The Saudification of America is under way | Karen Attiah

Jamal Khashoggi’s plight and murder was a warning sign for the US, of the impending loss of freedom and censorship that would sweep the country

The first time I ever used the words “alhumdulilah”, which translates to praise be to God in Arabic, was the night of 16 November 2018. A Friday night news alert came through on my phone: “CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination.” I collapsed into my couch, repeating the words.

I am not Muslim. But Jamal, in life and death, has taught me a lot about faith and looking for hope in all the wrong places. As a writer with a history of criticizing America’s meddling in weaker countries, in normal circumstances, I should have been loath to celebrate the CIA.

Karen Attiah is a writer and educator whose work focuses on race, global culture and human rights

Published: November 18, 2025, 8:59 pm

Plastic surgeons wrestle with requests for ‘Mar-a-Lago face’: ‘You’re going to look like Maleficent’

The puffy, artificial look is rising in popularity - thanks to Maga elite such as Kristi Noem and Matt Gaetz

Picture a plastic surgeon’s office. You might imagine a sleek Los Angeles practice, with discreet entrances meant to conceal celebrities from the paparazzi. Maybe a Dallas high-rise, where monied housewives spend on postpartum “mommy makeovers”. Or a Miami location, where influencers and OnlyFans stars film TikToks of their BBLs. One city you might not think of is Washington DC. But its buttoned-up reputation belies a newly buzzing industry.

Much has been made of the so-called “Mar-a-Lago face”, or the uncannily smooth and artificially voluminous features seen on the likes of Maga elite such as Kristi Noem, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz. The bee-sting puffy lips, frozen brows and taut necks have been compared to Real Housewives stars, sleep paralysis demons and – ironically, considering the Republican party’s anti-LGBTQ+ culture war – drag queens (minus the campy fun).

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:33 pm

Mahmood Mamdani on Zohran, Uganda and forced expulsion: ‘Who is part of the nation and who is not?’

After being expelled from his homeland in 1972, the academic has grappled with questions of political belonging – a major theme of his son’s mayoral campaign

The night before Mahmood Mamdani was expelled from Uganda in 1972, a senior professor from the university where he had been employed as a lowly teaching assistant wandered into his family home, looking for spoils. The rest of the family had already left – for the UK, the US and Tanzania – but 26-year-old Mamdani had decided to remain until the final day of the three-month period that Idi Amin, the Ugandan president, had designated for all Asians to leave the country. Passing over the furniture and other remnants of decades of family life, the professor hit upon a carton of Johnnie Walker Red, which Mamdani invited him to take home.

Published: November 18, 2025, 2:26 pm

The 11 best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday travel deals already taking off

From Away, Calpak and REI, here are budget-friendly reasons to upgrade your suitcase, replace your headphones and finally invest in a set of packing cubes

• Snag these home and kitchen Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

While the Black Friday deals landscape can be overwhelming – and you might be tempted to avoid it completely – some actually incredible deals do exist out there, particularly in the travel space. As a travel journalist and the writer of a packing list newsletter, I’m always on the hunt for luggage, clothing and gear that will streamline my travel process. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, I keep a trained eye on the retailers with genuine discounts on carry-on suitcases, comfortable loungewear and more. Pro tip: if a specific item catches my eye, I will Google it to see if another website is offering a more enticing deal. (It usually is.)

So if you’re hunting for items that will upgrade your travels without blowing your budget, use my curated guide to inform your shopping. I’ll be regularly updating the deals throughout the holiday sales period, so check back here for more savings over the next two weeks.

The best luggage deal:
Away Packing Pro Bundle

Published: November 18, 2025, 6:47 pm

Wicked: For Good review – Cynthia Erivo sweeps the field in explosive second chunk of Oz prequel

Bringing her black-belt screen presence to the role of Elphaba, Erivo leads a fine cast in a zingily scored conclusion to the hit origin story

Director Jon M Chu pulls off quite a trick with this manageably proportioned second half to the epic musical prequel-myth inspired by The Wizard of Oz – and based, of course, on the hit stage show. It keeps the rainbow-coloured dreaminess and the Broadway show tune zinginess from part one, and we still get those periodic, surreal pronouncements given by the city’s notables to the diverse folk of Oz, those non-player characters crowding the streets. But now the focus narrows to the main players and their explosive romantic crises, essentially through two interlocking love triangles: Glinda the Good, Elphaba the Wicked and the Wizard – and Glinda, Elphaba and Prince Fiyero, the handsome young military officer with whom both witches are not so secretly in love, as well as possibly having feelings for each other.

Jeff Goldblum is excellent as the Wizard, who pretty much becomes the Darth Vader of Oz: a slippery carnival huckster who is realising that his seedy charm is corroding his soul. Jonathan Bailey pivots to a much more serious, less campy, more passionate Prince and Ariana Grande is, as ever, delicate and doll-like as Glinda, though with less opportunity for comedy. But the superstar among equals is Cynthia Erivo, bringing her black-belt screen presence to the role of Elphaba, and revealing a new vulnerability and maturity. Elsewhere, Marissa Bode returns as Nessarose, Elphaba’s wheelchair-using half-sister; Ethan Slater is Boq, the Munchkin working as her servant; and Michelle Yeoh brings stately sweetness to the role of the Wizard’s private secretary Madame Morrible.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:00 pm

Death threats and accusations: the professor targeted by the US far right

Mark Bray has become one of the highest-profile people caught up in Donald Trump’s efforts to target Antifa

Baggage dropped and boarding passes in hand, Mark Bray and his family cleared security at Newark airport in early October. Their flight to Spain was meant to ferry the family of four to safety after days of mounting threats; instead, as they waited at the gate to board, they were told that someone had cancelled their reservation.

“It felt like I was being watched and laughed at,” said Bray, a professor at Rutgers university who teaches a course on the history of antifascism and in 2017 wrote a book on Antifa. “I knew it was politically motivated one way or the other.”

Published: November 18, 2025, 10:00 am

House votes 427-1 to release Epstein files; Senate majority leader says chamber will take up vote ‘fairly quickly’ – US politics live

Near-unanimous vote passes on bill to force release of all files related to investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein

• House passes bill to release Epstein files with near-unanimous support

• How did your representative vote on releasing the Epstein files?

The Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers said he would be stepping back from public life after documents released by the House oversight committee revealed email exchanges between Summers and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who called himself Summers’ “wing man”.

Politico reported on Monday that Summers, a former treasury secretary, expressed deep regret for past messages with Epstein.

Published: November 18, 2025, 9:51 pm

Trump shrugs off Khashoggi murder during Saudi prince’s White House visit

US president also claims Mohammed bin Salman ‘knew nothing’ about murder of journalist

Donald Trump has shrugged off the Saudi regime’s 2018 murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the journalist was “extremely controversial” and unpopular, dismissing the killing by observing “things happen”.

The US president made the remarks at the White House on Tuesday while welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the first time since Khashoggi’s murder and dismemberment in Istanbul by Saudi state operatives.

Published: November 18, 2025, 9:40 pm

MLS executive who built a powerhouse faced allegations of sexist, racist and homophobic behavior

Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner denies the allegations, which prompted a recently-concluded MLS investigation that could not corroborate them

• Read a summary of our investigation here

From a box above the field at PayPal Park in San Jose, Ernst Tanner looked on. It was 10 June 2023, and his Union team were losing a physical match 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes. Jamiro Monteiro, a player Tanner had brought to the Union in 2019 before trading him to San Jose, was being substituted. Monteiro, clearly exhausted, trudged to the Earthquakes’ bench as referee Nima Saghafi extended his arm and ushered him along, briefly making contact.

It wasn’t the first time Saghafi had touched the midfielder. In the first half, with Monteiro on the ground after being sent flying by a tackle, Saghafi placed his hand on Monteiro’s back, a small gesture meant to show concern.

Made multiple misogynistic comments, including saying “women don’t belong in men’s soccer” about a female MLS referee and telling a gathering of academy players that they “should never worry about a referee, unless she’s a woman.”

Spoke about Black players “like they were subhuman” and suggested that Black referees “lack intelligence and capability.”

Touched a co-worker inappropriately “numerous times,” an allegation for which he was reported to the Union’s HR department.

Hired an underqualified coach who was allegedly abusive toward players on the Philadelphia Union II, the club’s reserve team that is used as a proving ground for young players from its thriving academy.

Published: November 18, 2025, 8:12 pm

Judge rejects ‘racially gerrymandered’ maps in Texas that gave Republicans extra districts

Federal judge instructed state to use older maps, with Republicans likely to appeal decision

• US politics live – latest updates

New maps that added five Republican districts in Texas hit a legal roadblock on Tuesday, with a federal judge saying the state cannot use the 2025 maps because they are probably “racially gerrymandered”.

The decision is likely to be appealed, given the push for more Republican-friendly congressional maps nationwide and Donald Trump’s full-court press on his party to make them. Some states have followed suit, and some Democratic states have retaliated, pushing to add more blue seats to counteract Republicans.

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:31 pm

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

Bafta-winning director among contemporaries urging contrition and apology from Reform UK leader, who denies the allegations
Portrait: Tom Pilston

It is the hectoring tone, the “jeering quality”, in Nigel Farage’s voice today that brings it all back for Peter Ettedgui. “He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers,” Ettedgui says of his experience of being in a class with Farage at Dulwich college in south London.

