute, when the score was goalless, after the referee Matthew Donohue was made aware of the severity of the incident in the lower tier of the Covered End by supporters who shouted to attract his attention. The match official then took the players off the pitch six minutes later. It was announced at 1.30pm that play would not resume.

Suspect in D.C. pipe bomb case believed to be Trump supporter

The man suspected of planting pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC is believed to be a Trump supporter and has been speaking with investigators, multiple sources told CBS News.

Trump praises new childhood vaccine recommendations after panel votes to drop Hepatitis B shot

A panel of vaccine advisors approved by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voted to drop the Hepatitis B shot from newborn vaccine schedules on Friday. President Trump applauded the move on social media, but many medical experts and organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, oppose the change.

Tower of London reopens after apple crumble thrown at crown jewels display

Four people arrested after civil-resistance group Take Back Power protest against inequality in the UK

Part of the Tower of London was temporarily closed to visitors on Saturday after food was thrown at a display case containing the crown jewels in a protest against inequality in the UK.

Four people were arrested after the action, which was claimed by Take Back Power – a self-described, non-violent civil-resistance group. It said custard and apple crumble was flung at the case, which contained the imperial state crown.

Temperatures hit record lows across the U.S.

Millions of Americans are dealing with record-low temperatures this weekend, and more than 12,000 residents in the Pacific Northwest are without power after high winds.

Trump's birthday added to list of free days at national parks; MLK Day, Juneteenth removed

The change to the schedule comes shortly after the Trump administration announced new fees for non-resident visitors.

Verstappen on pole for Abu Dhabi F1 title decider but Norris hot on his heels

• World championship rivals side by side at front of grid

• McLaren driver still well placed for the season finale

The world championship remains finely poised after the three contenders duked it out for pole position at the decisive season-finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Max Verstappen scored first blood with pole position in front of his rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in second and third, but all three drivers know the title will be decided on Sunday and Norris still has the edge.

A competitive and tense qualifying was a perfect curtain-raiser for the race and sets up an unmissable and potentially dramatic opening as the three head into turn one together.

Artificial intelligence research has a slop problem, academics say: ‘It’s a mess’

AI research in question as author claims to have written over 100 papers on AI that one expert calls a ‘disaster’

A single person claims to have authored 113 academic papers on artificial intelligence this year, 89 of which will be presented this week at one of the world’s leading conference on AI and machine learning, which has raised questions among computer scientists about the state of AI research.

The author, Kevin Zhu, recently finished a bachelor’s degree in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, and now runs Algoverse, an AI research and mentoring company for high schoolers – many of whom are his co-authors on the papers. Zhu himself graduated from high school in 2018.

Whether trapped inside Gaza or out, the world is shrinking for Palestinians | Plestia Alaqad

Sometimes I feel like the world is more afraid of me as a Palestinian refugee than it is afraid of the genocide and wars that create refugees in the first place

The world is big, yet it is forever shrinking for Gazans. In fact, it is as small as 3% of the size of an ever-diminishing strip of land, where the rest of Gaza City is being forcibly displaced, bombed and starved. But our rejection doesn’t end at Gaza’s “borders”.

It follows us everywhere.

Plestia Alaqad is an award-winning journalist and author

‘Everyone will miss the socialising – but it’s also a relief’: five young teens on Australia’s social media ban

As the under-16s social media ban looms, Guardian Australia speaks to five 13 to 15-year-olds about what they will miss, and what government should be doing instead

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Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s will begin in just a few days. Malaysia, Denmark and Norway are to follow suit and the European Union last week passed a resolution to adopt similar restrictions. As the world watches on, millions of Australian adolescents and their parents are wondering just what will actually change come 10 December.

Concerns around the negative impact social media use can have on the wellbeing of young people have been around since the quaint days of Myspace – long before those to be affected by the ban were even born.

