A Man on the Inside season two review – Ted Danson’s despicably bland show is everything wrong with TV

Only our current tech hellscape could create a comedy so insidiously inoffensive. Prepare to be pummelled into submission as your time is siphoned off by OK entertainment

This is a cosy, lighthearted whodunnit about a retired professor who gets a second wind as a private eye. It’s also a bingo card for just about everything that makes streamer-era TV so patronising, uninspiring and mind-numbingly dull.

On the surface, A Man on the Inside’s crimes might seem negligible: it’s a little schmaltzy, a little too pleased with itself in that wisecrack-stuffed American comedy way. Yet it’s exactly that inoffensiveness that makes this strain of television so insidious. When the New York Times critic James Poniewozik coined the term “mid TV” to describe the current “profusion of well-cast, sleekly produced competence” that has come to dominate our screens, it wasn’t so much a vicious takedown as a shrug at the blah-ness of it all. The tech giants have pummelled us into submission by siphoning off our time via OK entertainment.

Welcome to the Ashes, the classic cricket rivalry that never really starts or stops

Some say the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is now pre-eminent, but there is nothing more intense than Australia v England

If it feels like the buildup to this Ashes series has lasted 842 days that is because it pretty much has. Test cricket’s oldest rivalry resumes on Friday inside Perth’s 60,000-seat thunderdome and with it, mercifully, comes fresh fuel for the ever-raging fire.

Because on one level the Ashes never really starts or stops. Since Stuart Broad nicked off Alex Carey at the Oval on 31 July 2023 – the final act of a dramatic 2-2 draw – the sides have been tracking each other, all while their supporters chip away from afar.

‘Purge it of all its filth’: inside the betting scandal gripping Turkish football

FA crackdown has led to the suspension of 149 match officials and more than 1,000 players in push to restore public faith in the game

Everything in Turkish football, it seemed, was going too well. Galatasaray have been flying in the Champions League, powered by Victor Osimhen. Arda Güler is soaring at Real Madrid with goals and assists. Even the men’s national team, under Vincenzo Montella, have looked their most promising in years.

But it would not be Turkish football without drama and drama is what the hardline president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, has delivered.

Lewis Hamilton defends work ethic after Ferrari chief’s ‘talk less’ rebuke

• Team president Elkann had revealed his frustrations

• ‘I think about it when I’m sleeping,’ says British driver

Lewis Hamilton has insisted he does not believe he can work any harder to help improve Ferrari’s performance he said in reaction to a rebuke from the Ferrari president John Elkann, who had stated he should: “Focus on driving and talk less.” Hamilton however maintained pointedly that the issues at Ferrari would not be fixed with “the click of a finger”.

Hamilton, who has yet to claim a podium for Ferrari in what has been an immensely trying first season with the team, was outspoken after another disappointing race at the last round in Brazil, after which he described his debut year with a Ferrari as “a nightmare”. Elkann, responded equally bluntly with his riposte.

Australia’s failed bid to host Cop31 looks like a mess – but it may actually be the best result possible | Adam Morton

While the outcome is a let down for those who want Australia to do better on climate, Chris Bowen looks set to play a pivotal role in the UN talks

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Ouch. From one perspective, Australia’s long-running bid to host the Cop31 UN climate conference next year has ended in clear failure.

It campaigned for more than three years for the rights to put on the world’s biggest climate summit and green trade fair, which would have brought tens of thousands of people to the South Australian capital of Adelaide next November.

Jeeves Again review – new Jeeves and Wooster stories by celebrity fans

This collection of new short stories about Bertie and his valet pays homage to the genius of PG Wodehouse – just in time for Christmas

As with most of the giants of late 19th- and early 20th-century English literature, the vast majority of PG Wodehouse’s readers today are non-white. Perhaps it was brutal colonial indoctrination that ensured the modern descendants of the aspirant imperial middle classes from Barbados to Burma, with their tea caddies, gin-stuffed drinks cabinets and yellowing Penguin paperbacks, still devour Maugham, Shaw and Kipling. Perhaps they just have good taste.

Wodehouse’s detractors are many – Stephen Sondheim (“archness … tweeness … flimsiness”), Winston Churchill (“He can live secluded in some place or go to hell as soon as there is a vacant passage”), the Inland Revenue – but for millions around the world he remains the greatest comic writer Britain has ever produced. And he clearly still sells here, as this collection of a dozen new officially sanctioned stories by writers, comedians and celebrity admirers, out in time to be a stocking filler, attests.

The Thing With Feathers review – well-intentioned adaptation of Max Porter novella about grief

Benedict Cumberbatch gives an honest performance, but this is too self-conscious to challenge or work through loss with same power as the book

This is a painful movie in both the right and the wrong ways; I found something fundamentally unpersuasive and unhelpful in its contrived, high-concept depiction of grief. Adapted by writer-director Dylan Southern from Max Porter’s novella Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, it stars Benedict Cumberbatch who gives a well-intentioned performance as a children’s author and graphic novelist. Living a middle-class existence in London, he is suddenly widowed; one of the movie’s off-target qualities is its refusal to specify the cause of death or even show us clearly what his wife looked like, which in real life would be unbearably vivid facts. Sam Spruell has a quietly sympathetic role as Cumberbatch’s brother.

