World Cup qualifying news, Potter’s big Sweden bow and more – matchday live

⚽ News, discussion and buildup before the day’s action
⚽ Read Football Daily | And you can mail matchday live

There’s a slate of intriguing international matches to come today, not least Graham Potter’s debut as Sweden head coach. It’s been a bruising few years for Potter after his ill-fitting spells at Chelsea and West Ham but, as Nick Ames points out, he will have a sense of belonging after returning to the country where he built his reputation with Östersund:

Looking for more early morning reading? Here’s a selection, from Barney Ronay on Neymar to David Hytner’s chat with Han Willhoft-King and Suzanne Wrack in conversation with Millie Bright.

After I burned out, physics helped me understand what had happened to me – and to move on | Zahaan Bharmal

I thought hard work equalled success. I had to realise that’s not always how it works, in science or in life

If the words “force equals mass times acceleration” are mildly triggering, I apologise. Newton’s second law of motion will be familiar to anyone who’s ever studied physics. For some who struggled with that course, it may bring back painful memories. But for me, as an awkward teenager, it was oddly comforting – proof of an ordered, structured universe where cause always led to predictable effect. I carried that belief into university, where I studied physics, and even into my career. If I just worked hard enough, success would be mine.

But nine months into my first job, I got made redundant. It turns out that life doesn’t always obey Newton’s laws.

Zahaan Bharmal is the author of The Art of Physics and a senior director at Google, writing in a personal capacity

The teenager who quit Manchester City for Oxford University: ‘I felt I could do more’

Han Willhoft-King was fancied to succeed at Spurs then City but opted for law at Brasenose College above pressing sessions with Guardiola

Freshers’ week, Oxford University, early October. A time for the heart to hammer with excitement, when horizons are broadened inexorably. For minimal sleep and maximum fun. And for one or two tall stories, a bit of personal reinvention, perhaps.

Take one new law student at Brasenose College, because he can certainly spin a few yarns. About the time, for example, he was coached by Yaya Touré at the Tottenham academy. He did not recognise him at first but then saw him on the ball and the penny dropped.

Witnesses of Neymar’s sad decline hope for one final twist in his career’s brutal narrative arc | Barney Ronay

World Cup could still be in reach for the last genius of Brazilian football who has faded to a shadow of his former self

What’s your favourite Neymar advert? This is a tough question to answer. The body of work is huge and varied. The foot deodorant ad perhaps, which depicts Neymar’s feet literally on fire, ablaze with some kind of divine eau de toenail.

Or the new one for a brand of açaí berry death-gloop sorbet product, which shows Neymar holding up twin cones, like phials of luminous unicorn-sperm, and looking as though he’s just been hit over the head with a rock and it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to him.

Blast from confiscated explosives at police station in Indian-controlled Kashmir kills nine

The accidental explosion comes days after a deadly car blast in New Delhi which killed at least eight people near the city’s historic Red Fort

At least nine people were killed and 32 injured after a cache of confiscated explosives detonated inside a police station in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police have announced.

The blast occurred in the Nowgam area of Srinagar, the region’s main city, late on Friday while a team of forensic experts and police were examining the explosive material, said Nalin Prabhat, the region’s police director general. He ruled out any foul play, saying it was an accident.

Which country music legend was almost killed by an ostrich? The Saturday quiz

From Brick, Chancery and Hangar to Flat Holm, Lundy and the Wolves, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which country music legend was almost killed by an ostrich in 1981?
2 Sarah Mullally has been named as the 106th what?
3 What first met at Thingvellir in Iceland in 930?
4 In the power industry, what is EfW?
5 Lacryma Christi wine comes from vineyards on which mountain?
6 What BBC sitcom has been running for 19 years?
7 Whose report led to the adoption of all-seater stadiums in the UK?
8 Which chess piece was originally known as the vizier?
What links:
9 Brick; Chancery; Hangar; Leather; Park; Pudding?
10 Sierra de Urbión; Tordesillas; Zamora; Porto?
11 Son of Cush; ninth musical variation; maritime patrol aircraft; Iranian embassy siege?
12 Caldey; Denny; Flat Holm; Lundy; Stert; The Wolves?
13 Boxing; chariot racing; discus; javelin; long jump; pankration; wrestling?
14 James Bond; Alec Leamas; Alden Pyle; Adolf Verloc?
15 Cate Blanchett; Penélope Cruz; Diane Keaton; Mira Sorvino; Dianne Wiest?

Teletubbies creator warns parents over ‘empty’ YouTube programmes for children

Anne Wood says algorithms bypass ‘the responsibility of art’ and have failed to support high-quality children’s content

Lots of programmes for children on YouTube are “empty” and do “nothing to encourage the imaginative life of children”, the Teletubbies creator has cautioned parents.

Anne Wood, the veteran children’s producer who devised the popular TV show for preschool children, said children’s television had long been undervalued and she feared “we’re losing a tremendous amount and nobody can see it because it’s not considered important”.

My Cultural Awakening: I moved across the world after watching a Billy Connolly documentary

A chance viewing of the comic’s World Tour of Scotland made me swap Australia for the Highlands, although things didn’t quite go to plan …

I was 23 and thought I had found my path in life. I’d always wanted to work with animals, and I had just landed a job as a vet nurse in Melbourne. I was still learning the ropes, but I imagined I would stay there for years, building a life around the work. Then, five months in, the vet called me into his office and told me it wasn’t working out. “It’s not you,” he said, “I just really hate training people.” His previous nurse had been with him for decades; she knew his every move. I didn’t. And just like that, I was out of a job.