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Want to be hotter? Try this one weird Republican trick | Arwa Mahdawi

The right has found a new pitch for young women: conservatives are better-looking

Forget expensive moisturizers or designer clothes. Ladies, if you want a quick and easy glow-up, you may want to try Republicanism. This one weird trick of voting against your own reproductive rights will instantly make you 10 times hotter.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Why is Michael Jordan suing Nascar? The blockbuster antitrust trial, explained

The basketball legend says Nascar gives teams too little power with too much risk. His lawsuit could force historic changes to how one of America’s biggest sports is run

Michael Jordan took the stand on Friday in his landmark antitrust fight against Nascar, a case that could reshape how one of America’s biggest sports is run. Jordan’s team, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports say Nascar holds so much control over everything, from the tracks to the money to the rulebook, that teams have no real bargaining power. Nascar denies that and says the lawsuit threatens to blow up a system that has held the sport together for decades.

The case has already pulled blunt internal messages into public view and laid bare long-running frustrations between teams and Nascar leadership. Denny Hamlin, Jordan’s co-owner, has said the trial will finally “hear the truth” about how the series “really operates”.

Broadcaster targeted with racist slurs accuses Farage of emboldening ‘toxic environment’ online

Farage is responsible for ‘dangerous’ culture shift, says broadcaster subject to alleged posts from Reform councillor

Nigel Farage is emboldening attacks on people of colour, according to a journalist allegedly subjected to racial slurs by a Reform UK council leader who the party has been forced to expel.

The broadcaster Sangita Myska, whose long career in British journalism has included presenting shows for the BBC and LBC Radio, said she was told by the former Staffordshire council leader Ian Cooper that she was English “only in your dreams”, because of her south Asian heritage.

‘My legacy is not Charlie Kirk’: the university president building a culture of peace after violence

Astrid Tuminez, Utah Valley University’s first female leader, had to pivot from personal tragedy to address ‘a wounding that happened to all of us’

Astrid Tuminez was on her way to Rome, the trip a kind of pilgrimage after months of grief. Her husband, Jeffrey Tolk, had died suddenly earlier in the year, and the loss had left her carrying a weight she couldn’t set down. “I felt darkness and a rage I’d never known before. It was like a tectonic shift in my reality,” she said.

Tuminez imagined quiet days walking through old churches, sitting in dim chapels in Rome. As part of her spiritual healing, she hoped her schedule held a meeting with Pope Leo. But as her flight landed in Atlanta for a short connection, her phone lit up. One sentence, again and again: “Charlie has been shot.”

The truth about the ‘gender care gap’: are men really more likely to abandon their ill wives?

It’s one thing facing a major diagnosis; it’s quite another dealing with your partner pulling away. But does the stereotype match the reality?

Jess never dreamed that she was going to get sick, nor did she consider what it would mean for her love life if she did. When she first started dating her boyfriend, they were both in their late 20s, living busy, active lives. “Sport was something we did a lot of and we did it together: we worked hard, played hard, we went for bike rides and went running and played golf together.”

But around a year into their relationship, all that stopped abruptly when Jess was diagnosed with long Covid, the poorly understood syndrome that in some people follows a Covid infection. For her, it meant “a general shutdown of my body: lungs, heart, stomach, really bad brain fog”. She went from being a sporty, independent 29-year-old with a successful career to sleeping all day and relying on her boyfriend for everything.

Pressure grows on ‘reckless’ Hegseth as twin scandals engulf Pentagon chief

Defense secretary defiant but allegations of war crimes and blistering watchdog report increase calls for him to go

Pete Hegseth is facing the most serious crisis of his tenure as defense secretary, engulfed by allegations of war crimes in the Caribbean and a blistering inspector general report accusing him of mishandling classified military intelligence. Yet despite the long list of trouble and as lawmakers from both parties call for his resignation, Hegseth shows no signs of stepping down and still holds Donald Trump’s support.

The twin crises have engulfed the former Fox News personality in separate but overlapping allegations that lawmakers, policy experts and former officials say reveal a pattern of dangerous recklessness at the helm of the Pentagon. Democratic legislators have reignited calls for his ouster after revelations that survivors clinging to wreckage from a September boat strike were deliberately killed in a “double-tap” attack, while a defense department investigation released on Thursday concluded he violated Pentagon policies by sharing sensitive details via the Signal messaging app hours before airstrikes in Yemen.