Left to look after their two young boys, he succumbs to a kind of breakdown, and hallucinates a giant nightmarish crow, which after a while the boys can sense too. The crow is derisively voiced by David Thewlis, and resembles the Ted-Hughes-ish illustrations Cumberbatch was working on. It sneeringly, ruthlessly mocks and jeers at his “sad dad” anguish; while everyone else is walking on eggshells around him, perhaps making things worse, the brutal crow jabs its beak into his psychic wound.

‘Suffering, betrayal, impending doom’: Spain’s alienated youth – in pictures

Magnum photographer Lúa Ribeira worked intensely with young people – shooting them in dystopian landscapes on city limits to reflect their feelings of disconnection

U.S. Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick indicted on charges of stealing $5M in disaster funds

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been indicted on charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds and using some of the money to aid her 2021 campaign.

Thursday news quiz: TikTok horrors, hat-trick heroes and a rescued baby otter

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Last week in the comments, someone dared raise the ancient philosophical conundrum: when we say “the first line of a play”, do we mean the first words spoken by a character, or do the stage directions count? The Thursday quiz condemns such quibbling, hair splitting and dramaturgical pedantry – unless of course it’s the quiz making a fuss. Still, the show must go on regardless, so limber up for another 15 questions of topical nonsense and dubious – though entirely correct – general knowledge. Let us know how you get on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 224

A cold gold rush? The race for the Arctic's critical minerals is heating up

Countries are increasingly turning to the thawing and sparsely populated northern polar region as part of a push to break China's mineral dominance.

Steve Smith fires up over sandpaper sledge as Australia confirm team for Ashes opener

• Captain hits out at comments made by Monty Panesar

• Weatherald gets nod to open in series opener in Perth

Australia captain Steve Smith has confirmed his team for Friday’s opening Ashes Test – but the announcement was overshadowed by an extraordinary verbal attack on Monty Panesar after the former England spinner suggested Ben Stokes and his touring team should try to upset him by rehashing the infamous sandpaper ball tampering controversy of 2018.

Smith insisted the comments “didn’t really bother me”, but apparently demonstrated the opposite by raking over Panesar’s notoriously miserable appearance on the TV quiz Mastermind in 2019.

British Jews turn to Greens and Reform UK as support for main parties drops

Study finds new party divide as backing for Labour and Conservatives plunges from 84% in 2020 to 58% in 2025

A new party divide is emerging among British Jews, research has found, with support rising fast for the Greens – buoyed up by younger and “anti-Zionist” Jews – while older Orthodox men turn to Reform UK as trust in the two main parties “collapses”.

Support for Labour and the Conservatives among British Jews had fallen to 58% by July 2025 from nearly 84% in 2020, according to a report from the Institute of Jewish Policy Research (JPR), which said it was “the lowest level we’ve ever recorded by some distance”.

Ban on veggie ‘burgers’: plant-based products may lose meaty names in UK under EU law

Exclusive: Trade agreement means UK is subject to some food labelling rules, with vote on vegetarian food terms this week

Calling plant-based food veggie “burgers” or “sausages” may be banned in the UK under the new trade agreement with the EU, the Guardian understands.

The Labour government secured a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU earlier this year, which allows British businesses to sell products including some burgers and sausages in the EU for the first time since Brexit.

Alice Zaslavsky’s recipe for garlic red peppers with a creamy white bean dip, AKA papula

Slivers of garlicky red pepper on a creamy Balkan white bean dip known as papula

This week, I’ve been putting the finishing touches on an interview I recorded with legendary Australian cheesemaker Richard Thomas, the inventor of an ingredient you may not even realise is Australian: marinated feta, AKA “Persian fetta”. An unexpected stop on a trip to Iran in the 1970s gifted Thomas a chance meeting with a Persian doctor and his breakfast: fresh labneh with soft, still-warm lavash. It was a revelation. On his return, Thomas got to work creating a fresh cheese from goat’s milk (similar to chèvre) and from cow’s milk, marinated and preserved in oil, with an extra “t” to avert confusion with the Greek-style feta, that’s still being utilised by cooks and chefs right across the world.

Persian fetta is a shapeshifter, capable of remaining both firm and steadfast when crumbled across the top of a platter or salad, and of yielding to a soft, velvety cream, enhancing all manner of dishes from pasta to pesto to whipped dips and schmears – and, of course, as a topping for that Aussie cafe staple, avocado toast.

Alice Zaslavsky is a Guardian Australia food columnist

House Dem charged with stealing FEMA money, using it for her campaign, DOJ says

Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida was indicted for allegedly stealing millions of dollars in federal emergency funds and routing some of it to her campaign account, the Justice Department said.