I drove home crying, feeling utterly adrift. I wasn’t sure whether to try again at another vet clinic or rip up the plan entirely and do something else. After spending a few days floating around aimlessly, trying to recalibrate my life, I turned on the TV, needing something to take my mind off things. And there he was: Billy Connolly, striding across a windswept Scottish landscape in his World Tour of Scotland documentary.

‘We feel we’re fighting a losing battle’: the race to remove millions of plastic beads from Camber Sands

A huge cleanup effort has seen volunteers working to remove beads by hand and machine. They can only wait and see the extent of damage to wildlife and dune habitat

Just past a scrum of dog walkers, about 40 people are urgently combing through the sand on hands and knees. Their task is to try to remove millions of peppercorn-sized black plastic biobeads from where they have settled in the sand. Beyond them, a seal carcass grins menacingly, teeth protruding from its rotting skull.

Last week, an environmental disaster took place on Camber Sands beach, on what could turn out to be an unprecedented scale. Eastbourne Wastewater Treatment Works, owned by Southern Water, experienced a mechanical failure and spewed out millions of biobeads on to the Sussex coastline. Southern Water has since taken responsibility for the spill. Ironically, biobeads are used to clean wastewater – bacteria attach to their rough, crinkly surface and clean the water of contaminants.

Camber Sands is one of England’s most popular beaches, with rare dune habitat

‘Not for the faint-hearted’: is running the BBC an impossible job?

After Tim Davie’s resignation, the next director general will face internal strife, external noise and looming talks over the corporation’s existence and purpose

As BBC senior editors arrived at its New Broadcasting House headquarters in central London on Monday, the most pressing question was what had convinced Tim Davie, the corporation’s director general, to quit suddenly. Like any good BBC drama, it was a plot twist no one had seen coming.

As they assessed the brutal pressures that had finally proved too much for Davie, a second question soon arose. Was running the BBC now simply an impossible job?

From The Beast in Me to Jon Fosse’s Vaim: the week in rave reviews

Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in a taut psychological two-hander, and the Nobel prize winner delivers another miracle. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Cop30 was meant to be a turning point, so why do some say the climate summit is broken?

Swamped by lobbyists and hobbled by a lack of urgency, there are fears Cop could become a sprawling spectacle that betrays those who depend on it most

Thousands of diplomats, activists, journalists and lobbyists are gathering in the sweltering, tropical heat of Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon, for the Cop30 climate talks.

Since Brazil was awarded the hosting duties three years ago, hopes have been high that the Amazonian Cop – taking place in the country that hosted the Earth summit where the global fight for the climate first began – could be a turning point in the fight against climate breakdown.

Orbán’s claims of Trump summit triumph mask growing doubts over his grip on power

Embattled Hungarian leader says he won an indefinite reprieve from sanctions on oil and gas from Russia, but the US has since disputed this

As Viktor Orbán would tell it, he had the perfect meeting with Donald Trump.

After visiting the White House last week, the embattled Hungarian prime minister quickly declared victory, saying he had secured an indefinite exemption from US sanctions on oil and gas imported from Russia. The deal would shield Hungarians from skyrocketing energy prices ahead of parliamentary elections next year and potentially boost Orbán’s chances of extending his 15-year rule.

In the name of their fathers: Eubank v Benn began and ended a heady era of British boxing

Their dads lit a fire that consumed me but Eubank Jr v Conor Benn embodies all that has gone wrong with the Dark Trade

Thirty-five years ago this month, on 18 November 1990, my life changed course when I watched Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn fight each other in Birmingham with a ferocity which left me astonished and breathless. After that savage and surreal contest, I began working on a book about boxing, Dark Trade, which allowed me to become a full-time writer.

Benn and Eubank were so different that my already deep interest in boxing caught fire. I became consumed by the fight game for decades until, earlier this year, I finished writing The Last Bell, my fifth and final book about boxing. I still loved the most interesting fighters and their incredible life stories, but the controversies around the manufactured rivalry between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr left me sick at heart.

Tim Dowling: our lunch guests are always prompt … So where are they?

The table is laid by 12.30pm and we’ve even ironed the napkins. At 1pm the meat is resting. At 1.30pm it’s time to make a phone call …

My wife and I are having people to lunch – another couple; old friends. It’s supposed to be an informal affair, but it’s necessarily been a long time in the planning because, unlike us, our guests are busy people, and hard to nail down.

Besides, if you have weeks to plan a lunch it can’t be that informal – you don’t want to make it seem as if you woke up that morning still having no idea what you were going to cook, even if that is the case.

‘I’m not as fierce as I seem’: Glenn Close on growing up in a cult, marching against Trump – and being unlucky in love

She’s Hollywood’s biggest character actor who terrified a generation of men with her ‘bunny boiling’ turn in Fatal Attraction. Now, Close alternates the glamour of the red carpet with living in a red state. She talks about the joy of her ‘undefined’ life

Most of us don’t live our lives in accordance with a governing metaphor, but Glenn Close does. The 78-year-old was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, a town in the north‑east of the US that, to the actor’s enduring irritation, telegraphs “smug affluence” to other Americans. In fact, Close’s background is more complicated than that, rooted in a childhood that was wild and free but also traumatic, and in an area of New England in which her family goes back generations. “I grew up on those great stone walls of New England,” says the actor, chin out, gimlet-eyed – Queen Christina at the prow of a ship. “Some of them were 6ft tall and 250 years old! I have a book called Sermons in Stone and it says at one point that more energy and hours ran into building the New England stone walls than the pyramids.”