‘I climbed a building to get this shot of Egyptian fishermen with sardines’: Ahmad Mansour’s best phone picture

How the photographer captured this split image of sardine fishermen taken from above

Freelance photographer Ahmad Mansour was visiting Al Max, a fishing neighbourhood in Alexandria, Egypt, when he took this image on his mobile phone. Mansour was there with friends, documenting the area and the fishermen who resided there.

“The sun was bright and it was very loud; the water was running strongly and the men were shouting,” Mansour says. “I climbed a small building to reach this vantage point above the men with the sardines. I love the top view angle; I’d been inspired by another image that was split that way and it suited the colours to balance them like this, too.”

Trump wants to recreate a white America that never existed | Rebecca Solnit

The persecution of brown people and mass deportations will not create the white country of far-right fantasy

As Donald Trump deteriorates and his grasp on power fades, he has been lashing out furiously at female journalists and ethnic groups, most recently Somali Americans. His insults land because of their animosity and his power, not their accuracy. Likewise, his administration’s attacks on immigrants are sloppy and driven by lies. It’s strikingly clear that the target is not individuals with criminal records. It’s anyone and everyone guilty of being brown. Native Americans with tribal identification cards, US citizens, people doing crucial work from construction to nursing, military veterans, college students, people sleeping in their own beds, small children: all kinds of residents of this country are under attack.

“ICE raids are cruel, inhumane, and do nothing to serve public safety,” declares Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect. Masked thugs smashing car windows and dragging parents away from their babies, terrorizing whole swathes of the population, and interfering with the ability of schools and businesses to function does the opposite. The rounds of targeted hatred by Trump and his minions – for people from Haiti during the 2024 campaign, for people from Venezuela this spring and summer, and most recently for people from Somalia – rely on defamatory lies and insults, because the facts about these groups don’t support the hate.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell’s Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology

Rebecca Hendin on potential political candidates - cartoon

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Sudanese paramilitary drone attack kills 50, including 33 children, doctor group says

Thursday's attack is the latest in the fighting between the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, also known as the RSF, and the Sudanese military, who have been at war for over two years.

Russia unleashes drone and missile attack on Ukraine as diplomatic talks continue

Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after U.S. and Ukrainian officials said they'll meet on Saturday for talks aimed at ending the war.

Why are diagnoses of ADHD soaring? There are no easy answers – but empathy is the place to start | Gabor Maté

Some say it’s overdiagnosis, others say it’s greater recognition. But it’s clear we must think about how our society is impacting human development

• Gabor Maté is the author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture

Does the rise in diagnoses of ADHD mean that normal feelings are being “over-pathologised”? The UK’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, seems to suspect so. He is said to be so concerned about a sharp rise in the number of people claiming sickness benefits that he has ordered a clinical review of the diagnosis of mental health conditions, and autism and ADHD.

I was diagnosed with ADHD (ADD, as it was then most often called) decades ago, in my early 50s. As I wrote in my book on the subject, Scattered Minds, it “seemed to explain many of my behaviour patterns, thought processes, childish emotional reactions, my workaholism and other addictive tendencies, the sudden eruptions of bad temper and complete irrationality, the conflicts in my marriage and my Jekyll and Hyde ways of relating to my children … It also explained my propensity to bump into doorways, hit my head on shelves, drop objects, and brush close to people before I notice they are there.”

Gabor Maté is an international public speaker and retired physician. His most recent book is The Myth of Normal: Illness, Health and Healing in a Toxic Culture

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Takeaways from the latest special election and what it means for control of the House

There was yet another sign this week of a potential 2026 wave that could hand control of the House of Representatives to Democrats.

West Virginians question National Guard deployments after attack on 2 of their own

Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was fatally shot in Washington, D.C., while Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was seriously wounded. Trump says the deployments are necessary to fight crime, but others disagree.