Alice Guo, Chinese national who ran huge scam centre while Philippines mayor, sentenced to life in prison

Guo, who pretended to be Filipina to become mayor, found guilty of human trafficking after raid on compound where more than 700 people were forced to run scams

Alice Guo, a Chinese national who became a mayor in the Philippines while masquerading as a Filipina, has been sentenced to life in prison along with seven others on human trafficking charges, state prosecutors have said.

Guo, who served as mayor of a town north of Manila, was found guilty of overseeing a Chinese-operated online gambling centre where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or risk torture.

Trump and Mamdani to meet in Oval Office on Friday after months of bickering

President has previously criticised the New York City mayor-elect, labelling him a ‘communist’ and threatening to deport him

Donald Trump has confirmed a long-awaited meeting with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will happen in Washington this week, setting up an in-person clash between the political opposites who for months have antagonised each other.

The sit-down, which Trump said on social media would take place on Friday in the Oval Office, could possibly represent a detente of sorts between the Republican president and Democratic rising star.

What's next now that Trump has signed a bill releasing the Epstein files

President Trump has signed a bill to compel the Justice Department to make public its files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Now, there's a 30-day countdown for the DOJ to produce those records.

Judge lashes out over ruling on Texas maps: "The opinion would deserve an 'F'"

A federal judge penned a heated dissent after this week's ruling that blocked Texas' redistricting effort, accusing the judge who wrote the majority opinion of "outrageous conduct" and "cherry-picking of the highest order."

Angoulême comics festival in crisis as creators and publishers declare boycott

French government withdraws funding after claims of toxic management and dismissal of staff member who lodged rape complaint

One of the world’s most prestigious comic book festivals is under threat of cancellation after leading graphic novelists and publishers announced they would boycott the event and the French government withdrew a tranche of its funding.

In the biggest crisis in its illustrious history, the Angoulême festival of la bande dessinée (comic strip) may not take place in 2026 after claims of toxic management and the dismissal of a member of staff who had lodged a rape complaint.

‘Look at us with mercy’: displaced Palestinians dread onset of harsh winter

People in tent cities on shore of southern Gaza fear disease, cold and hunger as shortages continue

Everyone knew what was coming. But there was little the inhabitants of the tent cities that crowd the shore of southern Gaza could do as the storm approached. Sabah al-Breem, 62, was sitting with one of her daughters and several grandchildren in their current home – a makeshift construction of tarpaulins and salvaged wood – when the wind and the driving rain broke across Gaza last week.

“Everything collapsed … We repaired our shelter but in the night it fell down again under the heavy rain. All our belongings were soaked. The day the winds blew was a black day for us,” said Breem, originally from Khan Younis but displaced multiple times since the start of the war in October 2023.

Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines: how marine life thrives on dumped weapons

Scientists discover thousands of sea creatures have made their homes amid the detritus of abandoned second world war munitions off the coast of Germany

In the brackish waters off the German coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands of munitions have become matted together over the years. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

Hold an ice cube – and shake like a dog: therapists on 16 simple, surprising ways to beat stress

It can cause physiological and emotional problems, but none of us can avoid it entirely. Here are some of the best ways to react when stress hormones start coursing through your body ...

Most people contend with stress in some element of their lives. What can you do when you are overwhelmed by it and your coping mechanisms no longer seem to work? Here, psychotherapists share their techniques for managing in the moment, seeking help, and minimising everyday stress.

‘Possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history’: the inside story of the Medomsley scandal

At a youth detention centre in north-east England, the paedophile Neville Husband raped and assaulted countless boys. Why was his reign of terror allowed to go on – and why hasn’t there been a public inquiry?

When I met Kevin Young in 2012 he was in his early 50s, handsome, charismatic, smart – and utterly broken. The moment he started talking about Medomsley detention centre he was in tears.

Young was born in Newcastle, in 1959. At two, he was taken into care, and his parents were convicted of wilful neglect. At eight, at a school in Devon, he was sexually abused by the gardener. At 14, at St Camillus, a Catholic residential school in Yorkshire, he was sexually assaulted by the headteacher, James Bernard Littlewood. But none of this compared with his experience at Medomsley, a youth detention centre in north-east England.

Samoa PM suspends country’s only daily newspaper from press briefings amid dispute over coverage

Prime minister has accused the Samoa Observer of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New Zealand

Samoa’s only daily newspaper has been banned from attending press conferences with the Samoan prime minister, in a move that critics say threatens the democratic integrity of the Pacific nation.

Relations between La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt and the Samoa Observer have deteriorated in recent weeks, with the prime minister accusing the newspaper of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New Zealand.

WWII vet runs across America, again

Ernie Andrus, who served in the Navy in World War II, was celebrated back in 2016 when, at the age of 93, he became the oldest person ever to run across America, making the trip from San Diego all the way to St. Simons Island, Georgia. But he recently got so bored, he decided to do something even more remarkable: make the same trip again, in the other direction. Steve Hartman reports.

House Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick charged with stealing $5M in Covid aid funds

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick joined Congress in 2022 after winning a special election to fill the Florida seat of late Rep. Alcee Hastings.

Rabih Alameddine wins National book award for fiction with darkly comic epic spanning six decades

True to his irreverent style, author of The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) thanks his psychiatrist, his gastrointestinal doctors and his drug dealers

Rabih Alameddine has won the National book award for fiction for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), a darkly comic saga spanning six decades in the life of a Lebanese family.

The novel, which traverses a sprawling history of Lebanon including its civil war and economic collapse, is told through the eyes of its titular protagonist: a gay 63-year-old philosophy teacher confronting his past and his relationship with his mother and his homeland.

‘We excel at every phase of AI’: Nvidia CEO quells Wall Street fears of AI bubble amid market selloff

Jensen Huang opens earnings call with attempt to dispel concerns after his $5tn firm beat Wall Street expectations

Global share markets rose after Nvidia posted third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates, assuaging for now concerns about whether the high-flying valuations of AI firms had peaked.

On Wednesday, all eyes were on Nvidia, the bellwether for the AI industry and the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, with analysts and investors hoping the chipmaker’s third-quarter earnings would dampen fears that a bubble was forming in the sector.

11/19: CBS Evening News

Congress set a 30-day deadline for the Epstein files release; Nearly 50,000 pounds of cocaine were seized in a multimillion-dollar drug bust

Trump to meet with New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at White House on Friday

Zohran Mamdani said he plans to talk to President Donald Trump about the problem many New York City residents have with affording to live in the Big Apple.

Trump signs bill to compel release of more Epstein documents

President attacks Democrats in post on Truth Social after US lawmakers swiftly move bill through Congress

Donald Trump signed a bill Wednesday directing the justice department to release files from the investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, surrendering in the face of joint pressure from Democratic opponents and the president’s conservative base.

The signature marked a sharp reversal for Trump, who had the authority as president to release the documents himself, but chose not to.

Will the public sexual assault of the president mark a turning point for women in Mexico? – podcast

What will it take to improve women’s safety in Mexico? With Estefanía Vela Barba and Ann Deslandes

Earlier this month, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was greeting citizens on the streets of Mexico City when a man groped her and tried to kiss her. A video of the incident quickly spread around the world.

Estefanía Vela Barba, an activist for women’s rights, tells Annie Kelly that while the president’s assault was shocking, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a woman. The pair discuss the policies around women’s safety that Sheinbaum has subsequently announced and the importance of cultural change as well as legal reform.

Epstein files bill signed by Trump, starting 30-day timer for their release

The Jeffrey Epstein files bill was overwhelmingly passed by the House and Senate. Only Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana voting against it.

Trump says he's signed bill to release Epstein files

President Trump said Wednesday he has signed a bill that requires the Justice Department to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days.

House blocks Nancy Mace's censure effort against fellow Republican Cory Mills

The Florida congressman has faced a number of controversies this year, ranging from alleged assault and harassment to stolen valor and federal contracting violations. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Coast Guard admiral, DEA administrator defend strikes on alleged drug boats

The strikes have come amid a broader buildup of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean as the Trump administration continues to put pressure on Venezuela.

House votes to repeal new law allowing $500K lawsuits from senators

House lawmakers moved quickly to repeal a provision that allows senators to sue for $500,000 over phone record seizures. It's unclear what the Senate will do.

Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun is leaving to create his own startup

Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun is leaving the company, marking an end of an era of pioneering computer science research at the Facebook parent.

Turkey to host Cop31 climate conference after Australia drops push to hold it in Adelaide

Fortnight-long event to be held in Antalya but Australian climate change minister Chris Bowen expected to lead the negotiations

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Turkey will host the Cop31 climate conference after the Australian government dropped its push to hold the event in Adelaide at the last moment despite having invested in a more than three-year campaign.

But Australia’s climate change minister, Chris Bowen, is expected to lead climate negotiations at the summit in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya in November 2026 under a compromise deal to resolve a standoff between the two countries.

Man was likely unarmed when shot multiple times by Akron officer, mayor says

An Akron police officer fired more than a dozen shots within 25 seconds of arriving on the scene, police body camera footage appears to show.

Epstein messages show effort to connect with former friend Bill Gates

"He wants to talk to you but his wife won't let him," an apparent adviser to Gates told Epstein.

Epstein bill heading to Trump's desk after clearing final hurdle in Congress

The House sent to the Senate a bill that would force the release of the Epstein files, the final procedural move before President Trump's signature.

Judge questions Lindsey Halligan's handling of indictment in Comey case

A judge repeatedly questioned prosecutors about the validity of the indictment returned by a grand jury and its handling by interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan.