If the walls are an image Close draws on for strength, they might also serve as shorthand for the journalist encountering her at interview. Close appears in a London hotel suite today in a military-style black suit, trim, compact, and with a small white dog propped up on a chair beside her. For the span of our conversation, the actor’s warmth and friendliness combine with a reserve so practised and precise that the presence of the dog in the room feels, unfairly perhaps, like a handy way for Close to burn through a few minutes of the interview with some harmless guff about dog breeds. (The dog is called Pip, which is short for “Sir Pippin of Beanfield”. He is a purebred Havanese and “they’re incredibly intelligent”. Most dog owners in the US have the emotional support paperwork necessary to get them on a plane but, says Close, laughing, “That’s really what he is!”)

Josh Hazlewood ruled out of Ashes opener in fresh blow to Australia bowling stocks

• Michael Neser added to first Test squad already missing Pat Cummins

• England’s Mark Wood available after being cleared of hamstring injury

Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the first Ashes Test after a second scan on the hamstring injury he initially reported during the recent Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Victoria found a low-grade tear.

The news came hours after England announced that scans on Mark Wood, whose own participation in the opening Test had been thrown into doubt after he reported stiffness in his left hamstring on the first day of their warm-up game against the Lions at Lilac Hill, had found no injury.

From Hollywood to holy water: Pope Leo invites stars to the Vatican

Observers say that welcoming of guests including Cate Blanchett, Monica Bellucci and Spike Lee is a move to raise pontiff’s profile

A host of Hollywood celebrities will meet Pope Leo on Saturday, a gathering Vatican observers say is aimed at giving some star power to the pontiff, who is the first US pope in the history of the Catholic church.

Cate Blanchett, Monica Bellucci, Chris Pine and Adam Scott are among the actors who will join a special audience with Leo at his Apostolic Palace residence, along with the Oscar-winning directors Spike Lee, George Miller and Gus Van Sant.

Russia increasingly targeting trains as attacks on Ukraine’s rail network intensify

Ukrainian minister says more than 800 attacks recorded since start of year as Moscow seeks to destroy country’s logistical capabilities

Ukraine has recorded a threefold increase in the number of attacks on its railway system since July, according to a senior minister, as Moscow seeks to scupper one of Kyiv’s key logistical systems.

Oleksii Kuleba, a deputy prime minister with responsibility for infrastructure, said attacks on the network since the start of 2025 had caused damage totalling $1bn (£760m).

UK warned that 15% cut to health fund will force ‘impossible choices’ on Africa

Advocates fear that other donors will follow Britain’s reduction to the Global Fund for Aids, TB and malaria

The UK is undermining its legacy in fighting infectious diseases including Aids and malaria by cutting money pledged to a leading global health fund, campaigners claim.

The 15% reduction in the contribution to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced this week – in a year when the UK, alongside South Africa, is co-host of the fund’s replenishment drive – risks encouraging other countries to cut back commitments as well, advocates fear.

The Gates Foundation is a major private contributor to the Global Fund. The foundation also contributes to theguardian.org, which funds independent journalism at the Guardian

China advises against travel to Japan amid escalating row over PM’s Taiwan comments

Sanae Takaichi says the use of force against Taiwan could warrant a military response from Tokyo

China has advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan, escalating a diplomatic feud sparked by comments from Tokyo’s new prime minister about a hypothetical attack on Taiwan.

Sanae Takaichi told Japan’s parliament on 7 November that the use of force against the self-ruled island claimed by China could warrant a military response from Tokyo. Japan has since said its position on Taiwan – just 100km from the nearest Japanese island – is unchanged.

Trump asks Justice Department to probe Epstein's ties to Democrats, banks

President Trump accused Democrats of using what he calls the "Epstein hoax" to defect blame for the government shutdown.

Trump ends support for Marjorie Taylor Greene amid growing Epstein feud

President turns on ‘Wacky Marjorie’ after congresswoman criticizes effort to block release of key Epstein documents

Donald Trump announced Friday that he is withdrawing his support and endorsement of Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally and previously fierce defender of the president and the Maga movement.

Trump’s move away from Greene came just hours after she said in an interview she thought the president’s attempts to stop the release of the files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is “insanely the wrong direction to go”.

Disney and YouTube TV reach new deal, ending dayslong blackout

Disney and YouTube TV reached a new deal to bring channels like ABC and ESPN back to the Google-owned live streaming platform Friday.

Trump says he will take legal action against BBC, despite its apology

US president tells reporters he will sue the corporation for ‘anywhere between a billion and $5bn’

Donald Trump has told reporters he will still take legal action against the BBC next week, despite the British broadcaster apologising for a misleading edit of one of his speeches.

On Friday evening, the US president told reporters aboard Air Force One “we’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5bn, probably sometime next week. We have to do it.”

Dad speaks out after students allegedly share explicit deepfake of his daughter

A 13-year-old girl was expelled from school after she confronted a male classmate who allegedly shared AI-generated nude images of her and other girls.

Teen defeats his mentor and high school civics teacher in local board election

In the Surry County Board of Supervisors race last week, 19-year-old Cameran Drew took on his favorite high school teacher and mentor, Kenneth Bell.

Washington confirms case of bird flu strain never before reported in humans

Health officials in Washington state said a resident has contracted bird flu, marking the first human case in the U.S. since February.

White House appeals ruling blocking National Guard deployment in Portland

In a 106-page opinion​ last week, a judge found that even though the president is entitled to "great deference" in his decision on whether to call up the National Guard, he did not have a legal basis for doing so.

Border Patrol plans to expand immigration crackdown to Charlotte, New Orleans

The Trump administration is planning to dispatch Border Patrol agents to Charlotte and New Orleans to oversee immigration operations that could involve armored vehicles and special operations teams.

Trump to ask DOJ to probe Jeffrey Epstein involvement with Clinton, JPMorgan, Summers

President Trump himself is a former longtime friend of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in a federal jail during Trump's first term.

Bad Bunny dominates Latin Grammy Awards

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny had a huge night at the Latin Grammy Awards. Lilia Luciano has details.

Dad seeks justice after students allegedly shared nude deepfake of his daughter

A family in Louisiana is raising awareness about AI-generated deepfake pornography after fake explicit photos of their 13-year-old daughter were allegedly shared among students at her middle school. Kati Weis reports.

Residents brace for possible mudslides in burn scars of Los Angeles fires

A slow-moving storm is expected to bring heavy rain to Southern California, and that could mean flooding and mudslides. Carter Evans has the latest and Lonnie Quinn has the forecast.

"Last Chance U" college football coach John Beam dies after being shot

John Beam, a football coach featured on Netflix's "Last Chance U" and the Laney College athletic director, has died, one day after being shot on the Oakland, California, campus, police announced. Andres Gutierrez has more.

South Carolina executes man by firing squad, in state’s third such killing in year

Stephen Bryant, 44, convicted over 2004 murder, was shot dead despite growing backlash against ‘barbaric’ method

South Carolina executed a man by firing squad on Friday, marking the third time the state has used gunfire to kill a person on death row despite growing backlash against the method.

Stephen Bryant, 44, had been sentenced to death for the October 2004 killing of Willard “TJ” Tietjen and pleaded guilty to two other murders. Bryant’s lawyers had argued in final appeals that the sentencing judge had been unable to consider his brain damage from his mother’s alcohol and drug use during pregnancy, but South Carolina’s supreme court declined to halt the execution on Monday.

English councils plan to sell off social clubs and sports centres to balance books

Survey finds 60% of key cities councils are planning to sell assets to meet costs of adult and children’s social care

English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books, according to a survey of local authorities.

The key cities group of councils, which represents second-tier cities in England, said 60% of councils were planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

South Carolina man who wrote message in victim's blood is executed by firing squad

Stephen Bryant, 44, was executed for killing a man in his home and writing "catch me if u can" on the wall with the victim's blood.

Pity the fool who owns a pool. It’s like having a large, delicate, expensive pet | Andrew Herrick

This back yard creature must be kept under constant chemical constraint, or it risks becoming more liability than asset

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

I’ll call him Bruce. He’s any of the 3.1 million Australians living in a house with a pool or spa. Over my long career in hardware, listening to the woes of so many Bruces, I’ve discovered that owning a pool is not all fun and bubbles at cocktail hour.

In the beginning, it wasn’t so bad. On first viewing his bayside property, Bruce already believed the agent’s claim that by far the most desirable addition to any home is a pool. It did look nice, glistening blue in the back yard. And weren’t the kids rapt. But now, years later, Bruce isn’t.

The scientist who helped win the fight to protect a sacred piece of the Pacific

Respected ocean expert Katy Soapi continues to advocate to protect Tetepare, one of the last untouched places in Solomon Islands

Scientist Katy Soapi’s earliest memories are of the sea. She grew up on Rendova, a lush island in western Solomon Islands, and life centred around the ocean.

“I remember when the big waves came, we would dive under them and come up laughing on the other side. Being part of those natural elements brought me so much joy.”

World Cup 2026 qualifying roundup: Northern Ireland in playoffs despite loss

• Slovakia win 1-0 and battle with Germany for top spot

• Netherlands nearly there after draw in Poland

Michael O’Neill fumed at a goal that “should clearly have been disallowed” after Northern Ireland’s hopes of progressing from World Cup qualifying Group A were ended by the Slovakia debutant Tomas Bobcek in a 1-0 stoppage-time defeat in Kosice.

Bobcek, who had only been on the pitch for three minutes, prodded in after Bailey Peacock-Farrell failed to deal with a corner, but Northern Ireland were enraged that a foul was not given as Daniel Ballard had gone down under pressure from Leo Sauer.

Trump reverses course and cuts tariffs on US food imports

Order exempting coffee, beef, bananas and other items comes as White House fights off concerns about rising costs

• People in the US: how are your holiday shopping plans being affected by Trump’s tariffs and the cost of living?

Donald Trump moved to lower tariffs on food imports, including beef, tomatoes, coffee and bananas, in an executive order on Friday as the White House fights off growing concerns about rising costs.

The new exemptions take effect retroactively at midnight on Thursday and mark a sharp reversal for Trump, who has long insisted that his import duties are not fueling inflation. They come after a string of victories for Democrats in state and local elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, where affordability was a key topic.

White House drops plan to make airlines pay travelers for delayed flights

The Trump administration is scrapping a proposal that would have made airlines pay passengers up to $775 for flight disruptions.

Stocks close mixed as investors assess strength of AI rally

Stocks claw back earlier losses, propelled by Nvidia gains. "There's a lot of emotion involved with AI," one analyst said.

SAG Awards will change name next year

The Screen Actors Guild Awards are now called the Actor Awards.

Woman pleads guilty to lying about astronaut wife accessing bank account from Space Station

Summer Worden faces a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison in the case, which involves false allegations she made against astronaut Anne McClain.

Should you worry about an AI bubble? Investment pros weigh in.

The stock market has stumbled on concerns that the surge in artificial intelligence stocks could echo the dot-com bubble.

StubHub stock plummets 21% after company withholds fourth-quarter guidance

The company said it was taking a "long term approach," and added that shifting event timing made it hard to predict consumer demand.

Comey, James' lawyers argue cases should be dismissed over Halligan appointment

Lawyers for James Comey and Letitia James argued their indictments should be dismissed because the appointment of the interim U.S. attorney in Virginia was unlawful.

Appeals court upholds hate crime convictions of Ahmaud Arbery's killers

A federal appeals court has upheld the hate crime convictions of the three men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia more than five years ago.

Labubu toy movie with potential to anchor franchise in the works at Sony

Viral plush toy is heading to big screen after a deal was signed with details still unclear over whether it would be live-action or animated

Labubus could be headed to the big screen. Sony Pictures has acquired the screen rights to the plush toy sensation and is in early development of a feature film which, if successful, would anchor a new franchise.

The deal, first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, was signed this week between the Chinese toy makers and Sony Pictures, whose animation division is fresh off the global success of KPop Demon Hunters. No producer or film-maker is attached to the project yet, and it’s still unclear if the film would be live-action or animated.

September jobs report will be out Thursday as first data since shutdown starts to trickle out

The departments of Labor and Commerce had not posted revised schedules as of Friday morning, but updates are expected soon.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Nov. 16)

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

England pumped up for chance to end 13-year wait against All Blacks

Maro Itoje and company have talked the talk and are hungry to follow through with a first win at home over New Zealand since 2012

For better or worse it has been lashing down in south-west London. Good news for restocking the reservoirs but rather less so for dry-ball rugby. Had England played New Zealand 24 hours earlier it would have resembled a game of outdoor water polo and, although the matchday forecast is less biblical, a decidedly damp, grey afternoon awaits.

Is it some kind of celestial clue that England’s on-field drought against the All Blacks might be about to break? It is now 13 years since the last men’s victory over New Zealand at what was once called Twickenham, so long ago that Maro Itoje was still at school. Troublemaker by Olly Murs (featuring Flo Rida) topped the UK charts and the nation was basking in a warm, fuzzy post-London Olympics glow that was supposed to last indefinitely.

Thomas Tuchel wants England substitutes to channel anger into World Cup victory

• Coach hopes to match spirit of his 2021 Chelsea team

• Tuchel needs strong bench ‘after a long, long season’

Thomas Tuchel wants his England substitutes to channel any anger they feel at not starting into making the difference when they can because the team that win the World Cup will be defined by productivity off the bench.

The head coach will prepare a heat-proof gameplan for the finals next summer when temperatures at many of the venues in the United States, Mexico and Canada are expected to be stifling and a major part will involve how best to use his substitutes.

Trump official refers Swalwell to Justice Department for alleged fraud

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has referred California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell to the Justice Department, sources told CBS News.

Why Black Friday discounts could be stingier this year

Some businesses say steeper U.S. tariffs this year give them less financial room to offer holiday savings.

Book excerpt: "There Is No Place For Us" by Brian Goldstone

For his new book, the journalist examines why so many people who work full-time jobs with low wages are homeless in America.

The week around the world in 20 pictures

The Cop30 climate summit, blackouts in Kyiv, immigration raids in Chicago and super-typhoon Fung-wong: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

US military planning for divided Gaza with ‘green zone’ secured by international and Israeli troops

Exclusive: Almost all Palestinians have been displaced to ‘red zone’ where no reconstruction is planned

The US is planning for the long-term division of Gaza into a “green zone” under Israeli and international military control, where reconstruction would start, and a “red zone” to be left in ruins.

Foreign forces will initially deploy alongside Israeli soldiers in the east of Gaza, leaving the devastated strip divided by the current Israeli-controlled “yellow line”, according to US military planning documents seen by the Guardian and sources briefed on American plans.

Rachel Reeves plans £7.5bn tax rise in budget after U-turn on income tax rates

Chancellor expected to freeze level at which people start paying income tax for two years rather than putting rates up

Rachel Reeves will raise £7.5bn from millions of workers by freezing tax thresholds at the budget, after her decision to scrap controversial plans to raise income tax led to a sell-off in the bond market.

Government sources said the chancellor had decided to maintain the level at which people start paying income tax for two years while abandoning plans to raise the headline rate, which would have broken a manifesto promise.

Naga Munchetty reportedly under formal BBC investigation over alleged bullying

Previous claims against BBC Breakfast presenter have been escalated to full investigation, according to the Sun

The BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty is reportedly being formally investigated over allegations of bullying.

It follows previous claims of bullying by the 50-year-old broadcaster on the programme, which have now been escalated to a full investigation, according to the Sun.

Ultra-processed foods linked to higher risk of precancerous polyps, study finds

Eating ultra-processed foods could lead to an increased risk of being diagnosed with precancerous colorectal growths for women under 50, according to new research.

‘They all think Keir is done’: how push to protect Starmer’s job backfired spectacularly

Botched briefing operation was proof to many that PM is leading an ineffectual No 10. How did it go so wrong?

If there’s one thing the Labour party can agree on this week, it is that efforts by Keir Starmer’s allies to shore up his position backfired spectacularly.

By briefing journalists that he would face down any challenge and accusing Wes Streeting of leading an advanced plot to overthrow him, figures around the prime minister managed only to expose the weakness of his position.

Despite Coinbase departure, only 28 companies have left Delaware this year

Coinbase became the latest high-profile company to announce plans to reincorporate outside of Delaware, but it's still a very rare move.

Chimpanzee escapes exhibit at Indianapolis zoo, prompting lockdown

A chimpanzee escaped its enclosure and was on the loose at the Indianapolis Zoo, but the animal was later located and returned to her exhibit, the zoo said.

Trump can get away with saying what he likes about the BBC. But Epstein? That’s his one vulnerability | Jonathan Freedland

In attacking a vital broadcaster, the US president is once again holding others to standards he flouts. But the Maga faithful might not let his links to the disgraced financier go

To confront Donald Trump is to engage in asymmetric warfare. It is to enter a battlefield that is not level, where he enjoys an immediate and in-built advantage over those who would oppose him or merely hold him to account. That fact has cost Democrats dearly over the past decade – exacting a toll again this very week – but it has now upended an institution central to Britain’s national life: namely, the BBC.

The key asymmetry can be spelled out simply. Trump pays little or no regard to the conventional bounds of truth or honesty. His documented tally of false or misleading statements runs into the tens of thousands: the Washington Post registered 30,573 such statements during Trump’s first term in the White House, an average of 21 a day. In a single interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes earlier this month, Trump spoke falsely 18 times, according to CNN.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Guardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US?
On Wednesday 21 January 2026, join Jonathan Freedland, Tania Branigan and Nick Lowles as they reflect on the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency – and to ask if Britain could be set on the same path.
Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Share your questions for Meera Sodha, Tim Dowling and Stuart Heritage

Ahead of a special Guardian Live event on 26 November, you can share your questions for Tim Dowling, Stuart Heritage and Meera Sodha

It has been a year of small pleasures and big opinions. Is Kim Kardashian’s legal drama All’s Fair really the worst TV show of all time? What are the best (and worst) vegan cheeses? And 20 years after they first hit the shelves, five-toed shoes are apparently having a big fashion moment. But what is it like to wear them in public?

As the year draws to a close, Guardian Live invites you to a special event with columnist Tim Dowling, film and TV writer Stuart Heritage, and cook and author Meera Sodha. They will join comedian, broadcaster, and occasional Guardian contributor Nish Kumar for an evening of sharp observations, seasonal reflections and behind-the-scenes stories from the Guardian.

Anthropic says Chinese hackers used its AI chatbot in cyberattacks

State-sponsored cybercriminals used Anthropic's tech to target tech companies, financial institutions and other organizations, AI company alleges.

London businessman jailed for life after filming his sex attacks on women

Chao Xu, 33, may be one of worst sex offenders in British criminal history, police fear

A businessman has been jailed for life for drugging women then subjecting them to sexual attacks which he recorded for his pleasure, as well as committing hundreds of other sexual offences.

The judge said Chao Xu’s offending was “calculated and planned” and he posed a high risk to women.

Baby sea otter named Caterpillar rescued off central California coast

Marine Mammal Center in Morro Bay and local harbor patrol teamed up for mission to reunite pup with its mother

It was a foggy October afternoon on the central California coast when the Marine Mammal Center got a call on their public hotline: there were distressed cries coming from the frigid waters in Morro Bay.

The center’s experts were able to determine that the calls – which sounded almost like a human baby screeching – were coming from a roughly two-week-old sea otter pup that had been separated from its mother.

AfD hails US ban on European leftwing groups as historians fear crackdown on anti-fascists

German far-right party urges Berlin and other European nations to also designate ‘antifa’ groups as terrorist organisations

Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party has welcomed the US government’s decision to classify a prominent German anti-fascist group and three other European networks as terrorist organisations, calling on Berlin and other European governments to follow the example.

But historians of anti-fascism warned that at a time when far-right groups were making electoral gains across the continent, the move set a dangerous precedent that could prepare the ground for a broader crackdown on leftwing activism.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says "I don't see political party lines" on health care

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene an ally during the shutdown for joining Democrats in demanding that Congress address high health care costs.

D.R. Horton is tapping a startup’s AI zoning tool to build more homes

Portland, Oregon-based startup Prophetic has developed an AI-native platform for land acquisition and development analysis.

AI firm claims it stopped Chinese state-sponsored cyber-attack campaign

Anthropic says financial firms and government agencies were attacked ‘largely without human intervention’

A leading artificial intelligence company claims to have stopped a China-backed “cyber espionage” campaign that was able to infiltrate financial firms and government agencies with almost no human oversight.

The US-based Anthropic said its coding tool, Claude Code, was “manipulated” by a Chinese state-sponsored group to attack 30 entities around the world in September, achieving a “handful of successful intrusions”.

The question everyone in AI is asking: How long before a GPU depreciates?

The useful lifespan of AI infrastructure is a key issue for investors, as tech giants plan $1 trillion in AI spending over the next five years.

Fewer burritos, more bargains: Consumers flash holiday warning signs

In the coming week, some of the biggest names in retail, including Walmart, Target, Gap and Home Depot will report their latest earnings.

Greene says Trump's stance on Epstein files is "huge miscalculation"

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told "CBS Mornings" that President Trump's opposition to releasing files from the federal investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is a "huge miscalculation."

Marjorie Taylor Greene addresses Epstein files: "The government will not protect the predators"

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to "CBS Mornings" about the push to release the Epstein files. She was one of four Republicans that joined Democrats to secure a House vote on releasing all of the files and said "the government will not protect the predators." She added she believes President Trump "did nothing wrong." The president, who is mentioned in recently released emails between Epstein and others, has denied any wrongdoing.

U.S. and Switzerland reach trade deal to lower tariffs to 15%

Switzerland has been subject to one of the highest tariff rates levied on an individual country by the Trump administration.

Seth Meyers on Trump: ‘The most unpopular president of all time’

Late-night host spoke about growing discontent among Republicans after issues over both policy and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal

Seth Meyers spoke about rising tensions within the Republican party with Donald Trump losing support from his base over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The Late Night host spoke about yesterday’s dramatic meeting in the situation room to discuss Epstein, an ongoing crisis that has seen the president becoming “wildly unpopular”.

How Anna Wintour’s Vogue front covers made a statement to the end

A look at the editor-in-chief’s Vogue covers from her first radical combination in 1988 to her final ‘weird’ shoot

During her 37-year tenure as editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour has presided over more than 400 covers. December 2025’s, on newsstands this week, will prove her last before she steps away to focus on roles as Vogue’s global editorial director and chief content officer at Condé Nast.

The cover is certainly memorable: an image of the actor Timothée Chalamet photographed by Wintour’s long-term collaborator Annie Leibovitz in a Celine white polo neck, long cream coat and embroidered jeans, standing on a “planet” with a backdrop of a star-filled nebula provided by Nasa.

Walmart says longtime CEO Doug McMillon will retire in January

Walmart said Doug McMillon will be replaced on Feb. 1, 2026, by John Furner, head of Walmart's U.S. operations.

Who could be behind the phantom briefing and the tax rise that wasn’t? Inspector Starmer is on the case | Marina Hyde

Chaos and ineptitude dog our poor PM. Perhaps the explanation lies (very) close to home

At this rate the only businesses who will want to invest in Britain after the budget are heroin dealers. No 10 used to have a news grid, now it has an apology grid. Even so, why did Keir Starmer apologise for a sensationally self-destructive round of briefing against Wes Streeting if he didn’t do it? This is like me apologising for accidentally releasing sex offenders from prison. I suppose there is the occasional previous example in public life. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor apologised for his association with Jeffrey Epstein and gave a woman he’d never met a reported £12m. Perhaps that provides the prime minister with the warming cover of precedent.

If you’re just joining us, this is a week in which the government finally achieved the chaos spiral of several recent Conservative administrations. We can now officially say: same car, different clowns. We are less than two weeks out from the budget, with Friday morning’s Downfall meme being yet another U-turn, with the chancellor reportedly not going ahead with her all-but-confirmed plans to raise basic- and higher-rate income tax. The gilt markets reacted accordingly, if by accordingly we mean “made emergency calls for Andrex” – but then new Treasury briefings insisted it was all actually good news and based on better forecasts. Tell you what Rachel Reeves won’t raise: fuel duty on circus vehicles.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

A year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar
On Tuesday 2 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back at another extraordinary year, with special guests, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Man who grabbed Ariana Grande at Wicked sequel premiere charged

Footage shows the man jumping the red carpet barricade of the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good, then rushing towards and embracing the star

A court in Singapore has charged a man who grabbed Ariana Grande at a premiere of Wicked: For Good on Thursday night with being a public nuisance.

Video footage shows Johnson Wen jumping over a barricade at Universal Studios Singapore and rushing at Grande on the red carpet. Grande’s co-star Cynthia Erivo immediately jumped in to help protect her and Wen was moved away.

Guardian’s former Gaza correspondent named young journalist of the year in UK awards

Malak A Tantesh, 20, ‘showed immense talent and bravery’, said judges at Media Freedom awards in London

The UK’s Society of Editors has named Malak A Tantesh, the Guardian’s former Gaza correspondent, as young journalist of the year in the national press category at this year’s Media Freedom awards.

The judges said Tantesh “showed immense talent and bravery in some of the hardest conditions ever faced by a journalist, she continued to report while having to forage for food and facing the constant risk of bombing and the threat of targeted killing”.

‘I’m not just putting on nice plays’: Hollywood star Alan Cumming’s plan to reignite theatre in the Scottish Highlands

What is the effervescent new boss at Pitlochry theatre planning for his first season? Huge names, undersung stars – and a King Lear played by ‘the woman who changed my life’

‘Holy shit!” This was the instant response of one venerable theatre critic when Pitlochry Festival theatre sent round embargoed copies of the plan for Alan Cumming’s inaugural season. The man himself sits back in the cavernous workshop behind the theatre building, dapper in a grey plaid suit. “I loved that,” he says gleefully.

When the Hollywood star was announced as the new artistic director of Scotland’s only major rural theatre last September, there was widespread shock – not least that Cumming answered an open recruitment call – followed by feverish speculation over which A-list pals he might charm away from London or New York to perform in Highland Perthshire.

Goldman Sachs stands by top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler after her emails with Jeffrey Epstein exposed

The email chats between top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler and Jeffrey Epstein came years after his guilty plea to sex crimes in Florida.

Anne Summers: ‘A lot of men resent the fact that women have rights and have entitlements and have freedoms’

Fifty years after writing a book which would change how Australians view their history and culture, the author and journalist isn’t slowing down

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Anne Summers is scrutinising street numbers as we walk. Pausing in front of a 19th-century mansion, the author and journalist looks up to its second storey. “This is where I was arrested.”

“Oh wow,” she says, taking in its immaculate sandstone facade. “It didn’t look like this then.”

Is climate change really something we need to stress about? | Fiona Katauskas

We could just wait until it all boils over

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

StubHub stock tanks 20% as CEO says it is not giving guidance for current quarter

StubHub beat Wall Street's expectations for third-quarter revenue in its first earnings report as a public company.

Britons living abroad: tell us your views on UK politics today

We want to hear from Brits living overseas on their views on UK politics today

The last decade in British politics has been marked by instability and fragmentation, with six prime ministers in ten years, and Nigel Farage’s Reform party now leading in the polls.

A study this month from King’s College London and Ipsos found that 84 percent of people now say the UK feels divided, up from 74 percent in 2020.

How a Texas shrimper stalled Exxon’s $10bn plastics plant | Shilpi Chhotray

Diane Wilson recognized Exxon’s playbook – and showed how local people can take on even the most entrenched industries

When ExxonMobil announced it would “slow the pace of development” on a $10bn plastics plant along the Texas Gulf coast, the company blamed market conditions. But it wasn’t just the market applying pressure; it was a 77-year-old shrimper named Diane Wilson who refused to stay silent. Her fight exposes big oil’s latest survival plan: ramping up oil and gas production to create plastic.

I first met Wilson back in 2019 while tracking her historic lawsuit against Formosa Plastics, the Taiwanese petrochemical giant accused of dumping toxic plastic waste throughout coastal Texas. Billions of tiny plastic pellets were contaminating waterways, shorelines and even the soil itself.

Shilpi Chhotray is the co-founder and president of Counterstream Media and Host of A People’s Climate for the Nation

Vybz Kartel on his legal battles, vulgar lyrics and the lasting scars of prison: ‘If I hear a key shake, it traumatise me’

With his murder conviction overturned, the Jamaican star is back performing. He talks about his illness, regrets, and how he felt about dancehall going global while he was behind bars

There’s a moment when I’m interviewing Vybz Kartel in the courtyard of the Four Seasons hotel in Tower Bridge, London, and the UK government emergency alert test rings on my phone. He is panicked by it and jumps up. “Me ready fi run you know!” he says, which has us both laughing.

It is a funny moment, but also a jolting one considering that it arrives in the middle of him discussing the lasting psychological effects of prison. Kartel, 49, real name Adidja Palmer, had been incarcerated across different institutions in Jamaica following his conviction for the 2011 murder of his associate Clive “Lizard” Williams. Following a lengthy appeal process, he was released in July last year after the ruling was overturned by the UK privy council (which is the final court of appeal for Jamaica due to the nation being a former British colony).

‘It’s time for it to end’: the stars of Stranger Things open up about their final, epic season

After a decade, the Netflix hit is bowing out. Ahead of its last episodes, the show’s creators and cast talk about big 80s hair, recruiting a Terminator killer – and the birds Kate Bush sent them

How do you finish one of the biggest and most popular TV series of the last decade? Three years after season four came out, the fifth and final season of Stranger Things is about to make its way into the world. Millions of viewers are getting ready to find out what happens to the Upside Down and whether the plucky teens of Hawkins, Indiana can fight off Vecna for good, but it is early November 2025, and its creators Matt and Ross Duffer are finding it difficult to talk about. It’s not just because they’re feeling the pressure, or because the risk of spoilers and leaks is so dangerously high. It’s because the identical twin brothers from North Carolina are just not ready. “It makes me sad,” says Ross. “Because it’s easier to not think about the show actually ending.”

A decade ago, hardly anyone knew what the Upside Down was. Few had heard of Vecna, Mind Flayers or Demogorgons. In 2015, the brothers – self-professed nerds and movie obsessives – were about to begin shooting their first ever TV series. Stranger Things was to be a supernatural adventure steeped in 80s nostalgia, paying tribute to Steven Spielberg and Stephen King. Part of their pitch to Netflix was that it would be “John Carpenter mashed up with ET”. Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine were in it, so it wasn’t exactly low-key, but it was by no means a dead-cert for success, not least because it was led by a cast of young unknowns. The first season came out in the summer of 2016, smashed Netflix viewing records, and almost immediately established itself as a bona fide TV phenomenon.

Venezuela’s Maduro urges Trump to avoid Afghanistan-style ‘forever war’

Authoritarian leader calls for US to make peace amid military buildup and strikes against alleged drug smugglers

• Explainer: is US preparing to attack Venezuela?

Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, has urged Donald Trump not to lead the US into an Afghanistan-style “forever war”, as the American military buildup in the region intensified and Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, vowed to purge the Americas of “narco-terrorists”.

Speaking to CNN outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, Maduro called on Trump to make peace, not war, after the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, arrived in the region.

It’s not all about roasting on an open fire – there’s so much more you can do with chestnuts

They have strong Christmas connotations, but these nuts are so versatile, whether you’re eating them hot out of the shell, or with pasta or pheasant. Plus: a burger that lives up to the hype

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If I’d ever spared a thought for how chestnuts – the sweet, edible kind, not the combative horsey sort – were harvested, I would probably have conjured rosy-cheeked peasants bent low in ancient forests and filling rough-hewn hessian sacks by hand. Back-breaking labour, sure, but so picturesque!

I was delighted, therefore, while on a writing retreat in Umbria last month, to get the opportunity to watch an elderly couple manoeuvre a giant vacuum around their haphazard orchard, followed by their furious sheepdog. The fallen crop was sucked into a giant fan that spat their bristly jackets back out on to the ground, and the nuts then went to be sorted by other family members on a conveyor belt in the barn – the good ones to be sold in the shell, the less perfect specimens swiftly dropped into a bucket for processing.

New foreclosures jump 20% in October, a sign of more distress in the housing market

All phases of the foreclosure process are seeing big increases, as homeowners fall behind on mortgage payments due to stress in the economy.

‘Will it change the weather? Will wildlife cope?’: Europe’s rush to build energy projects in Chile might not be as green as it seems

The country’s government is upbeat about the economic prospects of the growing number of windfarms, solar parks and industrial complexes but others warn of ‘green colonialism’

For generations, Alfonso Campos’s family has raised sheep in the grasslands of San Gregorio, a tranquil area in Magallanes province, in the far south of Chile’s Patagonia region. Now, he says, his farm will be encircled by three massive containers of ammonia, a desalination plant, a hydrogen plant, gas pipelines and hundreds of wind turbines.

“If the ammonia leaks, it will poison everything,” he says. “The noise of the windmills will also upset the animals, and the landscape will be turned into an industrial desert.”

‘The water came up to my waist but I carried on walking’ – This is climate breakdown

When the rain started I had to find a way home to my children. I could never have imagined how long it would take. This is Ruchira’s story

Location Mumbai, India

Disaster Maharashtra floods, 2005

Ruchira Gupta is an English-to-Hindi interpreter, a former lawyer, and mother of two daughters. In 2005, she was working at a small law firm in Mumbai, India when heavy rainfall flooded the country’s western state of Maharashtra, killing 926 people. Between 1950 and 2015, there was a threefold increase in extreme rain events in India.