The New Yorker at 100: Netflix documentary dives inside a groundbreaking magazine

Film-maker Marshall Curry pulls back the curtain on the beloved institution in a revealing and celebratory new film

When young film-makers ask Marshall Curry what makes a documentary idea, he tells them: “There are some stories that make great New Yorker articles, but they’re not movies.” It was only a matter of time before the director found himself testing his own wisdom with The New Yorker at 100, a new Netflix film about the magazine. “Somebody said to me that trying to make a 90-minute movie about the New Yorker was like trying to make a 90-minute movie about America. Ken Burns does that with one war.”

The film pulls back the curtain on the mystical media shop. Curry and his crew spent a year rummaging through the archives, listening in on production meetings, shadowing famous bylines – none more venerated in the industry than editor David Remnick, the magazine’s abiding leader. Curry had hoped to make a meal out of staffers pushing to meet the February 2025 publishing date, the magazine’s centennial anniversary issue, but the scenes he found didn’t quite approximate anything from the boiler room-centered dramas of film fiction or even The September Issue doc on Anna Wintour’s clannish Vogue operation. “I wanted to see people running around each other and saying, ‘We’ve got to get this thing done before the deadline!’” Curry says. “But they don’t do that.”

The best books of 2025

New novels from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ian McEwan, plus the return of Slow Horses and Margaret Atwood looks back … Guardian critics pick the must-read titles of 2025

The Guardian’s fiction editor picks the best of the year, from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count to Thomas Pynchon’s return, David Szalay’s Booker winner and a remarkable collection of short stories.

BBC showing tennis’s new Battle of the Sexes will just offer up opportunity to belittle women’s sport | Barney Ronay

The match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios opens up a direct channel between the BBC of old and a world of toxic internet hatred

It’s always best to take a sceptical view of the constant flow of BBC-bashing newspaper stories, which are often simply bogus outrage expressed for commercial gain. Even the war-on-woke, cod-ideological stuff – Clive Myrie INSISTS hamsters can breastfeed human robots – the bits that make you want to smear your face with greengage jam and weep for England, our England, with its meadows, its shadows, its curates made entirely from beef. Even these come from a hard, transactional place.

Basically, it’s the licence fee. The BBC is free at the point of delivery, but paid for by a national levy. The BBC is also a direct commercial competitor to every other form of legacy media, all of which are trying to find ways to survive and recoup revenue.

What links Amy Adams, Teri Hatcher and Margot Kidder? The Saturday quiz

From Cecil at Waitrose and Slinky at Tesco to an app designed to be deleted, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 In 1932, Australia declared war on which bird?
2 What became the world’s tallest church in October?
3 Matthew Streeton is the voice of which much-maligned rail announcement?
4 Which recent US president’s mother was called Stanley?
5 In which country has the TV crime drama Tatort run since 1970?
6 Which football club’s new stadium contributed to a loss of world heritage status?
7 Which app’s makers claim it is “designed to be deleted”?
8 Four-month-old Spencer Elden appeared on which album cover?
What links:
9 Amy Adams; Kate Bosworth; Rachel Brosnahan; Teri Hatcher; Margot Kidder?
10 Boardwalk; Rue de la Paix; Schlossallee; Shrewsbury Road?
11 Hasbani, Banias and Dan rivers; Sea of Galilee; Dead Sea?
12 Dian Fossey; Biruté Galdikas; Jane Goodall?
13 Christopher Wren; John Houblon; Matthew Boulton and James Watt; Alan Turing?
14 Cecil at Waitrose; Cuthbert at Aldi; Slinky at Tesco; Wiggles at Sainsbury’s?
15 King John (2); Henry VIII (3) and (2); John Mortimer (2); Ben Affleck (2)?

Nick Cave’s Veiled World: the starry tale of how sometimes the devil doesn’t have the best tunes

This documentary on the musician interviews everyone from Flea to … Rowan Williams. It’s a thoughtful take on his songs and Christianity

Devouring the new Nick Cave documentary on Sky, I am reminded how critics go wild for arty musicians who constantly change direction and dabble in everything. This is its own kind of myth. I know plenty of artists who keep moving – one week they’re sewing fish scales on to jackets, the next they’re painting mirrors or putting seahorses in samovars. The problem is, no one cares. If poet and ceramicist Nick Cave didn’t also write classic songs, he’d just be a local weirdo. I definitely wouldn’t buy a hardcover transcription of conversations he’d had with a mate about God. I’m glad I did, though.