Coast Guard seizes $360 million in cocaine amid debate over maritime anti-smuggling strategy

As the U.S. Coast Guard unloads $360 million in seized cocaine, debate simmers about what the best approach is for anti-smuggling tactics on the high seas. Nicole Sganga spoke to a Coast Guard commander and DEA administrator Terry Cole.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang rejects talk of AI bubble: 'We see something very different'

During Nvidia's quarterly earnings call, CEO Jensen Huang offered a three-pronged argument to suggest that AI isn't a bubble.

New PSA asks flyers to show some manners this holiday season

A new campaign from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seeks to get air passengers to treat each other with a bit more civility during the holiday travel season. Kris Van Cleave has more.

Veteran FBI employee claims he was fired for displaying Pride flag

A 16-year FBI employee has filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired last month because he had a Pride flag draped near his desk. Scott MacFarlane has details.

Nasa releases close-up pictures of comet flying by from another star system

The interstellar visitor, known as 3I/Atlas, will be seen just in this instance, never to come back again

Nasa released close-up pictures on Wednesday of the interstellar comet that’s making a quick one-and-done tour of the solar system.

Discovered over the summer, the comet known as 3I/Atlas is only the third confirmed object to visit our corner of the cosmos from another star. It zipped harmlessly past Mars last month.

Mom discharged from hospital while in labor says "I was stripped of my dignity"

Two weeks before she was scheduled to give birth, Mercedes Wells fought back tears as staff at Franciscan Health in Crown Point, Indiana, wheeled her out of the hospital. Her contractions were only one minute apart when a nurse told her she was being discharged. Elaine Quijano reports.

Man says "I never had a gun" after being shot by Akron police officer, bodycam shows

A police officer in Akron, Ohio, is under investigation after firing more than a dozen shots at a man he thought had a gun. The city's mayor says it appears the man was not armed. Meg Oliver has the story.

Nvidia says there's 'no assurance' of final agreement with OpenAI despite $100 billion pact

Two months after announcing its blockbuster $100 billion agreement with OpenAI, Nvidia said in its quarterly report that an official deal is not guaranteed.

Pinprick blood test could detect disease 10 years before symptoms appear, study finds

Molecular profiles will give detailed snapshot of person’s physiology and predict diseases from diabetes to cancer and dementia

The world’s largest study into key substances in the bloodstream has paved the way for a swathe of pinprick tests that can detect early signs of disease more than a decade before symptoms appear, researchers say.

Work on the tests follows the completion of a project by the UK Biobank to measure the levels of nearly 250 different proteins, sugars, fats and other compounds in blood collected from half a million volunteers.

Trump administration seeks to roll back protections for imperiled species and habitat

The Interior Department proposed reviving a suite of changes to Endangered Species Act regulations first made during the Republican's first term. Those changes were reversed under former President Biden.

Mary Fowler claims racist treatment at French club Montpellier after receiving bananas as leaving present

• Forward makes claim about dressing room incident at Montpellier

• ‘It was hard to see it as merely a simple error,’ says Matildas star

Matildas star Mary Fowler has claimed she experienced racism while at Montpellier in 2022, when she was given bananas while others in the squad received flowers at the end of her final season with the French club.

The explosive revelations are contained in her memoir Bloom, which was released this week and details the extensive challenges she has faced in her young career, including a pattern of self-harm she has worked hard to overcome.

Botulism cases rise to 31 amid ongoing recall of ByHeart baby formula, FDA says

The FDA said it received multiple reports that the baby formula is still being found on store shelves in multiple states.

Nvidia shares rise on stronger-than-expected revenue, forecast

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said sales for the company's current-generation GPU, called Blackwell, are "off the charts."

The landline may be having a renaissance – but it’s to a world in which the art of phone calls has changed | Paul Daley

Some may be nostalgic for a time when the landline made communication a family affair, before smartphones were an extension of each of us

When something becomes old and then new again during my lifetime, I might be forgiven for feeling at once quite aged and a little sentimental.

But suggestions that the landline telephone may be having a cultural renaissance just make me feel old and somewhat triggered by experiences of fraught teenage social negotiations over the long obsolete rotary dial phone of my youth.

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Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist

New Zealand bans puberty blockers for young transgender people

Critics warn move could have devastating impact on lives and wellbeing of those affected

New Zealand has announced it is banning new prescriptions of puberty-blocking drugs for young transgender people, in a move that critics warned could worsen the mental health of those affected.

The step comes amid growing global debate about the number of adolescents seeking to change gender, dividing those concerned about hastiness in prescribing such medications and those worried about access to remedies they deem lifesaving.

House lawmakers force a vote on bill to restore federal workers' bargaining rights

House lawmakers have collected enough signatures to force a vote on a bill that would nullify President Trump's executive order terminating collective bargaining rights for most federal workers.

5 charts that illustrate America's deepening affordability crisis

Although inflation has eased, many Americans say they still feel squeezed financially. Here are five areas where households are feeling the pinch.

Russo double secures tight turnaround for Arsenal against Real Madrid in WCL

Alessia Russo’s second-half double secured a 2-1 comeback victory for Arsenal against Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League.

