Russia-Ukraine war live news: Russian oil cap comes into force; Kyiv resumes rolling power outages

Cap on Russian seaborne oil agreed by G7 aims to curtail Putin’s war machine; Ukrainian cities resume scheduled power outages

• At a glance: what we know on day 285 of the invasion

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is “more responsible than I am brave” and hates to let people down.

In an interview with the FT, who named him “person of the year” and compared him with Churchill for the social media age, the Ukrainian president said that after nine months fighting Russia, he misses fishing with his son.

I am more responsible than I am brave … I just hate to let people down.

I just want to catch a carp in the Dnipro River.

Pakistan v England: first Test, day five – live

• Live updates on final day at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium
• Sciver back with a bang as England thrash West Indies
• Share your thoughts with Tanya via email or on Twitter

25th over: Pakistan 89-2 (Shakeel 28, Imam ul Haq 48) target 343 Another maiden, another testing over from Robinson, as Jacks warms up in the deep.

Phil Morton asks about the TMS overseas link. I’m afraid there isn’t one for this Test Phil as the overseas link apparently only works from the UK. An overseas OBOer was following through the Pakistan website here, if that works for you.

‘People think I’m stupid’: the story of the man who shot himself 192 times

The wild new documentary 2nd Chance explores the story of Richard Davis, the eccentric and reckless creator of the modern-day bulletproof vest

Wearing a green hat, spectacles and ear protectors, a man loads .44 Magnum bullets into the barrel of a gun. He hands his car keys to another man “just in case this doesn’t go right” and twirls the gun barrel while invoking Matt Dillon, the fictional marshal of Dodge City in Gunsmoke.

“A lot of people think I’m kind of stupid for doing this,” admits Richard Davis, rolling up his sleeves, adding that if it changes one person’s behaviour, it will be worth it. He proceeds to turn the gun on himself and, after a tense pause relieved only by birdsong, fires into his chest. “Easy as pie, guys!” he says cheerfully.

Phil Foden gives seminal display to show England he really is sensational | Jonathan Liew

Manchester City’s young attacker delivers his best work yet on the biggest stage for his country in his preferred role

A very normal thing happened on Sunday night. Phil Foden was sensational. I do not want to oversell this. There is no deep or meaningful theme here.

There are no hidden layers or wider significances, no political or cultural context. It rests almost entirely on a single argument, and the argument is that Foden is sensational. If you are not on board with this idea, the next 840 words may not be for you.

Brazil are the best team in the world but pressure weighs heavily on the players

The fans would not forgive failure to defeat South Korea in the last 16 of the World Cup but Tite’s squad will not be afraid

Football is a whole world in itself, a democratic sport that brings some feelings that are impossible to describe to people who do not follow it. Within football there are also things that are passed down from generation to generation, just like in a country in the real world.

Each great football country has its own characteristic, its own way of seeing football and that, in turn, forms how football is being played in that country, how a national team relate to their supporters, how the media analyses the games and much, much more. But one thing is for sure: it does not matter how long football has been around, no one in any country will ever understand football 100%. There is always something new to teach us, in every single country, no matter how good or poor or passionate.

A glimpse of life beyond Mogadishu’s security zone – in pictures

Outside the heavily fortified compounds at Aden Adde airport, Somalia’s capital is one of the most dangerous places in the world, off limits to most foreigners and a risky place for Somali government officials. In a rare trip by foreign journalists, the Guardian captured the everyday vibrancy of the beach, parks, gyms and cafes that are flourishing in the ancient city

Vital Impacts winter collection prints go on sale – in pictures

More than 100 photographers are making their fine art prints available to Vital Impacts, an women-owned and operated non-profit organisation that supports grassroots groups trying to protect people, wildlife and habitats

The Soviet Union: 100th anniversary – in pictures

Formed in 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a one-party state, governed and ruled by the Communist Party. TV documentary series The Soviet Union: 100th Anniversary 2022 explores the country that Winston Churchill famously referred to as: ‘A riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’

It is scheduled for release on 5, 6 and 7 December on PBS America, and available on Freeview 84 | Freesat 155 | Sky 174 | Virgin Media 273 and on catch-up from 6 December

Kevin Desir died a brutal death. His family believe deputies at a notorious Florida jail are responsible

Revealed: a private autopsy report shared with the Guardian concludes Desir’s death was a homicide

• This article contains description of physical violence

Kevin Desir loved his family.

He loved his father, his mother, his four siblings, many cousins that he remained close with. Desir loved, deeply loved, his two daughters, the first grandchildren of the Desir family, his relatives said.

‘A soul wound’: a First Nation built its culture around salmon. Now they have to fly it in frozen

As chinook numbers migrating to Canada fall to record lows, communities are resorting to importing fish to keep their traditions alive

In late summer every year, when buckbrush on the mountains turns yellow and the soapberries grow soft and translucent, families from Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation gather at the mouth of Tatchun creek to fish for their namesake.

The creek itself, in Canada’s far-flung Yukon territory, is named after the fin on a salmon’s back that sticks out of the water as the fish fights its way upstream. Tatchun empties into the Yukon River, home to the world’s longest run of chinook salmon. Elders say the fish used to be so plentiful they could have walked across the water on their backs.

Support for Jacinda Ardern and NZ Labour sinks to lowest since 2017, poll shows

Labour and Ardern were immensely popular during the pandemic but inflation and deepening social inequality has changed their fortunes

Support for New Zealand’s Labour party has dropped to its lowest level since it came into power in 2017, new polling shows, amid growing frustrations over high cost of living, rising interest rates and concerns about crime.

A Kantar One News Poll released on Tuesday night found Labour, down 1% to 33%, would not be able to form a government alongside likely coalition partners the Green party, which remained steady on 9%, and the Māori party, steady on 2%.

South Africa’s ‘black mermaid’ on Disney, diversity and reclaiming the ocean for children of colour

Zandile Ndhlovu, the country’s first black female freediving instructor, is on a mission to change long-held attitudes and teach young people to feel at home in the sea

On the dive boats no one else looked like her. “People would say ‘are you really going to dive with all that hair?’ It’s funny until it’s not, sitting in that space and being very ‘other’,” says Zandile Ndhlovu, South Africa’s first black female freediving instructor.

“Even the wetsuits, they were not designed for a black woman. It fits your hips so you wear it, but the water is gushing in everywhere else. So all these challenges can’t help but remind you that you are the only one,” she says.

What is AI chatbot phenomenon ChatGPT and could it replace humans?

The tool has impressed experts with its writing ability, proficiency at complex tasks and ease of use

ChatGPT is a prototype dialogue-based AI chatbot capable of understanding natural human language and generating impressively detailed human-like written text.