Ettedgui, 61, is a Bafta- and Emmy-winning director and producer whose credits include Kinky Boots, McQueen and Super/Man: the Christopher Reeve Story.

Published: November 18, 2025, 3:00 pm

More than 80 countries at Cop30 join call for roadmap to fossil fuel phase-out

Countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Pacific and Europe plead for transition to be central outcome of talks

• Cop30 live – latest updates

More than 80 countries have joined a call for a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels, in a dramatic intervention into stuck negotiations at the UN Cop30 climate summit.

Countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific joined with EU member states and the UK to make an impassioned plea for the “transition away from fossil fuels” to be a central outcome of the talks, despite stiff opposition from petrostates and some other major economies.

Published: November 18, 2025, 8:24 pm

Venezuela’s top opposition leader claims ‘new era’ is coming despite lack of clear plan

María Corina Machado pens a ‘freedom manifesto’ as plan to force Nicolás Maduro from power remains unclear

Venezuela’s top opposition leader, the Nobel laureate María Corina Machado, has declared her country “at the edge of a new era” as Donald Trump refused to rule out a ground invasion to topple its authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, but also signalled he was open to talks.

Machado, who has lived in hiding since her movement’s candidate was widely believed to have beaten Maduro in last year’s presidential election, made her claim in a “freedom manifesto” that was published on Tuesday as uncertainty continued to shroud the South American country’s future.

Published: November 18, 2025, 3:50 pm

Meta wins major US antitrust case and won’t have to break off WhatsApp or Instagram

Challenge to Meta could have forced it to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp, but judge ruled company did not hold social networking monopoly

Meta defeated a major challenge to its business on Tuesday when a US judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.

The case, brought by the US Federal Trade Commission, could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp, with the former FTC chair accusing the company of operating a “buy or bury” scheme against nascent competitors. The tech giant bought WhatsApp for $19bn in 2014. Losing either the image-based social network, which generates an estimated half of Meta’s revenue, or the world’s most popular messaging app could have done existential damage to Meta’s empire.

Published: November 18, 2025, 9:43 pm

UN plan just ‘first step’ toward peace in Gaza, says Palestinian foreign minister

Varsen Aghabekian Shahin backs resolution, while Hamas rejects idea of international force inside territory

• Analysis: One of the oddest UN resolutions in history

The Palestinian foreign minister has described the UN security council resolution endorsing Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza as a necessary first step on a long road towards peace, even as Hamas rejected it as a form of international guardianship with which it will not cooperate.

Arab state leaders who have reluctantly adopted the plan said the US urgently needed to set out the composition of the proposed Palestinian technocratic committee that is to deliver services inside Gaza, as well as the leadership of the international stabilisation force (ISF), which is supposed to oversee security. Membership of the board of peace, the body that is to oversee the ISF and a Palestinian civilian police force also remains unknown.

Published: November 18, 2025, 2:12 pm

Man pours liquid on woman and sets her on fire on Chicago subway

Victim was hospitalized in critical condition and suspect taken into custody following incident on city’s train system

A woman is currently hospitalized after being set on fire on the Chicago train system, according to police.

At around 9.25pm on Monday, a 26-year-old woman was riding the Chicago Transit Authority system’s Blue Line near the Clark/Lake station when she got into an argument with an approximately 45-year-old man.

Published: November 18, 2025, 8:56 pm

Trump faces criticism for referring to female Bloomberg reporter as ‘piggy’

Critics accuse the US president of trying to ‘shut women journalists up’ with ‘demeaning language’

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump, who has a history of making extremely personal attacks on female journalists, referred to a Bloomberg News correspondent as a “piggy” during a clash onboard Air Force One on Friday.

While the remark did not initially get much attention, it picked up some traction on Tuesday and has drawn backlash from fellow journalists, including some who have previously been attacked by Trump themselves.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:52 pm

New Jersey man pardoned of fraud conviction by Trump back in prison for another fraud conviction

Eliyahu ‘Eli’ Weinstein, pardoned by Trump in 2021, was sentenced to 37 years for defrauding investors out of $35m

A New Jersey man whose lengthy prison sentence for fraud convictions was commuted by Donald Trump in 2021 is now headed back to federal prison for another fraud conviction.

The US district judge Michael Shipp, sitting in Trenton, handed down a 37-year sentence on Friday to Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, 51, of Lakewood, who is also known as Mike Konig. Shipp also ruled that Weinstein must pay $44,294,803 in restitution, which is due immediately, according to court documents.

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:50 pm

Trump’s focus on race backfires as voters punish economic failings

The Maga base rallied on inflation and racial grievances, but stressing race over the economy is costing the US president

Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign strategy leaned heavily on two sources of grievance among the Maga base. The first was the rising cost of living, propelled by the sharp burst of inflation that peaked at 9% a year in July 2022. Though inflation had receded to 2.7% by election day, frustration over prices convinced many voters that Trump would be a superior steward of the economy. The other theme was race.

The strategy won the presidency. Then Trump made a mistake: focusing relentlessly on hostility towards immigrants and the diverse citizens of urban America, the president pretty much ignored – nay, worsened – his supporters’ economic woes. In elections earlier this month, US economic grievances came back to bite him. Pummeled by voters, Trump is now trying to recover his economic narrative. But it may be too late.

Published: November 18, 2025, 11:00 am

Workers at US landscape company sue Trump ally over human-trafficking raid

Employees at the Utah company Rubicon are filing a lawsuit against former state attorney general Sean Reyes

Workers at Rubicon, a landscape company that was subjected to a televised human-trafficking raid led by Trump ally and former Utah attorney general Sean Reyes, filed a federal complaint on Tuesday alleging Reyes and his office “violated the law to attack a Utah company for political purposes”.

The workers are seeking recompense after alleging that Reyes and other officials at the Utah office of the attorney general used false information to file a case against the company that caused enormous damage but was later dismissed.

Published: November 18, 2025, 1:00 pm

What AI doesn’t know: we could be creating a global ‘knowledge collapse’ | Deepak Varuvel Dennison

As GenAI becomes the primary way to find information, local and traditional wisdom is being lost. And we are only beginning to realise what we’re missing

• This article was originally published as ‘Holes in the web’ on Aeon.co

A few years back, my dad was diagnosed with a tumour on his tongue – which meant we had some choices to weigh up. My family has an interesting dynamic when it comes to medical decisions. While my older sister is a trained doctor in western allopathic medicine, my parents are big believers in traditional remedies. Having grown up in a small town in India, I am accustomed to rituals. My dad had a ritual, too. Every time we visited his home village in southern Tamil Nadu, he’d get a bottle of thick, pungent, herb-infused oil from a vaithiyar, a traditional doctor practising Siddha medicine. It was his way of maintaining his connection with the kind of medicine he had always known and trusted.

Dad’s tumour showed signs of being malignant, so the hospital doctors and my sister strongly recommended surgery. My parents were against the idea, worried it could affect my dad’s speech. This is usually where I come in, as the expert mediator in the family. Like any good millennial, I turned to the internet for help in guiding the decision. After days of thorough research, I (as usual) sided with my sister and pushed for surgery. The internet backed us up.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:00 am

Bhutan PM on leading the first carbon-negative nation: ‘The wellbeing of our people is at the centre of our agenda’

Exclusive: Tshering Tobgay says his country is doing ‘a lot more than our fair share’ on climate and west must cut emissions ‘for the happiness of your people’

The wealthy western countries most responsible for the climate crisis would improve the health and happiness of their citizens by prioritising environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth, according to the prime minister of Bhutan, the world’s first carbon-negative nation.

Bhutan, a Buddhist democratic monarchy and biodiversity hotspot situated high in the eastern Himalayas, is among the world’s most ambitious climate leaders thanks to its people’s connection with nature and a strong political focus on improving gross national happiness rather than just GDP, Tshering Tobgay told the Guardian.

Published: November 18, 2025, 3:00 pm

‘Fear really drives him’: is Alex Karp of Palantir the world’s scariest CEO?

His company is potentially creating the ultimate state surveillance tool, and Karp has recently been on a striking political and philosophical journey. His biographer reveals what makes him tick

In a recent interview, Alex Karp said that his company Palantir was “the most important software company in America and therefore in the world”. He may well be right. To some, Palantir is also the scariest company in the world, what with its involvement in the Trump administration’s authoritarian agenda. The potential end point of Palantir’s tech is an all-powerful government system amalgamating citizens’ tax records, biometric data and other personal information – the ultimate state surveillance tool. No wonder Palantir has been likened to George Orwell’s Big Brother, or Skynet from the Terminator movies.

Does this make Karp the scariest CEO in the world? There is some competition from Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Palantir’s co-founder Peter Thiel. But 58-year-old Karp could give them all a run for their money in terms of influence, self-belief, ambition and – even in this gallery of oddballs – sheer eccentricity. In his increasingly frequent media appearances, Karp is a striking presence, with his cloud of unkempt grey hair, his 1.25x speed diction, and his mix of combative conviction and almost childish mannerisms. On CNBC’s Squawk Box, he shook both fists simultaneously as he railed against short sellers betting against Palantir, whose share price has climbed nearly 600% in the past year: “It’s super triggering,” he complained. “Why do they have to go after us?”