The hosts enjoyed plenty of opportunities during the first half but the former Arsenal player Caroline Weir sent the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time with a brilliant volley.

Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks review – the sheer number of pornographic drawings is a big shock

JMW Turner left behind some 37,000 sketches when he died, many of which have rarely been seen. Do they – including a huge collection of explicit sketches – reveal truths about the elusive man?

The hook for Turner: the Secret Sketchbooks is meant to be that many of the 37,000 sketches left behind by the great British painter JMW Turner have rarely been seen and never been filmed; therein may be hints at the nuances of his elusive character that his main oeuvre kept hidden. Equally remarkable, though, is the documentary’s bold choice of contributors. As well as the art historians and present-day British artists who would dominate a standard art film, there are famous laymen, from the obviously somewhat qualified – Timothy Spall played the artist in Mike Leigh’s biographical film Mr Turner; Chris Packham is well placed to comment on Turner’s reverence for the natural world – to the more surprising hire of Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones.

Neither the sketchbooks nor the celebs turn the documentary format upside down, but they add something to a distillation of Turner’s life and legacy that balances accessibility with analytical muscle. Will a previously uninitiated viewer now be more likely to attend a Turner exhibition? Yes. Can existing Turner experts finesse their knowledge? Yes. Job done.

‘Unforgivable’: Trump’s ‘piggy’ insult is stoking more outrage than usual

The clip of the US president on Air Force One last Friday has taken off without much help from the media itself

It’s one outrage in days full of outrageous material.

“Quiet, piggy,” Donald Trump told a female reporter in a press gaggle, pointing his finger at her angrily.

Elon Musk's xAI will be first customer for Nvidia-backed data center in Saudi Arabia

Nvidia and xAI said a data center being built in Saudi Arabia and equipped with hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips will count xAI as its first customer.

Saudi Arabia releases US retiree jailed over critical tweets

Saad Almadi’s family thanks Trump and state department as announcement comes after meeting with crown prince

Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow US citizen Saad Almadi to return home to Florida, five months ahead of the scheduled lifting of travel restrictions and a day after Saudi crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman met Donald Trump at the White House.

Almadi, 75, was sentenced to 19 years of incarceration in the kingdom in 2021 after he wrote 14 tweets critical of the Riyadh government. Two years later, the charges were reduced to so-called “cyber crimes” and he was sentenced to a 30-year ban on leaving Saudi Arabia.

Major League Baseball announces new media rights deals for NBC, ESPN and Netflix

MLB officially announced new media rights deals with NBC, Netflix and ESPN until 2028.

Alphabet stock surges on Gemini 3 AI model optimism

Google said Gemini 3 allows users to get better answers to more complex questions and doesn't need as much prompting to determine the context.

Saudi prince Mohammed is being lavished by Trump. It’s clear why | Mohamad Bazzi

Autocrats like Prince Mohammed are eager to benefit from Trump’s brazen effort to use the presidency to enrich himself and his family

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, visited the US this week for the first time in seven years – and Donald Trump rolled out the red carpet for his favorite Arab autocrat. On Tuesday, Trump hosted the prince for lunch and talks at the White House, followed by a black-tie dinner that included members of Congress, business leaders and top administration officials. The next day, Trump and the prince appeared together at a US-Saudi investment summit at the Kennedy Center.

It’s all part of a rehabilitation tour for Prince Mohammed, years after US intelligence agencies concluded that he had ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident. In October 2018, Khashoggi was ambushed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a 15-member hit team, who dismembered his body with a bone saw. For a time, the killing turned Prince Mohammed into an international pariah. But Trump never wavered in his support of the Saudi leader, and during his first term protected the prince from US sanctions and pressure from Congress.

Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University

Curaçao to Cape Verde: Small nations make big World Cup history

From tiny Curaçao, to troubled Haiti's remarkable comeback, discover how some of the smallest nations in the world are defying the odds to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The September jobs report is finally coming out Thursday. Here's what it is expected to show

Due at 8:30 a.m. ET, the report is forecast to show a gain of 50,000 jobs in the public and private sectors.

Trump says he'd love to fire Powell, urges Bessent to 'work on' him to lower rates

Trump has long pushed for Powell to sharply lower interest rates, but the latest Fed minutes show central bank officials are conflicted over further cuts.

Jets’ Aaron Glenn confident Kris Boyd will ‘walk away’ from NYC shooting

• Jets’ Boyd in critical but stable condition

• Glenn: player ‘upbeat’, expected to recover

• NYPD releases images of shooting suspect

New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn says he has spoken to Kris Boyd and is confident the cornerback and special teams standout will be OK after being shot in midtown Manhattan early Sunday morning.

Glenn said the hospitalized Boyd was “upbeat” in their recent conversation.

Fed minutes show divide over October rate cut and cast doubt about December

While the Federal Open Market Committee approved a cut at the meeting, the path forward looks less creation.