The documentary, Nick Cave’s Veiled World (Saturday 6 December, 9pm, Sky Arts), is timed to promote the TV adaptation of his filthy novel The Death of Bunny Munro. It’s a glorious opportunity to revisit his early, intense masterpieces: electric chair confessionals, murderous duets with pop princesses, profane love songs. They’re still in my head, days later. It’s also a reminder that, in a joyfully perverse career, the assertion of his Christian faith has been his most divisive move. Audiences love biblical imagery in rock songs, provided the singer doesn’t actually believe.

Swedish navy encountering Russian submarines ‘almost weekly’ – and more could be on the way

Moscow ‘continuously reinforcing’ its presence in the region, says Swedish chief of operations Capt Marko Petkovic

The Swedish navy encounters Russian submarines in the Baltic Sea on an “almost weekly” basis, its chief of operations has said, and is preparing for a further increase in the event of ceasefire or armistice in the Ukraine war.

Capt Marko Petkovic said Moscow was “continuously reinforcing” its presence in the region, and sightings of its vessels were a regular part of life for the Swedish navy. Its “very common”, he said, adding that the number of sightings had increased in recent years.

My cultural awakening: Jonathan Groff inspired me to overcome my stammer

Watching the Broadway actor’s joyous energy, along with his calmness and openness, I was convinced that I could step out into the world and be myself

My first encounter with Broadway actor Jonathan Groff was innocuous. Stuck in the wilds of Donegal for two weeks as part of teacher training, I listened to Broadway musicals while the rest of the lads watched the Gaelic fixtures and got drunk. I stumbled upon the recent production of Merrily We Roll Along with Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe and like most of the internet, I became obsessed.

Afterwards, I went down a Groff rabbit hole tracking down interviews and cast recordings. I was drawn to how bubbly he was, how smiley he was. Groff had a joyous energy that was infectious. His voice was like melted chocolate. I both loved – and envied – his calmness and his openness to the world.

Forget festive schmaltz, the best Christmas film this year is a gay biker dom-com | Kitty Grady

Die Hard isn’t a Christmas film, claims the British public. But Pillion reminds us that the finest festive films reflect the complexities of the season

Can Die Hard – the 1988 action movie starring Bruce Willis as an NYPD detective hoping to reconcile with his estranged wife on Christmas Eve – be called a Christmas film? The annual debate had officially reached my street WhatsApp group when a happily married couple decided to launch a poll. With 18 votes against four, the result from my road was a landslide “yes”. One neighbour even shared a picture of their Die Hard tree baubles to prove the point.

But an official poll by the British Board of Film Classification has now asserted the contrary – with 44% deciding that Die Hard should not be designated a Christmas movie, against 38% in favour. To some, even with the odd tinsel-strewn tree thrown in, the gun fights, violence and hostage-taking just don’t feel festive. For an admirable 5% of respondents, it remains their favourite Christmas film of all time.

‘Bloodshed was supposed to stop’: no sign of normal life as Gaza’s killing and misery grind on

The term ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion life is returning to normal’ for Palestinians squeezed into the remaining 42% of their land behind Israel’s ‘yellow line’

When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza.

Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family’s tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late.

‘True activism has to cost you something’: Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan on politics, paparazzi and parasocial fandom

The diminutive Derry Girls star isn’t afraid to speak her mind, even if it costs her fans and followers

Back in 2008, when Nicola Coughlan was at drama school, a guy in her class swaggered over and, with all the brimming confidence of young men in the noughties, asked her, “Do the Irish think the English are really cool?” Coughlan, born in Galway, mimes processing the question. “Well,” she said, “it’s quite complicated. Like, there’s a lot of history there, between the two countries. Like, there’s a lot going on.”