Published: November 18, 2025, 10:00 am

Jon Stewart on Trump’s Epstein files flip-flop: ‘This dude is flailing’

Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s aversions, denials and flip-flops on the release of the Epstein files

Late-night hosts tore into the next chapter of Donald Trump’s never-ending Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Published: November 18, 2025, 3:58 pm

Silver splitters: why divorced women are so happy

It’s not just Melinda French Gates. Many divorcees in their 40s to 60s are glad to be free – their male exes, less so

Name: Divorcees.

Age: Usually middle-aged, roughly between 45 and 65.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:17 pm

A real hoot and smart art – readers’ best photographs

Click here to submit a picture for publication in these online galleries and/or on the Guardian letters page

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:00 pm

Better late than never! 18 characters whose late arrival lifted TV shows

From Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones to the Hot Priest in Fleabag and of course Dr Frasier Crane, we salute the game-changers who boosted later seasons of our favourite series

Welcome. Nice of you to finally join us. Hope it was worth the wait. Yes, sometimes a late addition can improve a drama or comedy so much it becomes hard to imagine the show without them. Not every series gets the casting chemistry spot-on straight away. A select few of our favourite TV characters weren’t even on the show when it launched.

We’ve selected 18 characters whose gamechanging arrival in later seasons lifted the whole show and added to its legacy. Behold the super-subs who came off the TV bench and scored a winner …

Published: November 18, 2025, 11:50 am

Will Marjorie Taylor Greene turn the Maga movement against Trump? | Arwa Mahdawi

Whatever her motives, the Republican congresswoman’s ‘revenge tour’ against the president is proving surprisingly effective

There are 535 members of Congress; only a dozen or so are household names. If you want to achieve that sort of brand name recognition, there are a few tried-and-tested ways to do so. You can spend years working your way up the ranks until you’re a power-broker like Nancy Pelosi. You can burst on to the scene and dramatically unseat an incumbent like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did. Or you can go the Marjorie Taylor Greene route and achieve notoriety by being utterly unhinged.

Since becoming a congresswoman for Georgia in 2021, Greene has kept herself in the news by spouting conspiracy theories, fighting with colleagues, and being one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders. In recent months, however, something strange has been happening. Greene has continued to generate headlines, but largely because she has turned on her party and is part of a growing Maga civil war. Greene was the first Republican lawmaker, for example, to say that there is a genocide in Gaza and has been one of the loudest voices demanding that the Epstein files be released. She has also criticised the Maga movement for not focusing on affordability or putting America first. Now, things have escalated to the point where Greene is making Trump see red; the pair are in a full-blown feud.

Published: November 18, 2025, 3:12 pm

Ella Baron on Donald Trump’s U-turn on the Epstein files – cartoon

Continue reading...

Published: November 18, 2025, 6:50 pm

A trooper’s shove showed stardom doesn’t protect Black athletes from police | Etan Thomas

When I was a college basketball player, some believed we were treated differently from other Black and Brown people. An event last weekend suggests otherwise

It was 1996, my first day stepping foot on Syracuse University’s campus. I saw a big student protest was taking place so, with my freshman’s inquisitive mind, I ventured over to see what was going on.

I listened to a passionate sista named Kathy Ade, the president of Syracuse’s student African-American Society. She stood there with her Bantu knots and a megaphone addressing the crowd, discussing the fact that campus security was now going to be able to carry pepper spray. In the 90s – which my daughter Baby Sierra calls “the 1900s,” just to keep me humble – campus security carrying pepper spray was a big deal. Now, they all carry guns.

Published: November 18, 2025, 12:12 pm

Israel needs to face accountability for our genocide. And so does the US | Yuli Novak

The international community allowed all of this to happen. We must not look away or move on

Genocide is a process, not an event. When genocide happens, its roots, and the conditions that allowed it, often become visible only in retrospect. If those conditions remain unchanged and there is no accountability, there’s every reason to believe the violence will return, perhaps even worse, especially if it was never fully halted. This is exactly what we are seeing in the case of Gaza. Demanding accountability from Israeli leaders isn’t just about the past, it’s the only way to challenge a system designed to repeat such violence.

A strange kind of calm has settled over Israel in the weeks since the Gaza ceasefire was declared. The sirens stopped. The hostages who survived the 7 October attack and nearly two years in captivity came home. But this calm – which has not been extended to Gaza, where more than 200 civilians have been killed since the ceasefire supposedly went into effect is built around an unclear plan by Donald Trump that does not address the root causes of the violence, and is merely a mirage. Nothing has changed in the violent political system that Palestinians and Israelis live under. The machinery behind the violence remains intact. The logic of domination still rules.

Yuli Novak is executive director of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem

Published: November 18, 2025, 11:00 am

‘Smile? YOU smile.' A new generation of stars is overthrowing the old Hollywood system, one ‘no’ at a time | Priya Elan

Gen Z actors such as Millie Bobby Brown and Jenna Ortega are refusing to do what is expected of ‘the talent’

Last week, I saw a clip that made me want to stand up and cheer. It was of the actor Millie Bobby Brown talking back to a photographer on a red carpet. The paparazzi had been yelling at her to smile, and Brown retorted: “Smile? You smile,” before walking off. She refused to do what was expected of her.

It’s a similar story with the star of the recent TV series Alien: Earth, Sydney Chandler. The actor did not appear on the cover of Variety magazine alongside the show’s creator and one of her co-stars, after she said she didn’t want to take part in a video interview for a regular series called How Well Do They Know Each Other?. The interviewer spent the first half of the resulting cover story explaining the situation in a bemused, tut-tutting tone, noting all the stars who had been willing to take part in the franchise.

Priya Elan writes about the arts, music and fashion

Published: November 18, 2025, 9:00 am

Doing your own research isn’t a bad thing, I tell my patients. But just how will they spot the fraudulent papers? | Ranjana Srivastava

While every self-aware doctor knows no one is an expert on everything, the average person turning to the internet cannot distinguish evidence from gloss

One of my children is irate at my deletion of an important school email. I claim that so many useless emails rain into my inbox that some useful ones will surely be missed. This excuse attracts zero sympathy but prompts me to comb through the hundreds of deleted emails. They are from every part of the world – Lisbon to London, Athens to Ankara – and almost all of them are an invitation to shine at a research publication.

In recognition of your scholarly achievements and contributions to the advancement of knowledge in your field, we request you to submit a research paper on a topic of your choice.

Published: November 18, 2025, 2:00 pm

Tanzania’s descent into repression is a stark warning of how fast Africa’s progress can be eroded | Kenneth Mohammed

When she became president, Samia Suluhu Hassan offered hope. But the country’s sudden democratic decay is more than just a national tragedy

A renewed sense of hope has taken root across the African continent. It is an optimism resting on solid ground: a booming population expected to surpass 2.5 billion by mid-century; vast reserves of critical minerals, oil and gas; and unprecedented levels of infrastructure investment.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) projects that Africa’s combined GDP could reach $4tn (£3tn) by 2030, driven by green-energy investments, urbanisation and digital innovation. One of their senior economists told me confidently earlier this year: “The future will be written in Africa.”

Published: November 18, 2025, 12:24 pm

The Guardian view on crypto’s latest crash: it reveals who pays the price for a failing economy | Editorial

The bitcoin collapse lifts the lid on a society without opportunity, where risk is privatised and rightwingers sell illusions of freedom while ordinary punters bear losses

The crypto crash has come again. And it is as brutal as ever. In barely six weeks, more than $1.2tn has evaporated from cryptocurrencies’ market capitalisation. The sell-off has sent bitcoin back to levels last seen in April. The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly fell below $90,000 this week, shedding almost a third of its value since its October peak.

The key to understanding crypto is that it has no “value” in any economic sense. It generates no income, commands no productive capacity and pays no dividends. Unlike state money, it is not backed by a tax base or a fiscal authority. What props up its price is not cashflow but expectation: the hope that someone else will validate today’s valuation tomorrow. When sentiment turns sour or people pull their money out, there is nothing to break cryptocurrencies’ fall. Prices don’t correct, they collapse. In 2023, MPs rightly said that cryptocurrency trading in the UK should be regulated as a form of gambling – a demand rejected by the then Tory government.

Published: November 18, 2025, 6:47 pm

Scotland v Denmark: World Cup 2026 qualifying – live

⚽ Live updates from the decisive qualifier in Glasgow
⚽ Football Daily | Live scores | Get in touch by emailing Rob

This piece by Scott Murray is 13 years old, yet it’s somehow timeless.

There’s no need to be raking over the ashes of the 1978 campaign again, other than to recall one of the great press conferences, poor Ally MacLeod bending down to stroke a stray dog in attempt to dodge the brickbats aimed at his noggin in the wake of Scotland’s miserable draw with Iran. “At least this wee fella loves me,” he simpered, nanoseconds before the cur sank its gnashers into the hand of the Souness-shunning sadsack.