The Tories trashed racism and sexism as ‘woke’ concerns. Now our public services are paying the price | Nesrine Malik

Bullying and bigotry are rife in the fire service, NHS and police, estranging these institutions from the people they should serve

A crunch, building for years, is upon us. Everywhere you look, the story is the same: backlogs, unfilled jobs, overfilled beds. Nothing is working. Brexit, the pandemic, a decade of austerity and a broken governing party have crippled Britain’s institutions. One now approaches a variety of basic services, from healthcare to policing, braced for a sort of experience lottery. If you’re lucky, this might be the day that things go smoothly. If not, you’re in for a long wait to be seen – or, on the worst days, a frustrated return home with no help or answers.

But the crisis is not just one of resources, it is also one of culture. Our struggling institutions have also succumbed to a steep fall in internal standards that is directly linked to their failure to deliver. Reports, anecdotal and, more recently, official, tell of bullying, corruption and a lack of accountability. Take the NHS, for instance. The institution symbolises the symbiosis between bad resourcing and bad culture. Vacant jobs at NHS England stand at a staggering 10% of the workforce. Some of that is down to familiar funding issues; unattractive pay, slashed subsidies for expensive nursing training, a limited number of university places to study medicine. Less well known is the fact that those vacancies have not been simply generated to meet increased demand, as the government claims, but also to fill the positions of those who have left because of racism, bullying and lack of support from human resources. This is not to mention the record number of nurses departing the NHS due to stress after the pandemic.

The 20 best songs of 2022

Alongside landmark records from Kendrick and Beyoncé, the year saw standout tracks from Steve Lacy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more

• More on the best culture of 2022
• More on 2022’s best music

Hunger has taken hold across Africa. We need a new approach to tackling its causes | President Alassane Ouattara

This week’s African Union summit in Ivory Coast is an opportunity to work towards a holistic food security strategy

Malnutrition looms large in Africa. Over a fifth of the continent’s 1.3 billion people faced hunger last year, more than twice the level of any other continent.

Even before the war in Ukraine jeopardised supplies to many African countries of grain and fertiliser needed to feed their people or for growing crops, Covid-19 had disturbed food processing and supply chains, affecting world economies and provoking agricultural and food inflation.

‘I come in peace to make love!’ Vanessa Feltz on the culture wars, quitting the BBC and life as tabloid fodder

The radio and TV presenter has left the corporation after the best part of two decades. She talks about dealing with ageism, racism, misogyny and ‘fattism’, joining TalkTV, and her pioneering meltdown on Celebrity Big Brother

‘Come round and let me see your face,” orders Vanessa Feltz, as I wander into a tidy kitchen of pink counters and framed newspaper front pages, where she is sitting with a couple of makeup artists. “You look young and handsome, delightful, naive!” she tells me. “You don’t look like a seasoned hater who’s been doing this for years.” Rapid small talk ensues, covering everything from why she’d be terrible on I’m a Celebrity (she says she has turned them down multiple times, yet they keep offering more money) to questions about my “romantic status”.

To call this a charm offensive would be to imply that Feltz cares deeply about the resulting write-up. Really, she says, she couldn’t care less.

‘Sweden has a poverty problem’: the social stores offering food at rock-bottom prices

Rising food and energy prices are being felt across Europe. In the first part of a new series, we look at the impacts on daily life

Proud and prosperous Sweden, with its famously generous welfare system and abundance of green energy, should – in theory – be better equipped than most European countries to bear a battering from the continent’s cost of living crisis.

In terms of GDP per capita, it is the EU’s fifth-richest member state. Natural gas accounts for only 2% of its energy, insulating it from the worst economic ravages of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Poverty is far below the European average.

Covid is weakening, China state media claims, as major cities lift lockdowns

Unnamed expert tells state media outlet Yicai that Covid could be downgraded from a category A disease to category C

Coronavirus is weakening and management protocols could be downgraded, an expert on China’s state media has claimed, after unprecedented protests last week led to a major shift in Beijing’s commitment to its zero-Covid policy.

Since January 2020, China has classified Covid-19 as a Category B infectious disease but has managed it under Category A protocols, which give local authorities the power to put patients and their close contacts into quarantine and lock down affected regions.

New Zealand announces inquiry into Covid-19 response

While strict Covid-19 response was broadly considered one of the most successful in the world, PM says inquiry will help prepare for next pandemic

New Zealand will launch an official inquiry into its Covid-19 response so that future governments are better prepared to deal with pandemics, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.

The government announced the royal commission of inquiry – to be chaired by Australian-based epidemiologist Prof Tony Blakely, former cabinet minister Hekia Parata and former treasury secretary John Whitehead – on Monday afternoon.

Republican moderate refuses to disown Trump over constitution threat

Dave Joyce of Ohio, chair of the Republican Governance Group, says he will vote for Trump if he is nominee in 2024

A leader of moderate Republicans in the US House repeatedly refused to condemn Donald Trump on Sunday, even after the former president, running for re-election in 2024, said the US constitution should be “terminated” to allow him to return to power.

“Whoever the Republicans end up picking, I’ll fall in behind” them, Dave Joyce of Ohio told ABC’s This Week, adding that he thought Americans did not want to look back to the 2020 election, the subject of Trump’s lies about electoral fraud and demand for extra-constitutional action.

World Cup 2022 briefing: Asia’s finest take aim at Croatia and Brazil

Japan and South Korea could meet in the quarter-finals if they make it through. Could we even see Asia’s first winner?

It took a while for an Asian team to make a mark at the World Cup. Indonesia were the first to compete at the tournament, trading as the Dutch East Indies in 1938, and were battered 6-0 by eventual losing finalists Hungary. The next Asian side to make it fared even worse. In 1954, South Korea were mauled 9-0 by the Hungary side of Puskás, Kocsis and Czibor, then belted 7-0 by a Turkey team that would go on to lose 7-2 against West Germany, who in turn were thumped 8-3 by Hungary in the groups before beating them 3-2 in the final. Strange old tournament, 1954.

Nat Sciver back with a bang as England roar to victory in first ODI against West Indies

• England 307-7; West Indies 165 | England win by 142 runs
• Sciver returns after mental health break with 90 from 96 balls

England’s bowlers ran roughshod over the West Indies’ tail en route to a 142-run victory in the first ODI in Antigua.

After the hosts won the toss and decided to field, England posted a total of 307 for seven from their 50 overs, thanks largely to the efforts of Nat Sciver and Danni Wyatt.

Michelle Mone lobbied for PPE Medpro. But was she enriched by its profits? – podcast

During the early weeks of the pandemic, the government was scrambling to find protective clothing for health workers. The Tory peer recommended one supplier to the government – but how far did her links with it go?

Michelle Mone is not your average member of the House of Lords. After leaving school at 15, she transformed herself into an entrepreneur through her bra brand Ultimo. Her glamorous lifestyle, beautiful home and yacht called Lady M fed her social media accounts and saw her profiled in glossy magazines.