Today, people are more knowledgable about the history of the English in Ireland. Coughlan is happy about that. She’s also happy about the explosion of Irish storytelling in popular culture – Normal People, Trespasses, Small Things Like These, not to mention the series that made her name, Derry Girls. And she’s proud of young Irish actors – Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Lola Petticrew, to name a few. She listens to bands such as Fontaines DC, CMAT and Kneecap. “It’s such a small country and the amount of creativity that comes out of Ireland is really extraordinary.”

Meera Sodha’s recipe for Friede’s grandma’s zimtsterne | Meera Sodha recipes

When you try these festive, chewy German almond biscuits, you’ll see why people have kept making and gifting them at Christmas for more than 500 years

The thing I love most about these chewy, crisp, star-shaped, cinnamon-and-almond Christmas biscuits from Germany is that they date back to the 1500s. Which, much like spotting Mars in the night sky or visiting the pyramids of Egypt, makes me feel hugely insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but simultaneously awe-inspired by the power of a simple biscuit to provide joy and underpin celebrations across centuries. This particular recipe belongs to my friend Friede’s grandma, Hadmuth, and is worth continuing, I think, for at least another 500 years.

UK IVF couples use legal loophole to rank embryos based on potential IQ, height and health

British fertility clinics raise scientific and ethical objections over patients sending embryos’ genetic data abroad for analysis

• What is polygenic embryo screening in IVF and does it work?

Couples undergoing IVF in the UK are exploiting an apparent legal loophole to rank their embryos based on genetic predictions of IQ, height and health, the Guardian has learned.

The controversial screening technique, which scores embryos based on their DNA, is not permitted at UK fertility clinics and critics have raised scientific and ethical objections, saying the method is unproven. But under data protection laws, patients can – and in some cases have – demanded their embryos’ raw genetic data and sent it abroad for analysis in an effort to have smarter, healthier children.

Blind date: ‘The waiters wanted an on-the-spot review of what we thought of each other’

Amanda, 56, a performance assessor, meets Paul, 53, a networks manager

What were you hoping for?
An adventure, engaging company, good food.

Why is Timothée Chalamet suddenly everywhere? Seven things you need to know – from Oscars to puppies

The 29-year-old star is getting his best reviews ever for the upcoming film Marty Supreme – but he’s also making waves with his idiosyncratic approach to celebrity and maintaining his status as the internet’s boyfriend

Everybody’s talking about Timothée! The gen-Z French-American heart-throb and original “internet boyfriend” is receiving the best reviews of his career for Josh Safdie’s frenetic ping-pong flick Marty Supreme, while also making waves for his idiosyncratic approach to celebrity in an age somewhat lacking in star power. He has even got Gwyneth Paltrow’s seal of approval. Here are seven reasons why “Chalamania” is back.

1. He seems a cert for an Oscar

How to buy the greatest gifts: personal shoppers on their 17 rules for perfect presents

December can bring huge stress, as people struggle with budgetary pressures, organisation and what to give the person who has everything. Here’s a guide to getting it right, every time

The festive shopping season is upon us and there is usually someone who is hard to buy for on the list. How can you avoid the stress of last-minute panic buying? Personal shoppers share their tips on how to treat your loved ones to something that they will cherish.

National Guard member is "slowly healing" after D.C. shooting, governor says

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said the family expects Andrew Wolfe to be in acute care for another two to three weeks.

Zootopia 2 bucks trend for Hollywood releases in China as it breaks records for foreign animation

Now China’s highest-grossing foreign animation, the films, known as Zootropolis in some countries, comes amid a boom for domestic productions

A comedy about animal cops investigating a reptilian mystery has become the highest-grossing foreign animated film ever in China, bucking the trend of declining interest in overseas productions that has resulted in Hollywood films struggling in the Chinese box office.

Zootopia 2 (called Zootropolis 2 in some European countries), a hotly anticipated and widely marketed sequel to 2016’s Zootopia, was released in China last week. In its first seven days, it made about 2bn yuan (£213m) in ticket sales, making it one of the best-performing films of the year.