Published: November 18, 2025, 9:56 pm

Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers could play through broken wrist against Bears

• Steelers evaluating Rodgers’ fractured wrist

• Tomlin: brace could allow QB to play Sunday

• Rudolph on standby after solid relief outing

Aaron Rodgers might get a chance to say goodbye to one of his favorite places after all.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday there’s a chance Rodgers and his fractured left wrist could still play on Sunday when the Steelers visit Chicago.

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:22 pm

The Luka Era begins: inside the transformation powering the post-LeBron Lakers

Shipped out of Dallas and dropped into Hollywood, Dončić has responded with a leaner body, a louder voice and a growing command of the Lakers’ post-LeBron future

It’s been nine and a half months since the trade that rocked the sports world was broken via a Shams Charania tweet. It was such a shock that the majority of his followers assumed he’d been hacked. Fresh off of a trip to the NBA finals, the young Slovenian superstar Luka Dončić was shipped off in the middle of the night to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, and the NBA as we know it was changed for ever. The fallout from one of the most shocking trades in sports history is still evolving: disgraced Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who spearheaded the transaction, was let go by the team last week, in a move Mavericks fans have been loudly clamoring for since news broke that their homegrown franchise player was being abruptly cast out to sea. But on the other side of the coin was a mixed blessing and a new beginning: Dončić, who had imagined spending his entire career in Dallas like his mentor Dirk Nowitzki, suddenly found himself recast as the face of the NBA’s most famous franchise under the bright lights of Hollywood. And, as it turns out, the future is now.

While Dončić’s breakup with the Mavericks was both very public and very messy (the Mavs were not shy about vocalizing their reasoning for the move, and painting the 26-year-old in an unflattering light in the process), the silver linings showed themselves quickly. Dončić might not have considered himself suited for the Los Angeles spotlight, but with his flair for the dramatic and a feel for the sport’s theater, playing for such a high-profile franchise has proved an unexpectedly good fit. And it couldn’t have worked out better for the Lakers: the team had been staring at an uncertain future, with the retirement of 40-year-old LeBron James looming, and Davis’s injury history creating a cloud of doubt around his ability to be the No 1 option in the eventual aftermath. Enter Luka stage right: a ticket to franchise salvation, equipped with the newfound motivation that can only be borne from being publicly and mercilessly dragged through the mud.

Published: November 18, 2025, 9:00 am

Extortionate tickets and matches moved at Trump’s whim: are you ready for the ‘greatest World Cup ever’? | Marina Hyde

You may have thought Qatar and Russia were tournament lows. You didn’t account for the US president and his Fifa soulmate, Gianni Infantino

“It’s very clear,” claimed haunted Fifa cue-ball Gianni Infantino not so long ago, “that politics should stay out of football and football should stay out of politics.” But is it clear? Is it really? On Monday, the worst man in world sport was – yet again – to be found in the Oval Office, this time nodding along to Trump’s declaration that games could be moved from host cities for next summer’s World Cup if the US president deems there’s “a problem” with security or that the cities are non-compliant in some other way. In practice, that seems to mean if they’re run by a Democrat/“communist”. Amazing that the Fifa president will gladly allow his tournaments to be held in any old violent autocracy but, for the purposes of the White House cameras at least, might need to draw the line at Boston.

Honestly, the very sight of Infantino these days causes decades of writing about Fifa to flash before my eyes. How could it have happened? How could we have ended up with an even bigger horror in charge of world football’s governing body than the various ones who went before? When Sepp Blatter was thrown from a moving gravy train in 2015 amid an explosive corruption scandal, it would have felt like a genuine feat of sporting excellence to have beaten his record for craven awfulness.

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

Published: November 18, 2025, 2:45 pm

‘A drug that’s very safe and healthy‘: what ultrarunners can teach us about life | Sean Ingle

Caitriona Jennings ran 100 miles in just over 12 hours and wants other women to follow her example – ‘it’s not actually that difficult’

Imagine being able to run a marathon in three hours and 17 minutes. That is certainly no mean feat. But now think about trying to sustain that same pace for another nine hours. To most of us, the idea veers somewhere between the fantastical and the insane. Yet that is what Caitriona Jennings, a 45-year-old ultrarunner from Donegal, did this month when breaking the women’s world record for 100 miles.

Her time for the Tunnel Hill 100 Mile in Illinois was 12hr 37min 4sec – an average pace of 7min 34sec a mile. Incredibly, until then Jennings had never run more than 60 miles in one go. Having smashed the record, she then jumped on a red-eye economy flight from Chicago that landed in Dublin at 5am. Then she cycled straight to the office, where she works for a company that trades and leases planes to global airlines.

Published: November 18, 2025, 6:59 am

‘We love Marshawn’: Prescott shines as Cowboys win first game since Kneeland’s death

• Dallas Cowboys 33-16 Las Vegas Raiders

• Defensive end died earlier this month

• Prescott throws four TDs in comfortable win

Dak Prescott passed for 268 yards and four touchdowns, and Dallas dominated the spiraling Las Vegas Raiders 33-16 on Monday night in the Cowboys’ first game since the death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland.

The 24-year-old Kneeland died on 6 November. Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer and Cowboys players wore shirts honoring Kneeland, and they bowed their heads during a moment of silence before the game.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:36 am

‘Extreme Moneyball’ architect puts Astros scandal behind him in pursuit of global football takeover

Jeff Luhnow has moved on from baseball disgrace and is deploying his data-driven philosophy to develop African talent at Le Havre and Leganés

Jeff Luhnow left baseball under something of a cloud after his involvement in the 2019 Houston Astros sign stealing scandal. But now the former management consultant, who won three World Series as general manager of the Astros and St Louis Cardinals using a data-driven approach that was dubbed “Extreme Moneyball”, is applying his philosophy to a different sport.

The owner of a network of football clubs that includes Leganés in Spain and the Ligue 1 side Le Havre, Luhnow has big plans to revolutionise the development of players in Africa and provide them with a clearer pathway into Europe’s top leagues. “It was pretty clear from the beginning that Africa was going to be the best place for us to find talent that we can integrate into our European clubs,” he says. “It’s not too dissimilar to what I experienced in baseball where a disproportionately large portion of talent comes from places like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Africa has 54 countries and a wide diversity of opportunities.

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:00 am

Mass federal immigration sweeps expand to North Carolina’s capital city

Raleigh’s mayor says border patrol and ICE are in city as state’s Democratic governor criticizes federal operations

Federal authorities expanded their mass immigration sweeps to Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina, on Tuesday, local officials said, after a weekend where more than 100 people were arrested in Charlotte.

“It is the city of Raleigh’s understanding that the border patrol and ICE are already in Raleigh,” said the mayor, Janet Cowell, to local media, though she added city authorities did not know how many agents would be involved in the surge.

Published: November 18, 2025, 2:21 pm

The Kessler Twins sisters Alice and Ellen die together aged 89

German pop duo who last year said their wish was ‘to leave together’ had joint assisted death at their home in Grünwald

Alice and Ellen Kessler, the pop singing sisters who were famous in Europe in the 1960s, especially in Italy where they were credited for bringing glamour to the country’s TV network, have died aged 89.

The identical twins had chosen to have a joint assisted death at their home in Grünwald, close to Munich, on Monday, said Wega Wetzel, a spokesperson for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanes Sterben (DGHS), a Berlin-based assisted dying association.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:33 pm

Amazon launches robotaxi service in San Francisco in challenge to Google’s Waymo

Amazon’s Zoox will give free rides in parts of the city in attempt to counter Waymo’s early lead in self-driving taxis

Amazon’s Zoox is launching its robotaxi service in San Francisco, offering free rides through parts of the city as it accelerates its attempt to challenge Waymo’s early lead in the race to transport passengers in self-driving vehicles.

The expansion, announced on Tuesday, will be confined to a few major San Francisco neighborhoods and limited to people who signed up on a waiting list to ride in Zoox’s gondola-shaped robotaxis, which have no steering wheel. The San Francisco launch comes less than three months after the Amazon-owned robotaxi company launched its first ride-hailing service along the Las Vegas strip.

Published: November 18, 2025, 6:51 pm

Sheinbaum again dismisses Trump’s threat of sending troops to Mexico: ‘We do not want intervention’

Mexico’s president responds to Trump’s latest warning that he could authorize strikes against drug cartels in country

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has again dismissed Donald Trump’s threat of military action against drug cartels inside her country, telling reporters: “It’s not going to happen.”

Sheinbaum made the comments on Tuesday morning in response to the US president’s latest warning that he could authorise strikes in Mexico.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:46 pm

Pension changes row threatens Germany’s coalition government

Youth wing of conservatives say younger people will be left carrying can for older generation

A row over pension changes is threatening the future of the German coalition government, with a youth wing of the conservatives of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, gaining support for an attempt to block legislation which they argue will leave younger Germans carrying the can for the older generation.

An 18-strong group of young MPs, the Junge Union, has been accused of holding Merz’s coalition government to ransom over its demands to revise proposed pension changes, which would guarantee pension increases for the next six years.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:53 pm

Klarna says AI drive has helped halve staff numbers and boost pay

Buy now, pay later firm says pay has risen by 60% with staff numbers mostly cut by attrition and tech investment

Klarna has claimed that AI-related savings have allowed the buy now, pay later company to increase staff salaries by nearly 60%, but hinted it could slash more jobs after nearly halving its workforce over the past three years.

Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski said headcount had dropped from 5,527 to 2,907 since 2022, mostly as a result of natural attrition, with departing staff replaced by technology rather than by new staff members.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:52 pm

Argentina judge fired after causing mistrial in case over Maradona’s death

Julieta Makintach’s role in a documentary series about negligence case over football star’s death led to mistrial

An Argentinian judge has been fired after causing a mistrial in the negligence case against the late football legend Diego Maradona’s medical team due to her involvement in a documentary about it.

A special panel of judges, lawyers and provincial legislators dismissed Julieta Makintach, 48, from her post and disqualified her from holding any other judicial position in the future.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:15 pm

Bam! What is the acronym everyone is talking about at Cop30?

Securing the Belém Action Mechanism is a top priority for climate justice advocates at the talks in Brazil

• Cop30: click here for full Guardian coverage of the climate talks in Brazil

All through the halls of the UN climate talks, civil society activists are wearing badges that read “Bam!”. They are not showing their fandom for old superhero comics but rather indicating their support for the Belém Action Mechanism (Bam), a proposal for states to drive action on a just transition towards a low-carbon economy.

Securing the Bam is a top priority for climate justice advocates at Cop30. Proponents say that if a just transition is not a priority, climate action will unintentionally leave workers and communities behind.

Published: November 18, 2025, 6:00 am

‘I had already given my baby a name’ – This is climate breakdown

It started with a migraine but ended in hospital. When Gowend had dengue the first time she had no idea she was pregnant. This is Gowend’s story

Location Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Disaster Ill with dengue

Gowend (not her real name) lives in Burkina Faso. In 2023, in the early stages of pregnancy, she was admitted to hospital and diagnosed as having had dengue fever, a viral illness transmitted by mosquitoes which is, in a small number of cases, potentially fatal. It has been linked with miscarriage by some studies. Dengue is on the rise in Africa and Asia, partly thanks to the warming climate, and is increasingly being detected in Europe, too.

Published: November 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

The rainforest the world forgot: the Congo basin is the second largest on Earth, so why is it being neglected?

It is one of the world’s most vital carbon sinks, but this tropical rainforest is losing out when it comes to climate policy and funding

In October 2023, leaders, scientists and policymakers from three of the world’s great rainforest regions – the Amazon, the Congo, and the Borneo-Mekong basins – assembled in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. They were there to discuss one urgent question: how to save the planet’s last great tropical forests from accelerating destruction.

For those present, the question was existential. But to their dismay, almost no one noticed. “There was very little acknowledgment that this was happening, outside of the Congo basin region,” says Prof Simon Lewis, a lecturer at the University of Leeds and University College London, and co-chair of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI).

Published: November 18, 2025, 11:00 am

This Nepal village has survived for 1,000 years. Now recurring floods threaten its future

Til, the remotest of three villages in the Limi valley on the Tibetan border, was already wrestling with a dwindling population but a series of natural disasters has led many to consider where their future should be

On the night of 15 May this year, the usual quiet of the Himalayan village of Til in the far north-west of Nepal was broken by a strange rumbling. Pemba Thundup came out of his house, barefoot, to see a deluge of earth, water and rocks coming down the mountainside towards the flat-roofed mud houses. The whole village was soon awake and, carrying the elderly people on their backs, members of 21 families scrambled to safety in a nearby field.

After two weeks of sheltering in tents, with no sign of any government help to rebuild or resettle, they reluctantly moved back into their broken homes, but unanimously agreed to leave the centuries-old settlement for a safer location by the end of the year.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:00 am

Federal judge approves opioid settlement for Purdue Pharma

Deal requires Sackler family members who own company to contribute up to $7bn over 15 years

A federal bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday formally approved OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the harms of opioids.

The deal approved by US bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane requires members of the Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7bn over 15 years. Most of the money is to go to government entities to fight the opioid crisis that has been linked to 900,000 deaths in the US since 1999.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:31 pm

Trial begins in archdiocese of New Orleans’ $230m settlement for abuse survivors

US bankruptcy judge will decide whether plan is fair to 650 survivors and dozens of other creditors

The archdiocese of New Orleans has begun a three-week confirmation trial that will determine whether a federal bankruptcy judge signs off on a $230m settlement meant to compensate 650 clergy abuse survivors and resolve one of the US’s longest-running and costliest church bankruptcies.

US bankruptcy judge Meredith Grabill will decide whether the plan – five and a half years in the making – is fair to the survivors and dozens of other creditors who have waited through repeated delays, contentious negotiations and a protracted legal fight over a 2021 state law giving survivors of decades-old child sexual abuse the right to sue.

Published: November 18, 2025, 2:50 pm

Surgeons reattach 10-year-old girl’s hand nearly lost in Florida shark attack

Leah Lendel was bitten by a bull shark as she was snorkeling with her family from a beach in Boca Grande

A 10-year-old girl whose hand was reattached after it was severed in a shark attack has spoken of her remarkable recovery after a “miracle” six-hour operation that has allowed her to resume knitting outfits for her beloved Barbie dolls.

Leah Lendel’s right hand was left hanging by shreds of skin after the bite by a 9ft bull shark as she was snorkeling with her family at a beach in Boca Grande, Florida, in June.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:01 pm

California farms applied millions of pounds of Pfas to key crops, study finds

‘Forever chemicals’ sprayed on almonds, grapes, tomatoes and other crops as activists warn of ‘obvious problem’

California farms applied an average of 2.5m lb of Pfas “forever chemicals” per year on cropland from 2018 to 2023, or a total of about 15m lb, a new review of state records shows.

The chemicals are added to pesticides that are sprayed on crops such as almonds, pistachios, wine grapes, alfalfa and tomatoes, the review of California department of pesticide regulation data found. The Environmental Working Group non-profit put together the report.

Published: November 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

Ukrainians working for Russia were behind rail blasts, alleges Polish PM

Donald Tusk says two saboteurs crossed border from Belarus hoping to cause divisive ‘catastrophe’

Polish authorities have identified two Ukrainian men, allegedly working for the Russian intelligence services, as the key suspects in two cases of rail sabotage, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, has said.

The men are alleged to have planted a military-grade explosive device and attached a steel clamp to rail tracks in two incidents on a strategic rail route used for aid deliveries for Ukraine.

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:21 pm

The O2 apologises for confiscating fans’ Palestine shirts at Lorde concert

A ‘wrong judgement call’ by staff at the London arena meant two fans of the pop star – a vocal supporter of Palestine – were asked to remove FC Palestina football shirts

The O2 arena has apologised after two women who separately attended a Lorde concert on Sunday night had their FC Palestina football shirts confiscated by staff who alleged they contravened venue policy.

Francesca Humi, 30, and Chloe Grace Laws, also 30, were each stopped by venue security and told they would have to remove their shirts – which bore the word “Palestine” – or be ejected. Staff members claimed it was against policy to wear garments bearing the names, flags or emblems of individual countries, and that it could cause offence to other gig-goers.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:44 pm

Crypto market sheds more than $1tn in six weeks amid fears of tech bubble

Bitcoin price at lowest level since April while FTSE 100 falls as Google boss warns there is ‘irrationality’ in AI boom

• Business live – latest updates

More than $1tn (£760bn) has been wiped off the value of the cryptocurrency market in the past six weeks amid fears of a tech bubble and fading expectations for a US rate cut next month.

Tracking more than 18,500 coins, the value of the crypto market has fallen by a quarter since a high in early October, according to the data company CoinGecko.

Published: November 18, 2025, 12:03 pm

EU confirms it wants UK to pay into its budget in exchange for closer ties

‘Politically realistic’ for UK to make financial contribution so it can access European single market, Irish minister says

The UK must pay into the EU budget for future participation in the European single market in electricity, it has been confirmed, in what could become a major test for the post-Brexit reset.

Ireland’s Europe minister, Thomas Byrne, said EU member states had decided the UK should make a financial contribution for closer ties: “Ireland wants to see Britain getting the benefit of closer engagement with the European Union.

Published: November 18, 2025, 6:17 pm

‘Do we live in a war zone?’: how US schools prepare for a shooting

In the troubling HBO documentary Thoughts and Prayers, the $3bn active shooter preparedness industry shows the bleak reality of being a child in the US

Talking about changes experienced by kids today often runs the risk of sounding reactionary, not to mention naive. No, there wasn’t as much talk about autism, or transgender kids, or any number of topics growing up in the 80s and 90s, because they weren’t understood or discussed in the same way – not because they didn’t exist. But it’s striking, watching the new HBO documentary Thoughts and Prayers, the degree to which it shows a demonstrable change from the experiences of someone growing up 30 or 40 years ago versus today: the absolute universality of emergency action plans that go beyond the scope of the fire drills you might remember. Thoughts and Prayers surveys many of those lockdown drills, and the many supplements available to contemporary schools designed to offer further protection from an active shooter: bulletproof backpacks, in-classroom shelters and astoundingly elaborate real-life simulations, complete with stunningly realistic makeup for bullet wounds.