Today she is in the headlines for a different reason: a company called PPE Medpro. The firm was awarded contracts worth more than £200m during the height of the pandemic, yet some of the protective clothing it supplied for frontline workers was never used. David Conn, the Guardian’s investigations correspondent, tells Nosheen Iqbal what he has discovered about Mone’s links to the firm.

EasyJet flight to Bristol diverted to Prague after bomb threat

Plane flying from Kraków in Poland to Bristol diverted on Sunday night and landed safely in Prague and no dangerous object was found, says Czech airport

An easyJet flight heading for the UK has landed safely after being been diverted to Prague due to a report of a “possible bomb” on board.

Flight 6276 was flying from Kraków in Poland to Bristol on Sunday when it was diverted towards the Czech capital and landed safely at 10.50pm local time (9.50pm UK time), according to Prague airport.

Italy home to 11 of 100-plus unofficial Chinese ‘police stations’

Civil rights group claims outposts are used to monitor Chinese population abroad and force dissidents to return

Italy hosts the highest number of unofficial Chinese “police stations” out of a network of more than 100 around the world, a report by a Spanish civil rights group has claimed.

The northern Italian city of Milan was allegedly used by two local Chinese public security authorities as a European testing ground for a policing strategy to monitor the Chinese population abroad and force dissidents to return home.

NFL roundup: Burrow and Bengals beat Chiefs again; Jackson injures knee

• Green Bay rally to beat Chicago thanks to late comeback
• Vikings move to 10-2 after holding off Jets
• Lamar Jackson exits Baltimore victory with knee injury

Joe Burrow threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, Samaje Perine rushed for a season-high 106 yards and the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 on Sunday in their first meeting since the Bengals prevailed in last season’s AFC championship game.

Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs lost their chance to avenge two losses to Burrow and Cincinnati last season. The Bengals beat the Chiefs last January to clinch the AFC North title, then won four weeks later in overtime – also by a 27-24 score – to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.

What is the Indigenous voice to parliament and how would it work?

Explainer: Here’s what we know so far about how the Albanese government hopes to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution via a referendum

• This is an updated version of an explainer first published in August 2022
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The Albanese government has put forward a preferred form of words to insert into the constitution to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament, which would be voted on in a referendum.

Here’s what we know so far.

2,500 Caspian seals found dead along Russian coastline

Deaths of endangered species probably happened a couple weeks ago, with the cause as yet unknown

About 2,500 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia, officials said on Sunday.

Regional officials initially reported on Saturday that 700 dead seals had been found on the coast, but the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment later raised the figure to about 2,500.

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 285 of the invasion

Vladimir Putin is now ‘better informed’ about the difficulties his forces face, US intelligence chief says; US expects ‘reduced tempo’ in fighting over winter

• See all our Ukraine war coverage

Vladimir Putin is now “better informed” about the difficulties facing his forces in Ukraine, the head of US intelligence has said. Speaking during a defence forum at the weekend, Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, indicated the Russian president was no longer as insulated from bad news arising from his invasion of Ukraine. Alluding to past assessments that Putin’s advisers could be shielding him, Haines said he was “becoming more informed of the challenges that the military faces”.

The US expects a “reduced tempo” in fighting to continue over the winter months, adding that there could be brighter prospects for Ukrainian forces in the coming months. “Most of the fighting right now around Bakhmut and the Donetsk area has slowed down with the withdrawal of Russia from the western Kherson area to the east of the river. And we expect that’s likely to be what we see in the coming months,” Haines said.

Heavy fighting continues around the key Donbas town of Bakhmut, where Russian forces have been struggling for six months to make minimal progress. Reports on social media suggested Ukrainian forces were making progress in operations on the east bank of the Dnipro River, opposite the recently liberated city of Kherson, after a reported amphibious landing on the Kinburn Spit last month. Russian forces have also intensified artillery attacks on the Kherson region since withdrawing from the western bank of the Dnipro.

A draft resolution is circulating at the United Nations for a Nuremberg-style tribunal to hold Russia accountable for crimes of aggression in Ukraine. Signs also indicate that US opposition to the proposal may be softening in the face of lobbying by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Beth Van Schaack, the US ambassador for global criminal justice, said this week: “So far, all of the [UN general assembly] resolutions on Ukraine have prevailed. The numbers have been quite strong.” The international criminal court has already started investigating war crimes in Ukraine but cannot prosecute the Kremlin leadership over the broader crime of aggression since Russia is not a signatory to the relevant statute.

Iran’s leadership has locked itself into a “vicious cycle” over protests and arming Russia, the US special envoy has said. “The more Iran represses, the more there will be sanctions; the more there are sanctions, the more Iran feels isolated,” Rob Malley, the US special envoy on Iran, told a conference in Rome. “The more isolated they feel, the more they turn to Russia; the more they turn to Russia, the more sanctions there will be, the more the climate deteriorates, the less likely there will be nuclear diplomacy. So it is true right now the vicious cycles are all self-reinforcing.” US intelligence chief Avril Haines said there was worrying evidence that Russia was seeking to deepen military cooperation with Iran.

Russia will not sell oil that is subject to a western price-cap even if it has to cut production, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday. The G7 and Australia agreed to the price cap on Friday.

Opec+ agreed to stick to its oil output targets at a meeting on Sunday. Opec+, which comprises the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and allies including Russia, angered the US and other western nations in October when it agreed to cut output by 2m barrels a day, about 2% of world demand, from November until the end of 2023.

More than 500 Ukrainian localities remained without power on Sunday following weeks of Russian airstrikes on the electric grid, an interior ministry official said.

Ukraine is imposing sanctions on 10 senior clerics linked to a pro-Moscow church on the grounds they agreed to work with Russian occupation authorities or justified Moscow’s invasion, the security service said.

Viktor Hovland survives 18th-hole scare to defend Hero World Challenge

• Hovland, on -16, beats Scottie Scheffler by two shots
• Poland’s Adrian Meronk wins Australian Open by five shots

Much debate surrounds the competitive validity of the Hero World Challenge, at which a field of 20 receive hefty world ranking points, but the 2022 version at least delivered a compelling finish.

Viktor Hovland recovered from the position of possible collapse to see off Scottie Scheffler and become the second player, after Tiger Woods, to defend this trophy successfully.

Labour unveils plan to overhaul constitution and replace the Lords

Gordon Brown’s Commission on the UK’s Future also aims to curb influence of wealth and foreign money

Labour will consult on replacing what the party calls the “indefensible” House of Lords with an elected chamber as part of a 40-point plan written by Gordon Brown to overhaul the constitution, but stopped short of committing to its abolition in the manifesto.

Keir Starmer will on Monday join Brown for the launch of the former prime minister’s Commission on the UK’s Future, which makes recommendations on Lords reform, devolution of power and the future of the union.

This article was amended after its initial publication to correct the assertion that Lord McFall had previously been a Conservative MP. He was, in fact, a Labour MP from 1987 to 2010.