SpaceX aims for $800 billion valuation in secondary share sale, WSJ reports

Elon Musk's SpaceX is reportedly launching an insider share sale that could value the company as high as $800 billion.

Trump official signals potential rollback of changes to census racial categories

Trump officials are reviewing changes to racial and ethnic categories that the Biden administration approved for the 2030 census and other federal government forms, a White House agency official says.

HHS changed the name of transgender health leader on her official portrait

Admiral Rachel Levine was the first transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate to serve in the federal government. Her official portrait at HHS headquarters has been altered.

Professor visiting Harvard arrested by ICE agrees to leave country

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, charged with firing a pellet gun on eve of Yom Kippur outside a synagogue, has said he was not aware of the holiday or that he was shooting next to one

US immigration authorities arrested a visiting professor at Harvard law school after he was charged with discharging a pellet gun outside a Massachusetts synagogue the day before Yom Kippur, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Thursday – and he agreed to leave the country.

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, a Brazilian citizen, was arrested on Wednesday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his temporary nonimmigrant visa was revoked by the state department following what the Trump administration labeled an “anti-semitic shooting incident” – a description at odds with how local authorities have described the case.

Fackham Hall review – Downton Abbey spoof is fast, funny and throwaway

Period drama parody has some decent and often smart gags and benefits from a game cast including Damian Lewis and Thomasin McKenzie

Perhaps it’s the feeling of end times in the air: after years of inactivity, spoofs are making a comeback. This summer saw the resurgence of the lighthearted genre, which at its best sends up the pretensions of overly serious genre with a barrage of pitched cliches, sight gags and stupid-clever puns. The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson in a spoof of a buddy-cop spoof, opened to moderate box office success; the hapless rock band dialed it back up to 11 in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Reboots of the horror spoof gold-standard Scary Movie and the Mel Brooks Star Wars rip Spaceballs were greenlit, and there were rumors of a return for international man of mystery Austin Powers. Unserious times, it seems, beget appetite for knowingly unserious, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow fun.

The latest of these goofy parodies, which premieres on the beyond-parody day that Fifa awarded Donald Trump an inaugural peace prize and Netflix announced its plan to buy Warner Bros, is Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that pokes at the very pokeable pretensions of gilded British period dramas. (Yes, Fackham rhymes with a crass kiss-off to the aristocracy.) Co-written by British Irish comedian and TV presenter Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O’Hanlon, Fackham Hall has plenty of material to work with – the historical soap’s grand finale just premiered in September, 15 years after Julian Fellowes’s series started going upstairs-downstairs with ludicrous portent – and wastes none of it. From ludicrous start (servants rolling joints for the household and responding to calls from the “masturbatorium”) to ludicrous finish (someone manages to marry a second cousin rather than a first!), this enjoyable silver-spoon romp packs all of its 97 minutes with jokes and bits ranging from the puerile to the genuinely funny, proving that there may yet be more to wring from eat-the-rich satire.

Frank Gehry, legendary Canadian-American architect, dies aged 96

The architect, whose work included the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, died after a brief illness

• From Bilbao to Las Vegas: Frank Gehry’s incredible architecture – in pictures

Frank Gehry, one of the most influential and distinctive talents in American architecture, died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles following a brief respiratory illness, his chief of staff confirmed. He was 96.

Gehry, the most recognizable American architect since Frank Lloyd Wright, was one of the first to embrace the potential of computer design, and pioneered a distinctively exuberant style of bravura power, whimsical and arresting collisions of form. His most famous work remains the Guggenheim Museumin Bilbao, a fantastical, titanium-clad composition on the Nervión River which received international acclaim upon its opening in 1997, heralding a new era of emotive architecture.

Meta acquiring AI wearable company Limitless

Meta has acquired the startup Limitless, which makes a small, artificial intelligence-powered pendant.

Supreme Court to hear case on Trump birthright citizenship order

The U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment had been understood to grant citizenship to children born in the country, even if their parents are not citizens.

Trump admin views Netflix and Warner Bros. deal with 'heavy skepticism': Senior official

Paramount Skydance, whose CEO David Ellison is friendly with the Trump administration, wanted to buy WBD outright, making several bids for its full portfolio.

David Ellison's hunt for WBD made David Zaslav richer — and it may not be over

Paramount is considering taking an offer to WBD shareholders, thinking its deal has a better chance of gaining regulatory approval than Netflix's, sources said.

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Russian airstrikes in Kyiv, floods in Colombo, the cold moon in Gaza and Trump at the World Cup draw: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole confessed, said he supports Trump and has anarchist views: MS NOW

Cole spoke to the authorities for "more than four hours" after his arrest, the government told a judge during the suspect's initial court appearance.

Core inflation rate watched by Fed hit 2.8%, delayed September data shows, lower than expected

The delayed core personal consumption expenditures price index for September was expected to show a 2.9% annual increase.

The Guide #220: The best things we watched, read and listened to this year – that weren’t from 2025

In this week’s newsletter: We revisit forgotten noirs, rediscovered albums and retro games that stole the year

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We’ve just inched into December, which of course means Christmas list season. Already, five days in, plenty of publications have shared their cultural best-ofs for 2025 – you can read the Guardian’s best books and songs of the year right now, with our countdowns in TV, film and music coming very soon.

Meanwhile, many of you will have been bombarded on social media by screengrabs of your colleagues/friends/enemies’ Spotify Wrapped playlists (though Mood Machine author Liz Pelly has written pretty convincingly about why you shouldn’t share yours). This year’s Wrapped includes a “listening age” feature, which uses the release dates of the music you streamed to determine how horribly out-of-date your tastes are – revealing to some users that they are, in fact, centenarians.

Former doctor charged with sexual assaults against 38 patients in his care

Nathaniel Spencer, from Birmingham, is accused of 45 offences, including some against children under 13

A former doctor has been charged with carrying out sexual assaults against 38 people who were patients in his care.

Nathaniel Spencer, from Birmingham, is accused of dozens of acts of sexual assault, some of them against children younger than 13, between 2017 and 2021.

Over $1.7 million raised for 88-year-old Army vet working at grocery store

A former autoworker was given back his retirement through the kindness of strangers.

What would you write in a very last letter and why?

If you had the chance to write just one last letter, to whom would you send it?

The Danish postal service will deliver its last letter at the end of this month to focus on packages, citing the “increasing digitalisation” of society.

While the public will still be able to send letters through the distributor DAO, it made us think about how we would use that last chance to send a letter.

I spent hours listening to Sabrina Carpenter this year. So why do I have a Spotify ‘listening age’ of 86?

Many users of the app were shocked, this week, by this addition to the Spotify Wrapped roundup – especially twentysomethings who were judged to be 100

“Age is just a number. So don’t take this personally.” Those words were the first inkling I had that I was about to receive some very bad news.

I woke up on Wednesday with a mild hangover after celebrating my 44th birthday. Unfortunately for me, this was the day Spotify released “Spotify Wrapped”, its analysis of (in my case) the 4,863 minutes I had spent listening to music on its platform over the past year. And this year, for the first time, they are calculating the “listening age” of all their users.

Horror game Horses has been banned from sale – but is it as controversial as you’d think?

Pulled by Steam and Epic Games Store, indie horror Horses shook up the industry before it was even released. Now it’s out, all the drama surrounding it seems superfluous

On 25 November, award-winning Italian developer Santa Ragione, responsible for acclaimed titles such as MirrorMoon EP and Saturnalia, revealed that its latest project, Horses, had been banned from Steam - the largest digital store for PC games. A week later, another popular storefront, Epic Games Store, also pulled Horses, right before its 2 December launch date. The game was also briefly removed from the Humble Store, but was reinstated a day later.

The controversy has helped the game rocket to the top of the digital stores that are selling it, namely itch.io and GOG. But the question remains – why was it banned? Horses certainly delves into some intensely controversial topics (a content warning at the start details, “physical violence, psychological abuse, gory imagery, depiction of slavery, physical and psychological torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and misogyny”) and is upsetting and unnerving.