This change isn’t lost on directors Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock. “Zack and I have an eight-year-old daughter,” Dimmock said in a joint interview, “and the idea for this film came about because she was coming up in school, and we were facing the thing that basically every American parent faces. Almost every kid in America does drills like this, across the board. We definitely did not grow up doing this, either, and I think there will be a huge part of the audience that will look at this and be like, ‘wow, right, I knew this was happening, but [still surprised] to see it.’ And there will be this whole other part of the audience that will be like, ‘yeah, Mom, Dad, I do this three times a year and have since I was five years old.’”

Published: November 18, 2025, 10:02 am

Can ceramics be demonic? Edmund de Waal’s obsession with a deeply disturbing Dane

The great potter explains why he turned his decades-long fixation with Axel Salto – maker of unsettling stoneware full of tentacle sproutings and knotty growths – into a new show

Potter and writer Edmund de Waal, a dark silhouette of neat workwear against the blinding white of his studio, is erupting with thoughts, all of them tumbling out of him at once. He is giving me a tour of the former gun factory on a London industrial estate gently disciplined into architectural calm. It has work stations for his staff (it’s quite an operation); store rooms; and a main space nearly empty but for some giant black lidded vessels he made in Denmark, as capacious as coffins. At either end, up discreet sets of steps, are the places of raw creation. One, with its potter’s wheel, is where he makes; the other, with its desk and bookshelves, is where he writes.

He opens a door to the room housing his two mighty kilns, its back wall lined with rows of shelves with experiments in form and glaze, and tells me of his irritation when people comment on the sheer tidiness of the whole place. “It’s porcelain,” he says with passionate emphasis. Dust and dirt are the enemy. Potters, he points out, “have struggled for hundreds and hundreds of years to keep things clean so that they don’t blow up in kilns, or don’t bloat or don’t dunt or all the other myriad things that can happen”. He is old enough, he says, to have had the kind of potter’s apprenticeship that involved the endless sweeping up of clay dust. Dust is the traditional bringer of potter’s lung – the chronic condition, silicosis. Clouds of dust surround any pottery-making endeavour, if you’re not careful.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:26 pm

North by Northwest: Hitchcock’s funniest, most ambitious film

Every scene in Cary Grant’s mistaken identity caper is pure absurdity – including that famous cornfield chase. You can’t look away

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Imagine: you’re a handsome and relatively successful ad man in idyllic 50s New York. You’re having a delicious mid-afternoon snack in the lobby of the Plaza hotel, which presumably cost all of $2.50, when suddenly you are abducted in broad daylight at gunpoint by two polite and well-dressed men. You don’t put up a fight. You merely walk with them to their car, trying to object in the only way you know how: asking nicely for them to stop. The kidnappers are gleeful; they’ve finally captured you, George Kaplan. That’s not your name, you exclaim, you’re Roger Thornhill! They must have the wrong man!

Thus begins Hitchcock’s funniest, most ridiculous and visually ambitious film, North by Northwest. All the hallmarks of a Hitchcock classic are here: Cary Grant as the leading man, a completely inexplicable MacGuffin (who is George Kaplan anyway? And more importantly, does anyone even care?), a director cameo, a mysterious and beautiful blonde (the darling and charming Eva Marie Saint), and a 20-minute opening so overstuffed with dialogue that you kind of tune out but it’s fine because once the inciting incident happens, you can’t look away. It’s so Hitchcockian that it borders on parody.

Published: November 18, 2025, 2:00 pm

Stellan Skarsgård starrer Sentimental Value leads nominations for European film awards

Director Joachim Trier’s family drama has five nominations, including best actor for Skarsgård, while Oliver Laxe’s techno thriller Sirāt has four nominations

Norwegian director Joachim Trier is leading the race for a triumph at the European film awards, with five nominations in key categories for his family drama Sentimental Value.

The Cannes Grand Prix winner is nominated for best European film, best screenplay and best director, with further best actor and best actress nominations for Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve.

Published: November 18, 2025, 4:04 pm

‘Fights for our material survival’: documentary goes inside the battle for trans rights

In Heightened Scrutiny, the fight driving activist and lawyer Chase Strangio is backgrounded by a deep dive into how the media has helped to push an anti-trans agenda

Trans documentarian Sam Feder’s latest feature Heightened Scrutiny is a kind of two-for-one – an affecting portrait of one of the most important trans activists of our time, and a continuation of the media critique he established through earlier films, particularly his groundbreaking 2020 Netflix doc Disclosure. It’s a powerful look at the fight over civil rights for trans people, while also posing as a critical rebuttal to supposedly center-left media such as the New York Times and the Atlantic, which have aided and abetted rightwing forces in setting off a moral panic against trans existence.

The film follows the ACLU attorney Chase Strangio as he prepares for oral arguments in the supreme court case US v Skirmetti. These arguments occurred on 4 December 2024, with the court ruling several months later in favor of Tennessee’s attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, and in effect allowing restrictions on the medical transition of trans minors in over 20 US states to remain in place. As with many other rulings in the Trump-era court, it was one that has been widely decried by legal analysts for shoddy reasoning and clear bias.

Published: November 17, 2025, 5:07 pm

‘I was born in a melting pot. Melting isn’t fun’: Jon M Chu on Wicked: For Good, Ariana Grande – and living the American dream

As his sequel to Wicked prepares to storm Christmas, the director talks about the dynamism of Grande and Cynthia Erivo – and why his Wizard of Oz riff is quite simply one of the greatest stories of our time

Let’s start with a quick recap on the first Wicked film. Its premise: what would the legend of Oz look like, told from the perspective of someone other than that cute but dozy blow-in, Dorothy? The wicked witch, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), is entirely green, and has therefore been ostracised since childhood. Glinda (Ariana Grande), the good witch, is everybody’s princess but, after a time, the two become best friends. I’ll skirt over how the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow come about, suffice to say that, in the film at least, their backstories make perfect and resonant sense (except for the Lion, but never mind). The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is not a good guy – but is he a bad guy? The morals swirl, in an expertly handled way.

The first film left us at the point of discovery that Oz, far from being a magic paradise, was actually built on foundations of discrimination, oppression, enslavement and mendacity – or, if you like things simple, fascism. The fact that the slave-caste is the animal kingdom rather than a human out-group doesn’t make this opulent fantasia feel any less pointedly topical. “Any timeless story feels timely,” director Jon M Chu says, “because it’s about the human condition. When people become too powerful, what happens to the powerless? That cycle, unfortunately, challenges us every few generations, and maybe this is our moment. We’re the adults in the room now.”

Published: November 17, 2025, 4:37 pm

The wild old wicked gang: great Irish writers – in pictures

Edna O’Brien on her sofa, Joseph O’Connor in his garden, Seamus Heaney surrounded by books … British photographer Steve Pyke on capturing the greats of Irish literature

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:00 am

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn review – a visceral tale of witchcraft

The author of The Employees goes back to 17th-century Denmark for an intensely poetic portrait of everyday sorcery and female solidarity

On 26 June 1621, in Copenhagen, a woman was beheaded – which was unusual, but only in the manner of her death. According to one historian, during the years 1617 to 1625, in Denmark a “witch” was burned every five days. The first time this happens in Danish author Olga Ravn’s fourth novel, the condemned woman is “tied to the ladder, and the ladder pushed into the bonfire”. Her daughter watches as she falls, her eye “so strangely orange from within. And then in the heat it explodes.”

The child is watched, in turn, by a wax doll who sees everything: everything in this scene, and everything everywhere, through all space and all the time since it was fashioned. It sees the worms burrowing through the soil in which it is buried; the streets of the world in which it was made. It inhabits the bodies that walked those streets: “And I was in the king’s ear, and I was in the king’s mouth, and I was in the king’s loose tooth and in the quicksilver of his liver, and did hear.”

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:00 am

Seriously Silly: The Life of Terry Jones by Robert Ross review – portrait of a Python

An affectionate biography of the polymath includes details of never-produced gems such as Monty Python’s Third World War

Terry Jones was a Python, a historian, a bestselling children’s author and a very naughty boy. He loved to play women in drag, started a magazine about countryside ecology (Vole), founded his own real-ale brewery and was even once a columnist for this newspaper, beginning one piece in 2011 like this: “In the 14th century there were two pandemics. One was the Black Death, the other was the commercialisation of warfare.” He even used to write jokes for Cliff Richard.

It would be tempting in view of all this to call him a renaissance man, except that Jones rather despised the highfalutin Renaissance, preferring the earthiness of medieval times: his first published book was a scholarly reinterpretation of Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, arguing that the hero’s fighting and pillaging was being presented satirically by the poet as something deplorable. Later he raided the Norse myth-kitty for the beloved children’s book (and, later, film) The Saga of Erik the Viking. His illustrator told him that Vikings didn’t really wear those massive helmets with horns sticking out at the sides, but Terry insisted on them. Historical accuracy could only get you so far.

Published: November 18, 2025, 9:00 am

Not OK? Booker winner Flesh ignites debate about state of masculinity

Toxic male behaviour of David Szalay’s protagonist reflects real-world concerns about a ‘crisis of masculinity’

In the immediate aftermath of David Szalay’s book Flesh winning the Booker prize, one feature of the novel stood out: how often the protagonist utters the word “OK”.