Texas man indicted in death of "King of the Hill" voice actor Jonathan Joss

It is unclear whether the killing of "King of the Hill" voice actor Jonathan Joss will be considered a hate crime.

From the first ball to Bazball: everything you need to know about the Ashes

Can Ben Stokes really lead England to victory in Australia? Set your alarms and gird your loins, this one’s not just big, it’s positively Brobdingnagian

FBI worker says he was wrongfully terminated for having Pride flag at desk

David Maltinsky, a 16-year veteran, says in lawsuit agency retaliated against him for engaging in protected speech

A longtime FBI employee has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was fired for displaying a Pride flag at his desk, naming the FBI director, Kash Patel, the justice department and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, as defendants.

According to David Maltinsky, an intelligence specialist who had served with the bureau for 16 years, his wrongful termination earlier this year was “unconstitutional and politically motivated”.

JetBlue to add Milan, Barcelona flights next year in push for high-spending travelers

The new seasonal flights will launch next spring from Boston

Trump speaks at U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum

Trump's appearance at the Kennedy Center came a day after he hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the White House.

UK holds talks with LinkedIn on clamping down on Chinese espionage

Government wants social media platforms to be less attractive for foreign agents after recent intelligence warnings

The government is holding talks with LinkedIn on how it can clamp down on prolific Chinese espionage activity after a rare interference alert was issued by MI5.

The National Protective Security Authority, which is part of the UK’s security services, is speaking to social media platforms about making them less attractive for foreign agents, a government official told the Guardian.

US and Russian officials draft plan to end Ukraine war based on capitulation from Kyiv

It is unclear if Trump administration backs deal that would mean Kyiv giving up territory and slashing size of military

US and Russian officials have quietly drafted a new plan to end the war in Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory and severely limit the size of its military, it was reported on Wednesday as Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least 25 people in the city of Ternopil.

The draft plan, which was reportedly developed by Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Kremlin adviser Kirill Dmitriev, would force draconian measures on Ukraine that would give Russia unprecedented control over the country’s military and political sovereignty. The plan is likely to be viewed as surrender in Kyiv.

Judge questions DOJ about lead-up to Comey indictment, expresses skepticism

In court Wednesday, former FBI Director James Comey sought to have the criminal charges against him dismissed.

Trump vows U.S. help in settling Sudan war, at request of Saudi crown prince

President Trump said the U.S. is getting involved in peace efforts in Sudan at the request of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

The infidelity saga of RFK Jr, Nuzzi and her ex is unspooling: ‘It’s like they’ve opened all their trench coats’

The rollout of reporter Olivia Nuzzi’s memoir has led to Ryan Lizza airing out her alleged affairs – and is fueling a dangerous stereotype about journalists

This week, Olivia Nuzzi – the US star political reporter known for her cozy access to top Republican figures – dropped an excerpt of her memoir, American Canto. In it, she detailed what she describes as an emotional affair with Robert F Kennedy Jr, who she calls “the politician”.

Not to be outdone, Nuzzi’s ex-fiance and former Politico correspondent Ryan Lizza self-published an essay dishing on the day he found out Nuzzi was cheating on him, he claims – not with RFK Jr, as one might have expected, but with another former presidential candidate, Mark Sanford.

China’s power play: MI5 warns of relentless espionage attempts in Britain

Alert says Beijing trying to recruit British sources in parliament, even if potential gains may be unclear

An unexpected connection on LinkedIn. An offer of work from a headhunter, most likely a young woman, based in China. The chance to earn perhaps £20,000 part-time writing a handful of geopolitical reports for a Chinese company peppered with “non-public” or “insider” insights. Payment in cryptocurrency or cash preferred.

It may seem obvious, on this telling, that something about this approach would be amiss. Nevertheless, China’s powerful ministry of state security (MSS) still considers it worthwhile to deploy recruitment consultants to try it – leading MI5 to warn repeatedly about their activity online.

Epstein survivor expresses hope for transparency after vote to release files

Annie Farmer, who testified that she was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, spoke to "CBS Mornings" about what she expects from the Epstein files.

FBI probing stepsibling in teen's cruise ship death, sources say

Anna Kepner, 18, was on a family vacation aboard the Carnival Horizon with her father, stepmother, and three stepsiblings when she was discovered dead.

Loose wire on ship likely led to power loss before Baltimore bridge collapse, NTSB finds

A blackout that left a giant cargo ship powerless and on a collision course with Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024 was likely caused by a loose wire, the NTSB found. Kris Van Cleave reports.

The Guardian view on falling net migration: political debate is now detached from the facts

A fixation on reducing numbers leaves no room for rational discussion of what that means for the economy and society

British political debate has long been dominated by public anxiety about rising levels of immigration. How might that change if the population tide were to turn? Not at all, would appear to be the answer. Net migration has in fact been falling since before Labour came to power last July, and yet there has been no end of demand for ever tighter controls and no end of government acquiescence.