Raheem Sterling flying back from World Cup after armed burglary at home

• England forward misses Senegal tie and may not return to Qatar
• Head coach Gareth Southgate says ‘family has to come first’

Raheem Sterling is returning home from the World Cup in Qatar after armed intruders broke into his home on Saturday night.

The England forward missed the 3-0 win against Senegal in the last‑16 tie on Sunday and Gareth Southgate said it was unclear whether Sterling would return. England play France in a quarter-final on Saturday.

England sweep past Senegal to set up World Cup quarter-final with France

From first to last, the drum beats were relentless from the small section of Senegal supporters. They pounded in the temples of everybody present, creating an oppressive backdrop to this high-stakes occasion. It was one in which England had to show their concentration, their resilience, their quality. How they succeeded, lengthening their stride after a sticky start to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final against France on Saturday back here at Al Bayt.

England stayed calm when Senegal threatened to turn the first half into an ordeal for them and, when they had their opportunities, they made them count. Jordan Henderson does not score many at this level but he was there to get things started and, when Harry Kane made it 2-0 before half-time, it felt as though Senegal were broken.

Olivier Giroud grabs France record but still has to fight Mbappé for attention | Ben Fisher

Giroud scored his 52nd goal for his country and deserved the ovation but Mbappé scored twice to ensure win against Poland

A couple of days ago the France squad posed for a photo in which each player returned to their roots by donning the shirt of their first amateur team. For Olivier Giroud, now France’s all-time male record goalscorer, it was the red of Froges Olympique Club, whose clubhouse 20km from Grenoble in south-east France is appropriately decorated for the World Cup. For Kylian Mbappé, the man who will surely overtake him, it was the green of AS Bondy, a team in a northern suburb of Paris. Even on Giroud’s big night, the masterful and electric Mbappé was able to muscle in on the headlines as France advanced to the quarter-finals.

For Mbappé, a superstar aged 23 and already a world champion, only another 20 goals to go. A poster of Giroud accompanied with the words Au Coeur Les Bleus – the Blues in the heart – is pinned beneath bunting and a tricolour scarf in the poky Froges clubhouse. Children gathered there to watch France beat Denmark, an evening that belonged to Mbappé, and although Mbappé got in on the act quite magnificently against Poland, this was an occasion Giroud will always cherish.

Strep A: fears NHS will struggle to cope as seventh child reported to have died

Nadhim Zahawi says parents should look out for symptoms of infection, such as fever, headache or skin rash

Medics have raised the alarm over the ability of the NHS to cope with increased rates of strep A, after reports that a 12-year-old schoolboy from London had become the latest child to die after contracting a rare, invasive form of the infection.

On Sunday, cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi urged parents to be vigilant for signs of streptococcus A, even though most cases are mild.

Chinese security firm advertises ethnicity recognition technology while facing UK ban

Campaigners concerned that ‘same racist technology used to repress Uyghurs is being marketed in Britain’

A Chinese security camera company has been advertising ethnicity recognition features to British and other European customers, even while it faces a ban on UK operations over allegations of involvement in ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang.

In a brochure published on its website, Hikvision advertised a range of features that it said it could provide in collaboration with the UK startup FaiceTech.

Netanyahu: Trump must ‘condemn’ antisemitism after Kanye and Fuentes dinner

Likely future Israeli PM, who has repeatedly praised Trump, says dinner with rapper and white nationalist ‘unacceptable and wrong’

Donald Trump should be “condemning” antisemitism following his meeting with the rapper Ye and Nick Fuentes, Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

The former and likely future Israeli prime minister told NBC’s Meet the Press the former president’s recent dinner with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has repeatedly made antisemitic remarks, and Fuentes, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier, was “not merely unacceptable, it’s just wrong”.

Louis van Gaal’s recovery from cancer inspires Netherlands’ World Cup bid

• Coach kept diagnosis a secret from squad during qualifying
• Netherlands poised to face Argentina in the quarter-finals

Daley Blind has said the Netherlands are drawing inspiration at the World Cup from Louis van Gaal’s recovery from cancer.

The Netherlands head coach revealed in April that he had received 25 radiation treatments for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, having kept the diagnosis from his players during their World Cup qualifying campaign. They had been unaware Van Gaal was wearing a catheter beneath his tracksuit during training sessions or that he was spending nights after matches in hospital.

Japan’s Samurai Blue ready to enter the fray once more against Croatia | Andy Hunter

Veteran defender Yuto Nagatomo’s rousing speech symbolises togetherness of a team determined to ease painful memories

Samurai Blue is more than just a nickname to Japan. To hear the veteran defender Yuto Nagatomo speak on the eve of their last‑16 tie against Croatia was to receive a rousing education in how it relates to the character of a national team fighting to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.

“To use the analogy of the samurai,” the 36-year-old began, “before they go into battle they polish their weapons and improve their technique. But if they are scared in battle they will not be able to use their weapons or their technique properly. It is the same in football. Tactics and technique are important but if you are scared on the field they are useless. To maximise all the tactics we have been practising in the last four years we need courage. The Japanese samurai is famous around the world and we would like to fight like samurais. Tomorrow we would like to showcase how courageously we fight.”

Iranian protesters call for three-day strike as pressure on regime builds

State media distance themselves from claim ‘morality police’ have been shut down after Mahsa Amini death

Protesters in Iran have called for a three-day strike this week amid conflicting reports that the nation’s “morality police” had been shut down, and as the US said the leadership in Tehran had locked itself into a “vicious cycle” that had cut it off from its own people and the international community.

The call steps up pressure on Iranian authorities after the attorney general said this weekend that the morality police – whose detention of a young woman triggered months of protests – had been shut down.

How one Socceroos foul brought out ‘the fire’ in Lionel Messi

A brush with Australia defender Aziz Behich sparked ‘La Pulga’ into life as the Albiceleste booked a place in the last eight

Oh, Aziz. You’ve done it now. The second it happened, Argentina’s players knew there was only one way this was going to end. Anyone who has watched Lionel Messi a lot did, and there has been a lot of him to watch. By the time they left the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, scene of his 1,000th game, his teammate Alexis Mac Allister was laughing about it, the apparent inevitability of it all. Australia had picked the wrong guy: that’s not a knife, this is a knife.

There were 10 minutes to go until half-time, there had been little sign of a breakthrough, and Messi had given the ball away the last two times he had it, when he and Aziz Behich clashed out on the right touchline. The Dundee United player barged him, grabbed his shirt and had a word or five. Shortly after he also gave away a free-kick, for a foul on Alejandro Gómez. Messi took the free-kick, fast. Within seconds, Argentina had the lead and their captain had scored his 789th career goal - seven hundred and eighty nine – and his first in a World Cup knockout.

Protester killed in raid on Syrian government building in Sweida

Police officer also dies during clashes amid claims security forces fired live ammunition on protesters

A protester and a police officer have been killed during an anti-government demonstration in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province.

Seven people were wounded during the incident on Sunday, at a rare protest in the country where President Bashar al-Assad stamped out a pro-democracy uprising over a decade ago. Assad survived the resulting civil war but the conflict has plunged Syria into poverty, coupled with a food security and energy crisis.

Russian war crimes draft resolution being circulated at the UN

US opposition may be softening after lobbying by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

A draft resolution is circulating at the United Nations in New York for a Nuremberg-style tribunal to hold the Russian leadership accountable for crimes of aggression in Ukraine amid signs that US opposition to the proposal may be softening in the face of lobbying by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Beth Van Schaack, the US ambassador for global criminal justice, said this week: “It’s something that President Zelenskiy cares deeply about. This is something Ukraine wants, and I think that’s going to carry a lot of weight. The question is, will they have the votes at the general assembly?”

An icy swim, a rare monkey and the Krampus Run: the weekend’s best photos

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world

Westminster beware: the north is ready to take ‘levelling up’ into its own hands | John Harris

Resolute mayors and angry MPs have a new confident voice – and they will use it to make the Tories’ empty words a reality

A cold realisation is haunting British politics. For at least six years, turbulence and chaos were the default setting of power and politics. Now, the arrival of Rishi Sunak’s comparatively dull brand of Tory technocracy feels like an uneasy pause, allowing us to marvel at the contrast between a long spell of drama and noise, and the country’s everyday reality. Put bluntly, we are back where we ever were, and few aspects of our national condition better illustrate that than the gap between England’s north and south.

Yes, the usual caveats apply: inequality, poverty and decaying public services are problems spread around the whole of the country, and London presents examples as glaring as anywhere else. But the north-south divide remains the most vivid manifestation of the English malaise, and the serial crises we now seem to be locked into are making it much worse. At the same time, however, reducing the north’s condition to hapless misery misses a growing confidence and coherence that the chaos of the past few years only seems to have increased. Although levelling up has largely turned out to be a fantasy, our politics might just be showing signs of being radically changed by northern voices, speaking not just for the places they represent and govern, but the wider region.

Flapdoodler, roorback, yulehole: Why forgotten words need rescuing from obscurity

As a child, the gift of a dictionary sparked my love of rare words – which snowballed like a hogamadog

Christmas morning. I must have been about seven years old. My grandparents had just arrived at our house and my family’s presents were all being excitedly exchanged. At last, they came to me, and my grandmother handed over something that seemed absolutely enormous. It was broad, flat, solid and extraordinarily heavy. With little clue about what to expect, I tore it open and found myself holding a hardback illustrated children’s edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Most kids, I am sure, would have rolled their eyes. Enthusiasm would have been feigned and the book would have been subtly placed to one side in favour of a Nintendo Game Boy (or whatever the gift of choice was in the early 90s). But for me – nerdish, bookish, studious – this was, without doubt, a perfect gift.

Readers reply: will there ever be world government, and would we want it?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

• This week’s question: what do birds do with their spare time?

Will there ever be world government, and would we want it? Neil Stuart, Abergavenny

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Vladimir Putin better informed now about Ukraine war, says US

Russian president not as insulated from bad news as earlier in campaign, claims intelligence chief

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

The head of US intelligence has said Vladimir Putin has “become better informed” about the difficulties facing his invading forces in Ukraine, as the Kremlin suggested the Russian president could visit the occupied Donbas region at a future unspecified date.

Speaking at a defence forum late on Saturday, Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, indicated Putin was no longer as insulated from bad news about the conditions facing his invasion of Ukraine as he was earlier in the campaign.

Hearts friendly against Almería abandoned after player ‘altercations’

• Alex Cochrane and Rodrigo Ely sent off
• Match played in Marbella during World Cup break

A mid-season friendly between Hearts and the Spanish side Almería was abandoned in the first half following on-pitch altercations involving the two sets of players.

The score was 1-0 to the Spanish side when a late challenge from Alex Cochrane on an Almería defender caused his opponent to push back before teammates from both sides joined the melee. Cochrane was sent off alongside Almería’s Rodrigo Ely following their involvement.

China accused of flooding social media with spam to cover up Covid protests

US firm says network of bot accounts also hijacking hashtags in large-scale attempt to obscure coverage

An attempt to flood social media platforms with spam in order to drown out coverage of the lockdown protests in China was probably backed by the Chinese government, according to analysis by a US cybersecurity firm.

Recorded Future found that networks of coordinated bot accounts were targeting non-Chinese social media platforms to crowd out genuine posts about the demonstrations with spam content and by hijacking hashtags of names of Chinese cities. It said China’s government was most likely to be behind the tactic.

Canada and China prepare to open Cop15 biodiversity summit despite rifts

Ministers and experts say disputes between co-hosts unlikely to disrupt efforts to reach deal on protecting natural world

More than 10,000 scientists, government officials and activists will gather in Montreal this week for the world’s most important biodiversity conference, eager to hammer out a deal to stem habitat loss around the world and preserve sensitive ecosystems.

The UN Cop15 biodiversity summit opens on Tuesday, and will see countries negotiate this decade’s targets for protecting nature after more than two years of pandemic-related delays and just over two weeks since the end of the Cop27 climate meeting in Egypt.

Joe Trivelli’s rich and warming winter recipes

Porcini risotto, chicken cacciatore, and bread and butter pudding – butter is an everyday luxury that adds a mellow sweetness to these comforting dishes

We are never without butter at home, as essential to us as dried oregano, garlic, tomato sauce, capers and olive oil. My wife has been known to melt a pat of Jersey butter for flapjacks, and my children eat it like cheese on the endless rounds of toast they clamour for each morning. Everyday luxury.

Butter is a staple of northern Italian cooking, used much more than in the south. Historically the fat of choice for the wealthy, its rich, mellow sweetness is in the elevated fine pasta served with white truffles, and also crucial in risotto. What is poetically described by Elizabeth David as “a walnut of butter”, added towards the end of something home-cooked with everyday ingredients, makes it the hug one needs at this time of year.

Her dark materials: Tim Burton’s Wednesday sparks a gothic fashion revival

Take a crisp white shirt, layers of black tulle and lace, and team with a sullen stare. Now you’re tuned in to Netflix’s new take on the Addams family

If you are seeing a lot of Gen Z wearing black, plaiting their hair into pigtails and giving you a Kubrick Stare, it’s all because of their new anti-heroine heroine, Wednesday. It has been just over a week since Tim Burton’s new series Wednesday debuted on Netflix but already tweens and teens are channelling the sullen and sardonic daughter of the Addams family.

Defined by the deadpan Christina Ricci in the 90s films, this time round Wednesday has been given a Gen-Z makeover. The series follows a now teenage Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) as she is banished to Nevermore Academy, a creepy boarding school, after an incident involving a school swimming team and a bag of piranhas. What ensues is an action-packed melodrama fusing the genres of murder mystery with horror and a dollop of teenage angst. It has swiftly become Netflix’s most popular show, beating the last series of Stranger Things.

‘It’s hard not to get caught in the act’: meet the people who help total strangers

Charitable donations peak in December, but what about the rest of the year? Sally Howard meets the people dedicated to random acts of kindness – and learns why giving anonymously is even better for you

A few weeks ago Marilyn Devonish buttonholed a stranger to compliment her outfit. It was a natty, colour-matched mauve jacket and pumps, but that wasn’t the point. Dashing home from a shopping trip, Devonish had noticed the woman’s harried look and slow, defeated gait.

“The weight of the world was on her shoulders, but she was dressed in such a lovely way and I just had to tell her that,” Devonish explains. But the subject of her attention was taken aback. “Just minutes earlier she had caught her reflection in a shop window and told herself how bad she looked.”

Jabal: the new drought-tolerant wheat scientists say can withstand extreme heat

The variety is a cross between commercial and wild wheats – bred in a bid to develop crops that are more resilient to the climate crisis

A new drought-tolerant variety of durum wheat has been created as part of an international breeding programme to boost climate resilience in the food system by increasing crop diversity.

Durum wheat is used to make pasta, pizza crusts, and flatbreads such as pitta and chapatis, as well as for couscous, bulgur and pastry for desserts such as baklava.

Stormzy: This Is What I Mean review – intimate, downbeat soul-baring

(Merky/Def Jam)
‘Big Michael’ confronts his heartbreaks and vulnerabilities head-on, while showcasing a host of guest vocalists and beatmakers

It seems fitting that when “Big Michael” – as Stormzy has occasionally referred to himself – came to make an album about heartbreak, inner peace and grownup masculinity, he would not do it by half measures. This Is What I Mean is a bold album about showing vulnerability, and continues the erstwhile rapper’s overarching mission to transcend the roles allotted to him. Stormzy can be any kind of artist “if you let it be”, he offers – not least a self-questioning one far more concerned with evolving than grandstanding.

Once, his tentative singing voice caused a stir when it first aired on Blinded By Your Grace Pt 2. Now it fills a number of songs on this intimate third outing, one that pines hard for his former love and often looks to God (Holy Spirit, Please). The atmosphere is downbeat, full of soulful keys; while Stormzy is focused inwards, wondering if he can forgive his father for not being in his life, he shares the spotlight with myriad guest vocalists and beatmakers. (The fabulous Sampha gets a whole track to himself.)

‘Our mission is crucial’: meet the warrior librarians of Ukraine

When Russia invaded Ukraine, a key part of its strategy was to destroy historic libraries in order to eradicate the Ukrainians’ sense of identity. But Putin hadn’t counted on the unbreakable spirit of the country’s librarians

The morning that Russian bombs started falling on Kyiv, Oksana Bruy woke up worried about her laptop. Bruy is president of the Ukrainian Library Association and, the night before, she hadn’t quite finished a presentation on the new plans for the Kyiv Polytechnic Library, so she had left her computer open at work. That morning, the street outside her house filled with the gunfire of Ukrainian militias executing Russian agents. Missile strikes drove her into an underground car park with her daughter, Anna, and her cat, Tom. A few days, later she crept back into the huge empty library, 15,000sqft once filled with the quiet murmurings of readers. As she grabbed her laptop, the air raid siren sounded and she rushed to her car.

Thanks to that computer, Bruy could work. She didn’t return to her office; instead, she fled west to Lviv. “In all that time, from the first day of the full-scale war, I did not stop working,” she says. The library’s IT specialist lived in the neighbourhood. He kept the servers running and the employees connected. “So there was not a single day’s break in the work of the Kyiv Polytechnical Library, all this time, from 24 February.” The Russians have not shut her down. Oksana Bruy is winning her battle in the Ukrainian war. The libraries are open.

December of discontent: will strikers or government and management take the blame?

The Christmas calendar is packed with disruptive industrial action and public anger could deepen Rishi Sunak’s woes

The queue of 10 or so people clutching parcels stretches out into freezing fog rolling down Gloucester Road in Bristol. Inside the warm post office, there are plenty of mild-mannered complaints about the delays and threadbare services that define late-Tory-era Britain.

But perhaps the most striking thing – amid the grumbles – is the overwhelming support for postal workers taking action over real-terms pay cuts.

Farewell to Christine McVie, who gave us music for all time

The Fleetwood Mac singer songwriter, who died last week, is among a select group whose music is culturally indelible

Most of us have our favourite musical artists, the ones we deliberately seek out, but what about the other kind, the ones who wriggle in through the trapdoor of your mind? That, in the sweetest, strangest way, gatecrash your cultural consciousness when you’re not quite paying attention, then embed there. Forever.

When news came of the death of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie at age 79, the internet did one of its loving, sorrowful double-takes. Of course it did. There’s much to applaud about the multitalented McVie: those scuffed-velvet vocals; the chilled charisma of a woman who truly knew herself; that decades-spanning rock’n’roll sisterhood with fellow band member Stevie Nicks laying waste to the sexist fiction that two highly creative women always have to end up in a catfight.

This latest Alzheimer’s drug breakthrough is reason for hope – and further funding

Researchers are a step closer to unravelling the cruel mystery of the dementia that afflicts my wife and so many others

In an age of excessive information, we have each developed a filtering system. To compensate, we acquire our own keywords, which pierce these systems, or, in the old parlance, make our ears prick up, be they the names of favourite teams, musicians, pastimes, conspiracy theories. Brexit.

In recent years, I have joined millions of others in acquiring the more unfortunate triggers of “dementia” and “Alzheimer’s”, but these keywords are not always the harbingers of bad news. Last week, the headlines linking them with others, such as “breakthrough” and “treatment”, will have set many of us off into a frenzy of information-gathering.

‘I came through the other side’: Kathy Burke on depression, the menopause and her ‘fantasy funerals’ podcast

Despite bringing us many of our funniest TV moments, Kathy Burke has faced some dark and troubling times. Here, she talks to Sophie Heawood about solving her problems, the joy of young people, and why we should all ‘laugh at death’

When I meet Kathy Burke, in a recording studio in north London, she is talking about how much she loves young people and their desire to improve things – their life force. She can’t bear oldies like John Cleese “complaining about wokeness because he doesn’t get it. It’s because you’re old.” she says. “You’ve had your time, it was great, now fuck off! Why this need to remain relevant?” At 58, having already enjoyed a huge career, first as a comic actor and now as a director, Burke has “a lot of hope for young people. Once us old cunts have gone.”

All of which makes it more surprising that we are actually here to talk about death, and specifically a new podcast that Burke has surprised even herself by launching, called Where There’s a Will There’s a Wake, in which she talks to her comedy friends about how they would like to die. Dawn French, James Acaster and Stewart Lee, among other guests, go deep in what Burke describes as her “fantasy football” version of death and funeral planning.

Why do my female friendships fizzle out? | Ask Philippa

I might fade away from someone’s life if they made me feel inferior, says Philippa Perry. We don’t want to be fixed by friends – we want to be understood

The question I have immense trouble maintaining female friendships. I grew up with three older brothers, have a whole bunch of great longstanding friendships with men, and a few friendships with women from back in the day, but we don’t live near each other now. Every woman I’ve ever befriended since childhood ends up ghosting me.

I’ve been racking my brain about why these female friendships always fizzle out. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong that would justify ditching me. In fact, I have supported these women over the years when they’ve been in tricky situations.

World Cup 2022: Argentina bring Australia’s adventure to an end – in pictures

A piece of Lionel Messi magic and a Mat Ryan ricket meant that the Socceroos are heading home after a 2-1 round of 16 defeat

We love: Fashion fixes for the week ahead – in pictures

Mr Porter’s young designer mentorship scheme, Cos supports traditional crafts plus classic childrenswear for winter

Ministers accused of ‘spoiling for a fight’ with nurses over pay

While health secretary Steve Barclay says he will not negotiate, unions suggest the compromise reached in Scotland could help avert strikes

Ministers were under intense pressure last night to open new pay talks that could avert a devastating series of NHS strikes as health unions suggested a deal could be struck if both sides were willing to negotiate and compromise.

Amid claims from Labour and from NHS sources that ministers appeared to be playing politics and deliberately “spoiling for a fight”, union leaders strongly suggested that an improved, but still sub-inflation, offer similar to that made to Scottish health unions at the end of last month by the Holyrood government – which has led to strike threats being lifted north of the border – could help break the deadlock elsewhere in the UK.

Just Stop Oil activists occupy beds in Harrods in protest against fuel poverty

Protesters take to luxury beds and sofas in London store to call for action on ‘sky-rocketing’ energy bills

Just Stop Oil activists tucked themselves into a Harrods display bed as part of a national day of action on fuel poverty in the UK on Saturday.

Footage of the “warm up” demonstrations also showed security guards confronting protesters lying on sofas inside the shop in Knightsbridge, London.

Almost fifth of lone Albanian child refugees in Kent missing, says council

39 of 197 unaccompanied children taken in between 1 January and 31 October this year are missing

Almost a fifth of lone Albanian child refugees have gone missing, an English council has revealed. Kent county council took in 197 unaccompanied children from Albania between 1 January and 31 October of this year and, of those, 39 are missing.

The figures were revealed after a freedom of information request by the BBC.

Beyond beliefs: does religious faith lead to a happier, healthier life?

The stress-reducing, life-extending benefits of religion can offer useful strategies even for non-believers, say scientists

In his Pensées, published posthumously in 1670, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal appeared to establish a foolproof argument for religious commitment, which he saw as a kind of bet. If the existence of God was even minutely possible, he claimed, then the potential gain was so huge – an “eternity of life and happiness” – that taking the leap of faith was the mathematically rational choice.

Pascal’s wager implicitly assumes that religion has no benefits in the real world, but some sacrifices. But what if there were evidence that faith could also contribute to better wellbeing? Scientific studies suggest this is the case. Joining a church, synagogue or temple even appears to extend your lifespan.

Brexit has fuelled surge in UK food prices, says Bank of England policymaker

Britons need to be kept aware of the cost of leaving the EU, says Swati Dhingra

• ‘The slowdown is here’ – read the Observer business profile

Brexit is contributing to a surge in food prices as the country heads into recession, a senior Bank of England policymaker has warned.

Swati Dhingra – the newest member of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), which sets interest rates – also used an interview with the Observer to suggest that the coming run of central bank rate rises should peak below 4.5%, which is the level that some City investors are expecting. “The market is probably underestimating what damage that [level of interest rates] might cause to the UK economy,” she said.

An Indigenous reservation has a novel way to grow food – below the earth’s surface

Underground greenhouses are helping people to take back control of their nutrition and ease farming amid the climate crisis

Near the southern border of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, a curved translucent roof peeks out a few feet above the dusty plains. It’s a blustery November afternoon and the last remaining greens outside are fading fast. But below ground, at the bottom of a short flight of stairs, the inside of this 80ft-long sleek structure is bursting with life – pallets of vivid microgreens, potato plants growing from hay bales and planters full of thick heads of Swiss chard and pak choi. Two people bend over the pallets, using scissors to harvest delicate sprouts of microgreens.

This is an underground greenhouse, or walipini, and the harvesters are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. It is one of at least eight underground greenhouses that, over the past decade, have been built or are being constructed on the reservation – which has one of the highest poverty rates in the US. Some hope they can help solve the interconnected problems of the lack of affordable, nutritious food and the difficulties of farming in the climate crisis.

Fakers, fast sign-ups and fraud: the crisis at the UK’s Companies House

Britain’s register of companies was reformed in 2011 to allow incorporations within 24 hours for £12. Now the number of firms on its books has soared – and so have the complaints

It was in June, when she went to get a credit check for a mortgage, that the 20-year-old employee at Japanese beauty brand Shiseido realised something had gone badly wrong.

“My credit rating was trashed. Someone had taken out car finance, a business loan and an overdraft, all in my name, with my details,” says the employee, who has asked to remain anonymous because she still works at the brand. “I’d apparently founded a chocolate company in the Midlands.”

Things we lost in the wildfires: images of the devastating personal cost of a warming world

A camera, a lamp, a child’s tricycle … Photographer Gideon Mendel’s latest project highlights the everyday impact of the climate crisis

“I was looking for a way to respond to the climate crisis for a long time,” says Gideon Mendel. Since the 1980s, the South African photographer has dedicated his career to documenting social issues around the globe – from the atrocities of apartheid to the Syrian refugee crisis. His images have sought to centre the lives and voices of the people who have been affected. But when he turned his attention to the warming planet around 15 years ago, the standard visual language seemed to be all “glaciers and polar bears”. “I wanted to make my work more personal and visceral,” he says.

Now Mendel travels the world, visiting places where increased flooding and wildfires have destroyed homes and ravaged communities. He does not consider himself a photojournalist: you won’t find any dramatic scenes of fleeing or rescue in his portfolio. Rather, he sticks around to see what’s left behind. The Climate Artefact series, from his Burning World project, depicts personal possessions and other objects burnt in unplanned blazes. Mendel began collecting these charred mementoes after the intense bushfires in Australia in 2019–20; further items were acquired on subsequent trips to wildfire sites in Greece, Canada and the US.

Earthshot fund gives £1m to UK scientists fighting climate crisis

Scientists who have replaced plastic packaging with seaweed among those to be given prize by Prince of Wales

Scientists who have replaced plastic packaging with seaweed are among those who have been given a £1m prize by the Prince of Wales’s Earthshot fund.

The prize is aimed at rewarding innovative solutions to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergencies, and is named after former US president John F Kennedy’s Moonshot challenge in the 1960s, which united millions of people around the goal of putting a person on the moon within a decade.

The young people speaking out against the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God | podcast

Rachael Reign was an active member of an evangelical Christian church with branches worldwide. It was only after leaving that she came to believe it had exposed her to a ‘horrendous’ ordeal. Maeve McClenaghan reports

In Finsbury Park, north London, an old theatre building has been taken over by a church. It is covered with a logo containing a heart and doves and it has four letters on it: UCKG. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is an evangelical Christian organisation. For years, as she often walked past the branch, the Guardian’s Maeve McClenaghan was intrigued by it.

Then one day, out of the blue, she got an email from a former member asking to talk. It set off a reporting project and led to interviews with dozens of ex-followers who were ready to speak out.

Why protesters in Iran are risking everything for change – video explainer

People across Iran have been protesting for nearly three months, defying a deadly crackdown by regime forces. The demonstrations are seen as a fierce challenge to four decades of hardline clerical rule. The protesters' cry of 'Woman, Life, Freedom' has galvanised the movement, which has travelled around the world, but within Iran there have been more than 18,000 arrests, violence and a rising death toll. With protesters refusing to back down, we look at what they want and why they are willing to risk everything to get it

• Iranian man, 27, shot dead for celebrating team’s World Cup exit
  
• Mapping Iran’s unrest: how Mahsa Amini’s death led to nationwide protests
  

How the British crown has more power than you think – video

The monarch's role in British politics is supposed to be neutral. In theory, a king or queen plays no role in government decision-making or the setting of policy. However, documents discovered by the Guardian in the National Archives tell a different story. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks back at the Guardian’s investigation into a secretive procedure that led to more than 1,000 laws being vetted by Queen Elizabeth and then-Prince Charles before they were approved by parliament

Royals vetted more than 1,000 laws via Queen’s consent

Revealed: how Prince Charles pressured ministers to change law to benefit his estate

How the Queen lobbied for changes in the law to hide her wealth

Imprisoned for being HIV positive | podcast

In more than 80 countries, people living with HIV still face criminalisation. We hear from two people who faced criminal charges in the US

“The police come to my job, they’re telling me that this gentleman that I had dated is pressing charges on me because I didn’t tell him I was HIV positive.”

Lashanda Salinas faced criminal charges in Tennessee after her former partner accused her of exposing him to the HIV virus. Although Lashanda had been on medication since she was a teenager, and says she was open about her status, she was convicted and is now on the sex offender registry.

Timelapse shows Earth visible on Nasa's Orion lunar flyby – video

Nasa checked off another crucial milestone on its first crew-capable moon mission for 50 years early on Monday, with the Orion capsule of Artemis 1 “buzzing” the moon as it made its closest approach to the lunar surface of the 25-day space flight. The pass, 81 miles above the far side of the moon, was followed by a critical engine burn to place the spacecraft on a pathway to a wide lunar orbit 40,000 miles further on, the farthest a human-rated vehicle has ever travelled from Earth. Timelapse footage shows the capsule, moon and Earth in the same frame

• Nasa’s Orion capsule reaches moon on way to record-breaking lunar orbit

Nancy Pelosi: key moments from the Democrat's time as House speaker – video

THe US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold that influential post, has announced she will be stepping down as the Democratic leader in the chamber after Republicans secured a narrow majority after the midterm elections. It marks the end of a historic leadership career highlighted by her ability to hold a fractious caucus together and challenge the world's most powerful men – including the former president Donald Trump. Here is a look back at her long and defiant career

'Have a heart': 10-year-old Ghanaian climate activist receives standing ovation at Cop27 – video

Nakeeyat Dramani, a 10-year-old Ghanaian climate activist, appealed to delegates during a Cop27 session in Sharm el-Sheikh to 'have a heart'. Nakeeyat spoke 'on behalf of young people' who feared for their future, after seeing the impact of the climate crisis every day, in the form of air pollution, flooding and droughts. 

She joined Ghana's delegation to add her voice to the pressing consequences of the climate emergency in her country. At the end of her speech, Nakeeyat recited a poem, telling leaders to work harder to halt the climate crisis

• Cop27: EU agrees to finance fund for poorer countries – live
  

'First digital nation': Tuvalu turns to metaverse as rising seas threaten existence – video

Tuvalu says it plans to build a digital version of itself, replicating islands and landmarks and preserving its history and culture, as rising sea levels threaten to submerge the tiny Pacific island nation. Seemingly speaking from within the digital replica of one Tuvalu island, the foreign minister Simon Kofe, said it was the only way to preserve their country 'piece by piece' so that they can remind their 'children and grandchildren what their home once was'.

• Could a digital twin of Tuvalu preserve the island nation before it’s lost to the collapsing climate?

Real relief or an elaborate placebo? | A sceptic's guide to wellness

Despite being labelled problematic, alternative medicines have plenty of anecdotal support. But mainstream acceptance remains out of reach for many wellness treatments. Guardian journalist Richard Sprenger, who has multiple sclerosis, dips his toe into a range of therapies in the hope of figuring out how they work, if they work, and whether they might benefit him

• Watch more episodes of a sceptic's guide to wellness here. 

'Built on exploitation': the real price of the Qatar World Cup – video explainer

The Guardian's Pete Pattisson looks at the exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar ahead of the World Cup and explains why any reforms are 'too little, too late'. Pattisson speaks of his own first-hand experience with workers in the country and describes the very poor living and working conditions he saw. In the runup to the tournament, the Qatari authorities claim they have made significant progress with their human rights laws. Migrant workers, however, who make up 95% of the working population, are still suffering 12 years after hosting rights were awarded by Fifa.

• Has the Qatar World Cup really improved workers’ rights? Experts give their verdict

Iranians: share your views on the protests following Mahsa Amini’s death

We’d like to hear from people in Iran how they feel about the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody

We’d like to hear how Iranians feel about the protests taking place in Iran after Mahsa Amini’s death in custody in Tehran.

Whether you have witnessed street protests directly or just want to share your views on the situation in Iran, we’re interested to hear from you.

Russians: tell us what you think about Putin’s escalation of war in Ukraine

We would like to hear views and opinions from Russians at this stage of the Russia-Ukraine war

Russia has announced a partial mobilisation in a major escalation that places the country’s people and economy on a wartime footing.

With president Vladimir Putin also threatening nuclear retaliation, we would like to hear from Russians about how ordinary people are reacting to the latest developments in the war on Ukraine.

Tell us: how have you been affected by the situation in Ukraine?

We would like to hear from people in Ukraine about events in the country. We would also like to hear from others who are affected

We would like to hear from people who are affected by the war in Ukraine. You can share news tips or experiences directly with our journalistsby getting in touch below.

Share a story with the Guardian

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