The 500 times István grunts out the response is part of a sparse prose style through which the British-Hungarian Szalay gives the reader few insights into the inner workings of a man whose fortunes rise and fall.

Flesh by David Szalay (Vintage Publishing, £18.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Published: November 17, 2025, 5:00 am

Master System at 40: the truth about Sega’s most underrated console

Forty years ago, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the markets in Japan and the US. But in Europe, a technologically superior rival was making it look like an ancient relic

There’s an old maxim that history is written by the victors, and that’s as true in video games as it is anywhere else. Nowadays you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Nintendo Entertainment System was the only console available in the mid-to-late 1980s. If you were brought up in Nintendo’s target markets of Japan and North America, this chunky contraption essentially was the only game in town – the company had Mario after all, and its vice-like hold on third-party developers created a monopoly for major titles of the era. But in Europe, where home computers ruled the era, the NES was beaten by a technologically superior rival.

The Sega Master System was originally released in Japan in the autumn of 1985 as the Sega Mark III. Based around the famed Z80 CPU (used in home computers such as the Spectrum, Amstrad and TRS-80) and a powerful Sega-designed video display processor, it boasted 8kb of RAM, a 64-colour palette and the ability to generate 32 sprites on screen at one time – making the NES (based on the older 6502 processor) look like an ancient relic.

Published: November 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

John C Reilly wants to win hearts in Mister Romantic, a show that’s truly lovable

From Chicago to Stan & Ollie, the Oscar-nominated actor has sung on screen for years. Now he arrives on stage – inside a trunk – to serenade the audience

In one of Hollywood’s nicer ironies, character actor John C Reilly finally made it big with a song about being invisible. His Oscar-nominated performance as the duped and devoted schmuck Amos Hart in Kander and Ebb’s Chicago was defined by his solo, Mister Cellophane. Director Rob Marshall had him sing it in an empty theatre so Amos doesn’t even get an audience for his big number.

More than 20 years later, Reilly has dusted off a not dissimilar tailcoat and rouged his cheeks once more under a new moniker, Mister Romantic, and this time there’s a full house. Backed by a four-piece band he is here to win our hearts with 90 minutes of jazz standards and popular songs, plus the odd chanson and comic verse. After a dozen or so dates in the US, the show has a short run this week in London at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, whose beautifully restored interior and history as a music hall fits Mister Romantic like a glove.

Published: November 18, 2025, 1:51 pm

‘Making films is who I am’: Tom Cruise gets lifetime achievement Oscar

The Hollywood star – who had been nominated for multiple Oscars but never previously won – was honoured at the Academy’s annual Governors awards, along with Dolly Parton, Wynn Thomas and Debbie Allen

Tom Cruise finally received an Oscar on Sunday night in Los Angeles – though not for a specific acting role. The star of Top Gun, Jerry Maguire and the Mission: Impossible series was given an honorary Academy Award at the annual Governors awards, which are designed to reward lifetime achievement.

In a statement before the event, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) president Janet Yang cited “Cruise’s incredible commitment to our film-making community, to the theatrical experience, and to the stunts community has inspired us all”. Recalling his efforts to shoot the seventh Mission: Impossible in 2020, Yang added that Cruise “helped to usher the industry through a challenging time during the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Published: November 17, 2025, 2:14 pm

The flop that finally flew: why did it take 40 years for Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along to soar?

Its 1981 New York premiere was a disaster but this told-in-reverse musical became a Tony award-winning hit with Daniel Radcliffe. The film version is a tear-jerking joy

I have made enough mistakes as a critic to feel mildly chuffed when a verdict is vindicated. In 1981 I wrote excitedly about a new Stephen Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along, that I had seen in preview in New York; reviled by reviewers and shunned by the public, it then closed two weeks after opening. In 2023-24 the very same musical ran for a year on Broadway, won four Tony awards and was hailed by the critics. Fortunately a live performance of that Maria Friedman production was filmed and I would urge you to catch it when it’s released in cinemas next month.

I say “the very same musical” but that is not strictly accurate. Based on a 1934 play by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart, it is still the same story, told in reverse chronological order, of dissolving relationships: a success-worshipping composer and movie producer, Franklin Shepard, looks back over his life and sees how time has eroded both his creative partnership with a dramatist, Charley, and their mutual friendship with a novelist, Mary.

Published: November 17, 2025, 3:29 pm

High art: the museum that is only accessible via an eight-hour hike

The Frattini Bivouac is part of a Bergamo gallery’s experiment to ‘think like a mountain’. But in the thin air of the Italian alps, curatorial ideas are challenged in more ways than one

At 2,300 metres above sea level, Italy’s newest – and most remote – cultural outpost is visible long before it becomes reachable. A red shard on a ridge, it looks first like a warning sign, and then something more comforting: a shelter pitched into the wind.

The structure stands on a high ridge in the municipality of Valbondione, along the Alta Via delle Orobie, exposed to avalanches and sudden weather shifts. I saw it from above, after taking off from the Rifugio Fratelli Longo, near the village of Carona – a small mountain municipality a little over an hour’s drive from GAMeC, Bergamo’s Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea – the closest access point I was given for the site visit.

Published: November 17, 2025, 9:23 am

The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday home deals in the US – so far

From toilet paper to toolsets, we’ve reviewed thousands of deals to find the 20 worth checking out

• The 16 best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday kitchen deals you can snag early

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Black Friday used to be known for crazy crowds rushing into stores and fighting over the best deals. Now, that chaos has wriggled its way online. Products now come from a hundred different brands you’ve never heard of, accompanied by “reviews” that might very well be written by the very same companies.

Not to worry. More than a decade of experience as a professional product reviewer has given me a pretty well-honed nose on what’s a good deal for you and your family. Much of that time was spent in a lab, testing everything from washing machines to hair dryers. I’ve also covered retail shopping events such as Black Friday and Prime Day enough times to know how companies try to deceive you, and how to spot it.

Published: November 18, 2025, 12:00 pm

The 16 best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday kitchen deals you can snag early

You can already shop some of Black Friday’s early deals – here are the best from Le Creuset, Vitamix, Yeti and more

• The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday home deals in the US – so far

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

A good Black Friday sale offers the ideal opportunity to stock up on kitchen necessities – the ones you forget about until you’re midway through a penne alla vodka recipe, only to remember you actually can’t open your can of tomato sauce because you forgot to replace your dying university-era can opener. And, of course, a really good Black Friday sale can mean a total bargain on an investment piece of cookware you’ll use forever and ever.

As a home and kitchen shopping writer, I’ve spent almost three years perusing these Black Friday sales. I’ve sat for hours in a test kitchen with a small army of blenders and sauce pans. I’ve chatted with cooks and food experts about their favorite picks. So I’ve tracked enough holiday sales over the years to know when a “deal” is just a regular price in a festive hat.

Published: November 17, 2025, 9:53 pm

Untie me! Why big bows are everywhere – feminine, ironic and strangely subversive

They can be garish and ostentatious, or a sign you are softer than you might first appear. From the catwalk to the high street to the big screen to the rugby pitch, you just can’t miss them right now

Wuthering Heights is a story about pain, revenge and the Yorkshire moors as a metaphor for bad life choices. But if Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming adaptation is anything to go by, it’s also about bows.

In the two-minute trailer for the film, Cathy wears red bows and black bows, navy bows and pink bows. There are bows around garden pots, and bows around “baddy” Edgar Linton’s throat. Some bows flutter in the fell wind, others are unlaced at speed. In one memorable shot straight from the Jilly Cooper precoital playbook, a pretty white bow is cut from Cathy’s bodice using a labourer’s knife, which would be unforgivable hamminess were it not incredibly hot. Never mind that Emily Brontë rarely mentions bows in the book; that one is an entire plot device.

Published: November 18, 2025, 5:00 am

I’m vegetarian, he’s a carnivore: what can I cook that we’ll both like? | Kitchen aide

Mushrooms again come to the rescue for that meaty mouthfeel, but our panel also recommends the savoury flavours of Asia to sate those umami cravings

I’m a lifelong vegetarian, but my boyfriend is a dedicated carnivore. How can I cook to please us both?
Victoria, by email
“I have three words for you, Victoria,” says Anna Ansari, author of Silk Roads, who grew up in a predominantly vegetarian household: “Di si xian.” Typical of northern China, this stir-fry of aubergine, potato and peppers (otherwise known as the “three treasures”) is laced with soy, Shoaxing wine, white pepper, sugar, cornflour and, in Ansari’s case, doubanjiang. She also adds tofu (the fourth treasure, if you will) for “a rounded, one-pot/wok dinner” to eat with steamed rice. “It reminds me of being a teenager in Beijing, far from home and in need of warmth and comfort,” she says, and we could all do with some of that right now. “It’s also cheap as proverbial chips, not to mention quick to make, and it will knock both your socks off. Promise.”

Mushrooms could also pave the way to harmonious dining. “Surely they’re the closest thing to a natural meat substitute,” says Zak Hitchman, chef/owner of Other in Bristol. He’d be inclined to layer them up in a lasagne: “Slice a load of mixed mushrooms [chestnut, shiitake, oyster], then saute them in oil and butter with some seasoning.” Next, fry onion, garlic, celery, diced carrot, maybe some rosemary or thyme, until softened, then return the cooked mushrooms to the pot with some tinned tomatoes and tomato puree. “You could bulk it out with tinned lentils,” he says, but either way be sure to include a splash of soy and some miso for “that meaty flavour”, plus any vinegar you have knocking around “for balance”. Cook slowly until reduced, then layer between dried lasagne sheets. “Top that with bechamel [or simply dollop on some mascarpone] and lots of grated parmesan [a vegetarian one, if need be]. Drizzle with olive oil and bake until the pasta is soft, the sauce bubbling and the top golden.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Published: November 18, 2025, 1:00 pm

In a reading rut? How to get back into reading for fun

In a world full of distractions, it can be difficult to form a habit that needs attention. Experts advise on getting out of the rut

Most of us read all day – texts, emails, menus, utility bills, social media captions and news stories. But fewer people are reading for fun.

According to a 2022 report from the National Endowment for the Arts, 48.5% of US adults said they had read at least one book that year, down from 52.7% five years earlier, and 54.6% 10 years earlier. In the UK, a 2024 report found that half of UK adults do not regularly read for pleasure.

Published: November 17, 2025, 5:00 pm

Are you stuck in ordinary - but devastating - narcissism? There is a way out

Meaningful therapy offers a path past our worst impulses. We should be fighting for it to be available for everyone

When I picture what a good life means to me, I feel a tension in my chest. I see my daughter and my husband and I feel the profound fulfilment of being exactly where I need to be, tightened by the terror that life is so fragile and I cannot protect them from that reality. Then a memory: lying on my analyst’s couch and describing a feeling of hollowness inside that I felt deeply ashamed of, and her listening and thinking and understanding – and my noticing that while I felt horror and repulsion, she didn’t seem to. Next: different walks around different parks with different friends, each with the same feeling of being warmed from the inside out; also, bumping into neighbours at the playground and feeling a part of my community. I remember powerful moments with my patients, who have felt understood, by me and within themselves. And I think of the moving messages from readers who have got in touch, sharing precious stories from their lives.

People often think that psychoanalysis and its NHS-friendly grandchild, psychodynamic psychotherapy, are all about looking inwards. And it’s true – good therapy should give us the time and space, the frame and the containment, to look inside and listen to ourselves.

Published: November 17, 2025, 11:00 am

Is it true that … you burn more fat by working out on an empty stomach?

There are modest benefits to exercising on an empty stomach, but it’s more important to burn more energy than you’re consuming

‘There’s an element of truth to that,” says Javier Gonzalez, a professor of nutrition and metabolism at the University of Bath. “When we exercise, we’re always burning a mix of fuels – mainly carbohydrates and fat. If you’ve fasted overnight, you’ll generally burn a bit more fat and less carbohydrate than if you’d eaten breakfast, especially one high in carbs.” But that doesn’t mean fasted workouts are better for weight loss.

“We can only store a small amount of carbohydrate as glycogen in our muscles and liver. Any extra energy – from carbs, fat or protein – eventually gets stored as body fat. So to lose fat, you need to be in an energy deficit: burning more energy than you consume. If you’re not, it doesn’t matter whether you’re fasted or fed – your body balances things out over time,” says Gonzalez.

Published: November 17, 2025, 8:00 am

Wetlands and wildlife in the Netherlands: slowing down and connecting with nature in Friesland

The cosy cabins, bike rides and serenity of De Alde Feanen national park make it the perfect place to switch off and unwind in winter

If there are times when the sights, smells and sounds of a new destination are best downed in a single, heady, flaming sambuca of a weekend, there are others when a more slow-drip pace is called for. Such is the case with De Alde Feanen, in Friesland. One of the most peaceful national parks in the Netherlands, this 4,000-hectare wetland slows down naturally after the summer season. Its waterways shrug off their summer flocks of kayakers, paddleboarders, boat trippers and terrace diners. Museums and galleries close. The local tourist office winds down. Even the park’s population of nesting storks fly south.

A 20-minute drive south-east of Leeuwarden, in the country’s north-east, the lakes, ponds, ditches and canals of “The Old Fens” are the remains of the peat-cutting that began there in the middle ages. Now awash with reeds, rushes and sedges, its watery habitats are richly biodiverse, home to more than 100 bird species as well as otters, pine martens, roe deer and dragonflies. Hay meadows and wetland forest add marsh thistle, reed orchids, alders and willows to the list. Ribboned with well-marked hiking and cycling trails, the proximity to nature draws spring and summer tourists but treasures can be found there in autumn and winter too; among them thousands of ducks and geese, and some of the starriest skies in the Netherlands.

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:00 am

Amazon selling a tasteless Christmas baby outfit is Claus for concern

The offensive listing seemed more than a mistake – it was a failure of corporate responsibility, says reader

I found a baby outfit (sizes from newborn to five years) on Amazon bearing the phrase “Santa’s favourite ho”.

This isn’t just a tasteless mistake – it’s a failure of corporate responsibility and consumer protection. A corporation this large should have systems that prevent sexualised or exploitative language being associated with items for children.

Published: November 18, 2025, 7:00 am

Houseplant hacks: can you use banana peel to shine your plants’ leaves?

Rubbing the inside of the peel over leaves will leave a glossy sheen, but is it any more effective than a damp cloth?

The problem
Dust isn’t just unsightly; it also blocks light from reaching your plant’s leaves, slowing growth and leaving them looking dull. Plant forums are full of DIY polishing tips. One of the most popular? Banana peel.

The hack
Rub the inside of a banana peel on to your plant’s leaves to clean them and leave a glossy sheen. Some swear by it as a natural – and free – alternative to chemical leaf-shine sprays.

Published: November 18, 2025, 10:00 am

Undisciplined? Entitled? Lazy? Gen Z faces familiar flood of workplace criticism

A new generation of younger workers are being derided as delusional and unreliable, just as millennials were

Gen Z is undisciplined, apparently; entitled, some critics claim; and purportedly hates work. One viral column in the Wall Street Journal went so far as to suggest this entire generation was potentially “unemployable”.

As younger employees establishing themselves at work continue to face relentless criticism from the higher rungs of corporate America, those old enough to remember the arrival of the last generation could be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja vu.

Published: November 17, 2025, 11:00 am

Can mountain lions make a comeback in the US north-east? One group hopes so

Reintroducing the apex predator would control deer populations, maintaining healthy ecosystems and bolstering biodiversity, rewilding group says

Last summer, a wildlife photographer saw, or believed he saw, a mountain lion in South Burlington, Vermont. While it’s possible, it is also remarkable: the apex predator was rendered extinct in northern New England in 1881 and the nearest confirmed breeding population is in North Dakota, 2,000 miles (3,200km) away.

But there could be in years hence more definitive sightings if Mighty Earth, a US-headquartered rewilding organization, convinces state and local authorities, along with Vermonters in general, that returning the top-level predator – known in various regions as the cougar, puma, panther and, in the north-east, catamount – to the region.

Published: November 18, 2025, 1:00 pm

As New York City builds flood resilience, a Queens neighborhood feels neglected: ‘We are forgotten here’

Decade after officials promised to cut flood risks, Edgemere residents and experts say it continues to be vulnerable

This article was produced in partnership between Floodlight, New York Focus and the Guardian.

Baba Ndanani has lived in one of New York City’s most flood-prone neighborhoods for more than 20 years, and he knows the risks all too well.

Published: November 18, 2025, 1:00 pm

Tell us: have you bought tickets for the 2026 World Cup yet?

We’d like to hear from fans about their experience of buying tickets – and also from those who have decided against doing so

The first two rounds of ticket sales for the 2026 World Cup have opened. Yet even with the draw yet to take place and matchups yet to be determined, fans appear to be flocking to buy them. The dynamic pricing model instituted by Fifa has raised prices sky-high, with many fans offering stories of technological issues with Fifa’s sales platform as well.

We want to hear from you: Have you bought World Cup tickets? How much did you spend? Do you think it’ll be worth it? And did you face any obstacles – technical or otherwise – to getting the tickets you want? And if you haven’t bought tickets yet – why not?

Published: November 18, 2025, 10:00 am

Tell us your favourite late-arriving TV characters

We would like to hear your favourite characters whose gamechanging arrivals lifted the shows they were in

From Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones to the Hot Priest in Fleabag, we have picked our favourite 18 TV characters whose gamechanging arrival in later seasons have lifted their whole show. Now we would like to hear yours. Who is your favourite late-arriving TV character and why?

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Published: November 18, 2025, 4:14 pm

Share your story of your most memorable pet

Guardian column the Pet I’ll Never Forget is returning and we’d like to hear your stories about the amazing pets that you’ve loved

After a one year hiatus - and due to popular demand - the Guardian will soon be resuming the Pet I’ll Never Forget, a column celebrating the magnificent creatures and mischievous critters who have left an indelible mark on their owners.

It’s a real who’s who of pet royalty. There’s Nelson, the unapologetic one-eyed cat; Verity, the kleptomaniac pug; Thumper, the frisky rabbit who got pregnant through her cage; Rambo, the Dexter-watching tarantula, to name but a few.

Published: November 18, 2025, 1:46 pm

David Byrne on the moon and a high-rise blaze: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Published: November 18, 2025, 1:51 pm