New figures published this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), adjusting historical data for methodological changes, show that net migration was 944,000 for the year ending March 2023 – about 40,000 higher than had previously been thought. The drop since then has also been steeper. The number for the year ending December 2024 is now thought to be 345,000 – lower than the earlier count by 86,000.

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 funding Ukraine’s resistance: a looming financial crisis in Kyiv must be averted | Editorial

Whether by leveraging Russia’s frozen assets, or other means, the EU must deliver the cash necessary to withstand Putin’s war of attrition

In the early part of this year, as the US vice-president, JD Vance, berated European leaders in Munich, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy was subjected to a televised mauling in the White House, it became starkly apparent that the bonds of solidarity between the European Union and Ukraine would need to be strengthened to cope with a new geopolitical reality. As 2025 draws to a close, a moment of reckoning has arrived.

According to EU estimates, Ukraine will need more than €70bn in extra financial assistance next year to keep defending itself against Vladimir Putin. That money won’t be coming from Washington, where Donald Trump has refused to seek new funding for military aid from Congress. Yet Kyiv’s ability to negotiate an acceptable peace depends on its capacity to withstand Mr Putin’s relentless war of attrition, which is designed to drain Ukraine of the resources necessary to resist, and to weaken the resolve of its European allies.

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.

Housing numbers point to an unusually strong buyer's market. There's a catch

There are many more sellers on the market now than buyers, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a buyer's market. Here's why.

Ben Jennings on ultra-processed foods – cartoon

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US charges ex-Olympic snowboarder turned drug kingpin with murder of witness

Unsealed indictment says Ryan Wedding tracked down witness who was then murdered before he could testify

US authorities have charged a fugitive former Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned drug kingpin with the murder of a witness who was prepared to testify against him.

The attorney general, Pam Bondi, said on Wednesday that Ryan Wedding was accused in a newly unsealed indictment of tracking down a witness in Colombia who was then murdered before he could give evidence.

‘He used to say things like “Hitler was right”’: Farage faces more allegations of racist behaviour at school

A former friend and others who were at Dulwich college with the now Reform UK leader speak of his behaviour

• ‘Deeply shocking’: Nigel Farage faces fresh claims of racism and antisemitism at school

It had been a fun sleepover at Nigel Farage’s house and Jean-Pierre Lihou, a teenager with an appetite, was delighted with his schoolfriend’s mother’s hospitality. “I remember the fantastic cooked English breakfast, as opposed to what you get at a boarding house on a morning,” Lihou recalled. “I was a boarder and he was a day boy,” he said of their education at Dulwich college in south-east London.

Farage was a great mimic, and funny with it, Lihou said. But over time he found there was a darker side to his 14-year-old friend.

A fire in southwestern Japan damages 170 homes and forces evacuations

Firefighters and army helicopters battled a fire that burned through old wooden houses in a fishing town in southwestern Japan.

How Kash Patel is roiling the FBI and changing its mission

New Yorker writer Marc Fisher says Patel became FBI director without senior law enforcement experience because of his loyalty to Trump and willingness to seek retribution for his perceived enemies.

Greetings from Yimianpo, China, where artisans carve Russian nesting dolls

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at 50: the spirit of rebellion lives on

The 1975 drama, one of the only films to ever receive the big five Oscars, remains a touchstone of American cinema with a resonant message of resisting conformity

A movie winning the big five Academy Awards – best picture along with honoring the lead actor and actress, writing and directing – happens so rarely that there’s not much use in examining the three movies that have pulled it off for common ground. But among It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Silence of the Lambs, it may be Cuckoo’s Nest, released 50 years ago on Wednesday, that feels like the unlikeliest across-the-board triumph. It Happened One Night and The Silence of the Lambs both belong to rarely awarded genres (romantic comedy and horror, respectively), which makes their big wins unusual but also clearcut: here is an example of the best this type of movie has to offer. Cuckoo’s Nest, meanwhile, is potentially much thornier. It’s a comedy-drama made at least in part as allegory – an anti-conformity story of fomenting 1960s social rebellion, disguised as a movie about lovable patients at a mental health facility.

The Ken Kesey novel that the movie is based on was published in 1962, chronicling some of what Kesey saw as a hospital orderly and anticipating some of the coming pushback against postwar American conformity. The major change in Miloš Forman’s film is to shift the narrative away from Chief (Will Sampson), a towering Native American who presents himself as deaf and mute. Chief narrates the book, while the movie hews closer to the perspective of RP McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), who enters the facility having faked mental illness in the hopes that he can avoid serving out a prison work-camp sentence. Though the doctors don’t seem entirely convinced by his ruse, his behavior is apparently erratic enough for him to stay at least a little while. His attempts to bring more individualism and fun to his cohabitants runs afoul of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), who exercises tight control over the ward.

Trump shrugged off Khashoggi’s killing. This is a new low | Jodie Ginsberg

Jamal Khashoggi was dismembered in a Saudi consulate. The president says ‘things happen’

“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came in a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

Jodie Ginsberg is CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists