How Britain replaced the US as Russia’s villain of choice

London and Moscow’s rivalry stretches back to the imperial era, but the Ukraine war has brought relations to a new low

In recent years, Britain has become the villain of choice in Moscow’s eyes. It has been accused of plotting drone strikes on Russian airfields, blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline, directing “terrorist” raids inside Russia, and even abetting last year’s gruesome Islamic State concert attack in Moscow.

This week, a new charge was added to the pile: Russian authorities claimed that British intelligence had tried and failed to lure Russian pilots into defecting to the west.

Published: November 16, 2025, 6:00 am

Everything I wish I’d known before I decided to freeze my eggs at 36

More and more people are turning to egg freezing to increase their chances of becoming a parent. Here’s what you need to know if you’re considering it – from the hidden costs to the chances of success

When I first told my mother I was freezing my eggs, she asked: “So my grandchildren are going to be stored next to some Häagen-Dazs?” (Very funny, Mum.) I’m one of an increasing number of women in the UK who have chosen to put their eggs on ice in order to preserve their fertility, although this does – as discussed later – have clear limitations.

According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UK’s regulator for the fertility industry, there was a 170% increase in the number of egg freezing cycles between 2019 and 2023. The technology has been around since the 80s, but became more accessible in the 00s with vitrification, a flash-freezing technique. Now, celebrities such as Florence Pugh and Michaela Coel openly discuss their experiences of it, and companies such as Meta, Spotify and Goldman Sachs subsidise the procedure for employees.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

Can methane cuts pull us back from the brink of climate breakdown?

With temperatures breaching the Paris limit, experts say tackling the powerful gas could buy crucial time as the clean-energy shift stalls

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

For two years, global temperatures have exceeded the 1.5C heating limit laid out in the Paris climate agreement. This overshooting will have “devastating consequences”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned.

The biggest worry for scientists is that further heating could trigger irreversible tipping points, such as the widespread drying out and dying off of the Amazon, or the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, beyond which climate breakdown could spiral out of control.

Published: November 16, 2025, 8:00 am

One Shot With Ed Sheeran review – well-planned spontaneity from all-smiling singer

Philip Barantini’s single-take special follows the star mooching around Manhattan, guitar ever ready for ad hoc turns, ahead of his evening show

Ed Sheeran floats through New York on a cloud of his own sunny high spirits in this hour-long Netflix special. He is the Candide of the music business, smiling benignly, strumming and singing, seamlessly pausing for selfies and fist-bumps and high-fives; he almost visibly absorbs energy from the saucer-eyed fan-worship shown by gobsmacked passersby and radiates it back at them.

Maybe you have to be a Sheeran fan to really appreciate it, but this is another single-take bravura special from film-maker Philip Barantini (who directed Netflix’s searing single-take drama Adolescence) and his director of photography Nyk Allen. With no cuts (though there’s an allowable fast-forward bit, and the audio might have been tweaked in post-production) they follow the unselfconscious Ed as he completes a late-afternoon soundcheck at the New York theatre where he’s playing a concert later on, and then for the next hour, and with fans pretty much always swarming around him, he wanders through the city with his guitar for various encounters, some planned, some (supposedly) not.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:01 am

The moment I knew: I felt a pang of fear – but I knew we were an unbeatable duo

After spying Tom Box at a punk gig, Kate Logan made a Dalek poster to capture his attention

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

Long before we’d met, I had heard a lot about a guy called Tom Box. I knew he was an Australian living in the South Island of New Zealand. I was in Wellington, and there’d been a few occasions when I’d travelled to the South Island for raves or anarchist conferences where some of the folks had gone to Tom’s place – but I splintered off somewhere else.

Then one day, in 2007, I was at a punk gig when a mutual friend said, “Oh, do you know Tom Box? He’s over there. He’s just moved up to Wellington.” There in a sea of black-clad punks, jumping up and down at the front of the mosh pit, was this guy in a pale blue Star Trek uniform. To me, as a person unfamiliar with Star Trek, he looked like he was wearing pyjamas. This was my first vision of him, but we didn’t talk at all that night.

Published: November 15, 2025, 7:00 pm

Chuck Schumer should quit – but would his imaginary friends agree? | Arwa Mahdawi

The US government was shut down for weeks – and then Democrats shrugged their shoulders and gave up

Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has a pair of very sweet imaginary friends. They’re a middle-class couple called Joe and Eileen Bailey and they live on Long Island. At one point the imaginary couple, who feature in Schumer’s 2007 book, Positively American, were called the O’Reillys. According to the Hill, one Schumer aide said the name then was changed because the publisher thought O’Reilly was “too ethnic” for mass consumption. Another aide said that claim was false, and Schumer just wanted a name that “sounded more national”. Naming strategy aside, the key point here is that Schumer has said he runs all his policy decisions by this completely fictional couple. He’s referred to them hundreds of times throughout his political career.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: November 15, 2025, 2:00 pm

Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s had ‘warnings for my safety’ after posts by Trump

One-time Maga loyalist diverges from Trump on issues including Epstein, so US president has withdrawn support

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety” after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative.

In a post on X, Greene said that “a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”, without referring to Trump by name, adding it was “the man I supported and helped get elected”.

Published: November 15, 2025, 8:07 pm

Inside Trump’s scramble to reduce US dependence on Chinese rare-earth metals

The White House has made it a top priority to return the rare-earth industry to US shores. But is it really feasible?

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, returned from South Carolina last week brandishing a small piece of metal, proclaiming that it was the first rare-earth magnet made in the US in a quarter of a century.

It was, he indicated to Fox Business, proof that the US is ending “China’s chokehold on our supply chain”. Thanks to the South Carolina company eVAC’s new rare-earth mineral processing center, Bessent added: “We’re finally becoming independent again.”

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

Chile votes for next president in contest dominated by crime and migration fears

Voters face seemingly extreme choice between communist and rightwing frontrunners, who both promise to fight foreign gangs

Chileans began voting for a new president and parliament on Sunday, in a contest expected to favour the hard right as candidates play on popular fears over organised crime and immigration.

It is the first of an expected two rounds of presidential elections, as polls show none of the candidates clearing the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff scheduled for 14 December.

Published: November 16, 2025, 11:55 am

Gen Z protests against Mexico president turn violent amid anger over mayor’s death

100 police officers injured in Mexico City as demonstrators attack National Palace following death of Michoacan mayor who fought drug trafficking

At least 120 people, mostly police officers, were injured as thousands marched through Mexico City to protest against the government of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

The demonstration on Saturday was organised by members of generation Z, but ended with strong backing from older supporters of opposition parties.

Published: November 16, 2025, 5:17 am

Steve Bannon advised Jeffrey Epstein for years on how to rehab his reputation, texts show

Pair devised responses to public outrage about Epstein’s criminal history, his treatment by the justice system and his friendships with powerful people

Hundreds of texts over almost a year show Maga influencer Steve Bannon and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein workshopping legal and media strategies to protect Epstein from the legal and publicity quagmire that enveloped him in the last year of his life.

The texts, released by the House oversight committee on Wednesday, show that as early as June 2018, the pair were devising responses to the gathering storm of public outrage about Epstein’s criminal history, his favorable treatment by the justice system, and his friendships with powerful figures in business, politics and academia.

Published: November 15, 2025, 11:00 am

‘She went through hell’: widow of Chornobyl engineer killed in Russian drone strike on Kyiv

Zelenskyy says Nataliia Khodemchuk is victim of ‘new tragedy caused by Kremlin’, four decades after disaster

The widow of the first Soviet engineer to die in the Chornobyl nuclear power plant explosion was killed on Friday in Russia’s massive drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Nataliia Khodemchuk as the victim of a “new tragedy caused by the Kremlin”, nearly four decades after her husband, Valerii, was killed inside Chornobyl’s nuclear reactor number four.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:34 pm

Questions arise over strikingly similar signatures by Trump on recent pardons

Seemingly identical signatures appeared on clemency orders, which White House blamed on technical error

The Trump administration’s clemency drive is coming under scrutiny after the justice department this week replaced pardons posted online that bore strikingly similar copies of Trump’s signature with others that are distinctively variable.

The corrections came after online commenters seized on the similarities in the president’s signature granting “full and unconditional” pardons to seven men, including to former New York Mets player Darryl Strawberry, former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada and former New York police sergeant Michael McMahon, on 7 November.

Published: November 15, 2025, 3:21 pm

China sends coast guard to Senkaku islands amid row with Japan

Activity around Japanese-held islands, also claimed by China, comes after PM Sanae Takaichi said Japan might respond militarily to an invasion of Taiwan

China has sent its coast guard through the waters of the Senkaku islands and military drones past outlying Japanese territory as Beijing ramps up tensions over the Japanese prime minister’s remarks on Taiwan.

On Sunday the Chinese coast guard said its ships made a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters of the Senkaku, which are administered by Japan but also claimed by China as the Diaoyu islands.

Published: November 16, 2025, 7:02 am

Scrutiny grows over LA fire origins after bombshell report: ‘Our Pearl Harbor moment’

Reports that fire crews were ordered to leave original site of blaze prompt tough questions for city and LAFD leaders

Concerns over a small brush fire that reignited days later into the mammoth Palisades fire – the most destructive in Los Angeles history – have grown in recent weeks amid reports that firefighters were ordered to leave the original site of the smaller blaze despite their concerns the ground was still smoldering.

Now, questions remain about how leaders at the Los Angeles fire department responded to a fire that leveled entire communities, and who within the agency knew about concerns the fire could still pose a threat. A former LA city councilor says the aftermath and recovery effort should serve as a Pearl Harbor moment for the city, which should never again be in a position with flames encroaching on all sides.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

Trump news at a glance: Marjorie Taylor Greene raises fears for her safety as row with Donald Trump escalates

President’s one-time ally says she has been contacted by private security firms after denunciation by president. Key US politics stories from Saturday 15 November at a glance

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety” after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative.

In a post on X, Greene said that “a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”, without referring to Trump by name, adding it was “the man I supported and helped get elected”.

Published: November 16, 2025, 2:16 am

Trump pressures Thailand to recommit to Cambodia ceasefire with ‘threat of tariffs’

Bangkok had earlier said it was suspending ceasefire, accusing Cambodia of laying landmines along the border

The US has put pressure on Thailand to recommit to a ceasefire with Cambodia, warning trade talks could be halted as Washington seeks to keep a Donald Trump-brokered truce agreement from falling apart.

Earlier this week, Thailand said that it was suspending the ceasefire deal, accusing Cambodia of laying fresh landmines along the border, including one it said wounded a Thai soldier on patrol, who lost a foot in the explosion.

Published: November 15, 2025, 4:03 pm

Turmoil and tensions at FDA after dramatic exit of top drug regulator

Scramble to find replacement for George Tidmarsh shines light on dysfunction at US regulatory agency

After the dramatic ousting of the top drug regulator at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) two weeks ago, officials have scrambled to find a replacement in a process that has revealed the agency’s internal cracks and tensions.

It’s troubling news for a regulatory agency that has previously enjoyed a reputation for stability and consistency.

Published: November 15, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘A sick spectacle’: counting down the final minutes on Oklahoma’s death row

Tremane Wood was prepared to die by lethal injection. A minute before he was to be put to death, a call came in

• After a controversial trial, an Oklahoma man makes a final plea to avoid execution

The signature at the bottom of the email about witnessing an execution said cheerfully: “Oklahoma Corrections. We Change Lives!”

I had received the email three weeks earlier. It explained that I was being invited to participate in a lottery, from which five media representatives would be selected to witness the execution of Tremane Wood in the Oklahoma state penitentiary on 13 November. I had never heard of Wood, who had been convicted of the murder of Ronnie Wipf, 19, in 2002.

Published: November 16, 2025, 11:00 am

‘Trump is inconsistent with Christian principles’: why the Democratic party is seeing a rise of white clergy candidates

From Texas and Iowa to Arkansas, faith leaders are wading into politics to counter the rise of Christian nationalism

He grew up on a farm in Indiana, the son of a factory worker and eldest of five children. He studied at Liberty, a Christian university founded by the conservative pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and recalls wearing a T-shirt expressing opposition to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Two decades later, Justin Douglas is running for the US Congress – as a Democrat.

Published: November 15, 2025, 5:00 pm

‘I try not to get him started on politics!’: power couples on rows, rules and who really does the housework

As fewer people tie the knot, four well-known married couples share their secrets, from film director Bruce Robinson and artist Sophie Windham to writers Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman

Bruce Robinson – best known as the writer and director of Withnail and I – met artist Sophie Windham at an Italian restaurant in London in 1982. He proposed three days later. They have been married for 42 years and still live and work side by side in the Welsh borders. They have two grownup children, Lily and Willoughby.

Published: November 16, 2025, 6:00 am

‘I was just going to school’: legacy of New Orleans’ other desegregation pioneers

Gail Etienne has built a center at the former school she and her two six-year-old friends braved angry crowds to attend – the same day as Ruby Bridges’ better-known experience

Gail Etienne still remembers her first day at McDonogh 19 elementary school in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. As her family pulled up to the school in the car with the federal marshals, they saw crowds of angry people screaming. Some carried garbage cans and sticks. Others were holding picket signs against school integration.

“I’ll never forget it,” Etienne said. “I saw this one lady was pregnant and had a garbage can top in her hand. I’m wondering, at six years old, what could I have done at six years old to these people to make them act the way they were acting? I really thought that if they could get to me, they’d want to kill me. I didn’t know why. What had I done? I was just going to school.”

Published: November 16, 2025, 11:00 am

The 47 best gift ideas for US tweens in 2025 – picked by actual tweens

Sweatpants are in, you can’t go wrong with Jellycats, and Legos never get old. It turns out tweens are not shy about sharing the holiday gifts they want

• In the UK? The best UK Christmas gifts for 11-year-olds – picked by 11-year-olds

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

From the viral six-seven trend to Italian brainrot memes, tweens are hard to figure out. This is perhaps especially true during the holiday season, when you’re racking your brain for a holiday gift idea for preteens that won’t elicit an eye roll.

We removed some of the guesswork by speaking to 20 tweens to decode what items they are coveting this year. From trendy skincare to Squishmallows, here are 47 holiday gift ideas for kids ages nine to 12, both boys and girls.

Published: November 15, 2025, 8:15 pm

My friend only ever wants to talk about herself. Should I cut her off? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

A face-to-face conversation telling her how her behaviour affects you would give you peace, even if she ignores you

I have been friends with a woman for more than 20 years, who has overcome many challenges, which I admire. However, she’s constantly blindsided by people. Her husband left her, and it was a huge shock. A lot of her friends disappeared at that point as they were only interested in her husband. This surprised her. She made more effort to be my friend, and must have realised more clearly what friendship was.

Over the years since, quite a few of her friends have disappeared and she isn’t sure why. Her last employer turned on her, even though she was an excellent employee, and she left without knowing what had changed.

Published: November 16, 2025, 6:00 am

Celebrity crib sheet: Sydney Sweeney is everywhere – here are nine things you need to know about her

A jeans ad made her notorious. Then she got cosy with Taylor Swift’s arch-nemesis. Time to get up to speed before the actor/model next hits the headlines …

Spare a thought for Sydney Sweeney! Yes, she is young, beautiful, rich and talented, but she has also been getting it from all sides this week. Her passion project has bombed at the box office; she is still paying for a jeans advertisement she did four months ago, and being called on to address charges of having joked about eugenics; and fellow members of the Hollywood elite are breaking ranks to express their disdain (in one case, with a vomiting emoji). And, as she found out this week, she can’t even enjoy a kiss with her controversial new boyfriend without being snapped by the callous paparazzi!

Here’s what you need to know when Sweeney’s name next crops up – which, if current trends continue, will be soon.

Published: November 16, 2025, 8:00 am

Life as a food delivery worker: ‘Sometimes men open the door naked’

To earn a living as a delivery rider, some work 10-12 hour days, contending with low pay, exhaustion, accidents, injuries and harassment. Is this a new form of modern slavery?

“I earn more cleaning toilets than I do from being a Deliveroo rider,” says Marina, a Brazilian woman who juggles two jobs to support her 12- and 18-year-old daughters.

It’s a “bullshit, horrible job”, says Adam, from Sudan, who combines riding for Deliveroo with studying for a law degree. “On a good day I can earn £50 or £60, although it’s really hard doing deliveries using a pedal bike.”

Published: November 16, 2025, 5:00 am

Bill Bryson: ‘Ever since I was a little boy, I have pretended to be able to vaporise people I don’t like’

The American British author on pet peeves, the perils of fantasy dinner parties, and revisiting The Short History of Everything two decades later

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You did a whole book on Australia, and have travelled here a bit since – what’s the number one tip or recommendation you’d give someone coming for the first time?

Get out and walk! I mean, maybe not through the outback, but if you’re in any of the cities, walk. I do that wherever I go. And I love to just go off and explore without knowing where I’m going, without a map or any preconceived ideas. I think it’s the best way to discover a place, and it has the great virtue that if you turn a corner – say in Sydney – and there’s suddenly the Harbour Bridge, you feel as if you’ve discovered it. There’s a real feeling of exhilaration, I think, in that. But also, you discover little cafes and hidden corners and odds and ends.

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A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 by Bill Bryson is out now through Penguin. The author is touring Australia and New Zealand in February 2026 with the live show The Best of Bill Bryson

Published: November 15, 2025, 7:00 pm

How repression is born – and how to resist it | Javier Corrales and Daniel Altschuler

In a clear pattern, a machine designed to generate law and order morphs into an organization operating under lawlessness

We have entered the openly repressive phase of the Trump presidency. The administration has moved beyond verbal attacks on civil society. It is now deploying coercive force against civic organizations and their leaders. While the attacks may seem contained for now, they are likely to grow. Research on other cases of democratic backsliding suggests that once coercion begins, regardless of how limited at first, escalation follows.

In the months ahead, we should thus expect more, not less, government repression. To meet it, pro-democracy organizations, universities and law firms must bravely speak up against abuses of power while building the broadest possible coalition to stand up for fundamental rights. Community, labor and advocacy groups must also train their ranks in strategic nonviolence to resist provocations from the state and make repression backfire.

Javier Corrales is Dwight W Morrow 1895 professor of political science at Amherst College. Daniel Altschuler is the managing director of the Freedom Together Foundation and holds a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

The US is now a rogue state - look at its extrajudicial killings off Venezuela’s coast | Simon Tisdall

These widely condemned strikes are just the latest sign of Trump’s imperialist revival – and the collapsing of the rules-based world order

The UK’s reported decision to restrict intelligence-sharing with the Pentagon on suspected drug-traffickers’ boats in the Caribbean is a modest yet symbolic act of resistance to Donald Trump’s imperialist revival. Britain is said to have objected to repeated, lethal US airstrikes on alleged smugglers off Venezuela’s coast – which have been widely condemned as illegal extrajudicial killings amounting to murder.

The strikes appear to foreshadow direct US attacks on Venezuela itself. Trump makes no secret of his wish to topple Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian, ostensibly leftist regime. Most Venezuelans support this aim, but not the means. Regime change forcibly imposed by a foreign power contravenes international law, unless it is authorised by the UN or undertaken in self-defence as a last resort. Legal or not, it never ends well.

Published: November 16, 2025, 8:00 am

If holding a grudge is wrong, why does it feel so right? Just ask Margaret Atwood | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

In a culture of therapy-approved ‘forgiveness’, the author’s new memoir shows how hilarious long-delayed vengeance can be

“A lot of people have died, so I can actually say these things without destroying somebody’s life. Except for the people whose lives I wish to destroy.” Thus spake Margaret Atwood in a recent interview about Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, in a clip that has gone viral. “They deserve it,” she says, of the people she hasn’t said such nice things about. Asked if she likes holding a grudge, she replied: “I don’t have a choice. I’m a Scorpio.”

Part of the clip’s appeal is Atwood’s icily sardonic delivery: you can understand why a recent review of her autobiography describes her as “a literary mafia don”, reminding those who have crossed her that she knows who they are, even if they remain unnamed, or pointing out that they may well be dead by now anyway. It reminds me a bit of the writer who once said to me: “If you wait by the bend in the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will eventually float past”. Not a Buddhist proverb, for obvious reasons.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist

Published: November 16, 2025, 10:00 am

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

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

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

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

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

Published: November 15, 2025, 8:00 am

Taylor Swift’s silence on the Trump administration using her music speaks volumes | Alim Kheraj

Official Trump social media accounts have been using The Life of a Showgirl snippets to promote his agenda. Why has Swift, who once wanted ‘to be on the right side of history’, said nothing?

In the last two weeks, the Trump administration has used music from Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, in three posts on social media. The first, shared by the official White House account on TikTok, was a patriotic slide show of images set to lead single The Fate of Ophelia. As Swift sings “pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes”, the video cuts to pictures of the US flag, President Trump, the vice-president, JD Vance, and the first and second ladies. The second and third were posted by Team Trump, the official account for the Trump Campaign. One, set to Father Figure, riffs on the lyric “this empire belongs to me” with the caption “this empire belongs to @President Donald J Trump”, while the other, celebrating Melania Trump winning something called the Patriot of the year award, is soundtracked by Opalite.

The Trump administration has found itself in dicey waters for using popular music in the past. The White Stripes and the estate of Isaac Hayes have both attempted to sue the administration for using their music without permission, while artists including Celine Dion, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Abba and Foo Fighters have released statements demanding Trump stop using their songs at campaign rallies and public appearances. Most recently, Olivia Rodrigo condemned the administration after the official Department of Homeland Security and White House Instagram account used her song All-American Bitch on a video promoting its controversial deportation efforts (the song was later removed by Instagram).

Published: November 15, 2025, 11:41 am

Texas trooper sent home after confronting South Carolina player during game

• Trooper exchanged words with Nyck Harbor

• LeBron James among critics on social media

A Texas trooper who confronted South Carolina’s Nyck Harbor after the player’s touchdown on Saturday was sent home from the game, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety.

Harbor scored on an 80-yard reception in the second quarter and entered the tunnel after the score, appearing to walk off a leg injury. As he and three of his teammates, including running back Oscar Adaway III, were walking back to the field, the trooper walked in between Harbor and Adaway and bumped into them.

Published: November 15, 2025, 10:36 pm

Gio Reyna marks USMNT return with goal in 2-1 win over Paraguay

• Mönchengladbach midfielder scores on early header

• USA next play Uruguay on Tuesday in Tampa, Florida

Just 209 days from kicking off their World Cup opener, the US men’s national team is still searching for options. Investigating possibilities. One might even use that loaded word: experimenting.

On a chilly fall night outside Philadelphia, at least one of those experiments yielded a possibility, an option, a long-awaited light at the end of a dark period for one of the most mercurial talents ever to wear a US jersey.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:20 am

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz win to set up clash in ATP Finals’ climax

• Sinner beats De Minaur 7-5, 6-2 to reach third final in a row

• Alcaraz sinks Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4 to make first final

The 2025 men’s tennis season will conclude with a final showdown between the two best players in the world after Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz reached the final of the ATP Finals.

Sinner continued his total dominance of the indoor season as the Italian held off an admirable early challenge from Alex de Minaur before bulldozing his path into the tournament’s final for a third consecutive year with a supreme 7-5, 6-2 win, a victory that extended his winning record against the Australian to 13-0.

Published: November 15, 2025, 4:22 pm

Conor Benn overpowers Chris Eubank Jr to seal dominant rematch victory

• Benn claims redemption against out-of-sorts rival

• Judges score it 119-107, 116-110, 118-108

Conor Benn, who has been through notoriety, shame and a chastening defeat, finally gained a large measure of sweet relief when he totally outclassed and beat up his diminished old rival Chris Eubank Jr over 12 one-sided rounds on Saturday night. Benn came close to sealing the knockout he craved in the last minute of the fight when he twice dropped Eubank Jr heavily.

A shuddering combination from Benn had an initially delayed reaction but the right hand that smashed into the side of Eubank Jr’s head finally sent him toppling to the canvas. He rose to his feet but was soon down again as Benn threw punch after punch at his wilting and shrunken frame. Eubank Jr staggered to his feet just before the referee completed his count. The fight would surely have been waved over – but the last bell echoed above the bedlam.

Published: November 15, 2025, 11:35 pm

World Cup qualifying latest, WSL updates, Gabriel injury scare and more – matchday live

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

Thomas Tuchel has said he would rather England lose their final World Cup qualifier to Albania than any of his players risk picking up a red card that would rule them out of the start of next summer’s tournament.

The head coach has taken note of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo possibly facing a two-game ban at the World Cup after his dismissal against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday and will remind his side about the importance of discipline at the Air Albania Arena on Sunday night. Tuchel does not want any needless slips from England, who have already won their qualifying group, and will even tell his players to think twice before fouling an opponent who is through on goal.

Published: November 16, 2025, 1:08 pm

Spirit top Thorns to reach NWSL final as Rodman return adds off-field intrigue

• Monday, Bethune send Spirit back to NWSL final

• Trinity Rodman returns amid contract uncertainty

• Washington earn fourth championship appearance

Gift Monday and Croix Bethune scored and the Washington Spirit beat the Portland Thorns 2-0 on Saturday to advance to the National Women’s Soccer League championship game.

With the win, the Spirit will play in their second consecutive NWSL final next weekend in San Jose, California. They will face the winner of Sunday’s semi-final between Gotham FC and the Orlando Pride.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:12 am

Ruthless Shiffrin storms to record 102nd win as Olympic slalom season begins

• Shiffrin wins by 1.66sec in dominant display

• American’s 102nd World Cup win overall

• Albanian teenager Lara Colturi takes second

American Mikaela Shiffrin laid down a marker for the Olympic season ahead by obliterating her rivals to easily win the opening Alpine Ski World Cup slalom race on Saturday.

The 30-year-old was in a class of her own, going quickest on both her runs to win by 1.66 seconds for her ninth career win in Levi and a record-extending 102nd World Cup victory.

Published: November 15, 2025, 2:12 pm

Scotland lose in Greece but Denmark stumble takes World Cup qualification to decider

The most extraordinary upshot of an extraordinary evening was that Scotland’s dream of qualifying automatically for the World Cup remains alive. Steve Clarke has Belarus to thank for that, their surprise draw in Denmark leaving Scotland in precisely the position they had sought before this clash with Greece. If Scotland beat Denmark in Glasgow on Tuesday, they will top this section.

The dust might just have settled on this preposterous fixture by then. Scotland trailed by three at one point before hauling themselves back into proceedings against a Greece team who finished with 10 men.

Published: November 15, 2025, 10:01 pm

New Orleans Pelicans part ways with Willie Green after 2-10 start

• Pelicans fire Green after 2–10 season start

• Borrego elevated to interim head coach

The New Orleans Pelicans fired coach Willie Green on Saturday on the heels of a 2-10 start to the season.

Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, who announced the coaching change, named top assistant James Borrego, a former Charlotte Hornets head coach, as interim coach. The Pelicans next play at home on Sunday night against the Golden State Warriors.

Published: November 15, 2025, 6:43 pm

Thousands hit streets of Belém to call for action during crucial Cop30 summit

Funeral for fossil fuels held as part of ‘Great People’s March’ calling on governments to step up climate efforts

The streets of Belém echoed with indigenous chants, classical Brazilian songs and calls for environmental justice on Saturday as tens of thousands of people marched to demand urgent action on the climate and nature crisis.

Activists from around the world converged on the Amazonian host city of COP30, urging negotiators to ramp up ambition.

Published: November 15, 2025, 3:50 pm

It’s all gravy: Thanksgiving air traffic to be normal after US government reopens

Experts say air traffic controllers quickly returning to work, with promise of full back pay, and even $10,000 bonus

Fears that it would take weeks or even months for flight schedules in the US to return to normal in the wake of the US federal government shutdown do not appear to be coming true and the busy upcoming holiday season should be normal for travel, experts say.

That is at least in part because air traffic controllers are quickly returning to work, according to the Department of Transportation.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

Alice Wong, ‘luminary’ writer and disability rights activist, dies aged 51

Daughter of immigrants advocated for people with disabilities to have full autonomy over their lives

Alice Wong, a writer and disability rights activist who was born with muscular dystrophy and whose independence and writing inspired others, has died. She was 51.

Wong died Friday at a hospital in San Francisco due to an infection, said Sandy Ho, a close friend who has been in touch with Wong’s family.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:35 am

Suspect arrested in shooting death of beloved Oakland football coach

Cedric Irving Jr, 27, is alumnus of high school where John Beam taught before gaining fame on Netflix’s Last Change U

A 27-year-old Skyline high school alumnus, frequently seen lingering near Laney College, has been taken into custody in connection with the fatal shooting of Oakland football coach John Beam.

Police identified the suspect as Cedric Irving Jr, who was apprehended before dawn at the San Leandro, California, Bart station, ending an urgent search for the individual believed responsible.

Published: November 15, 2025, 9:31 pm

Israel breaching international law by limiting Gaza aid, says Unrwa official

Natalie Boucly says supplies are ready but only about half of what is needed is getting into territory

Israel is breaching international law by continuing to impose restrictions on aid flows into Gaza, where the population remains critically short of food and life-saving goods as winter sets in, a senior official at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.

In an interview during a recent visit to Brussels, Natalie Boucly, an Unrwa deputy commissioner general, said the whole world – including the EU and US – needed to increase the pressure on Israel’s government to ensure the unrestricted flow of aid into Gaza.

Published: November 15, 2025, 12:00 pm

Viktor Orbán begins ‘anti-war roadshow’ as Hungary gears up for 2026 elections

PM makes opposition to support for Ukraine central to Fidesz campaign as it loses ground over cost of living crisis

Hungary’s prime minister has kicked off a weeks-long “anti-war roadshow”, turning criticism of European support for Ukraine into an early campaign message before next year’s elections.

Viktor Orbán’ is scheduled to stage an event in five cities before the end of the year, and started with an assembly on Saturday in the north-western city of Győr.

Published: November 15, 2025, 2:31 pm

Ethiopia confirms outbreak of deadly Marburg virus

Africa CDC says at least nine cases have been detected of Ebola-like illness, which kills up to 80% of those infected

Ethiopia has confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in the south of the country, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.

The Marburg virus is one of the deadliest known pathogens. Like Ebola, it causes severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and has a 21-day incubation period.

Published: November 15, 2025, 7:23 pm

Mamdani’s appointment of Lina Khan a warning to private equity, experts say

Ex-FTC chair was among first to go after practice of folding local firms into larger ones leading to higher prices

Experts say New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s selection of Lina Khan, the former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair, for his transition team acts as a warning to private equity firms in the state that have raised rents and monopolized local healthcare industries.

Throughout the US, private equity has increasingly monopolized industries through the practice of “roll-ups”, acquiring many small local firms and rolling them into one larger firm, giving them power to simultaneously raise prices and lower quality.

Published: November 15, 2025, 1:00 pm

Todd Snider, alt-country singer-songwriter of Alright Guy, dies aged 59

Influential musician who created Americana hits had recently been hospitalized with pneumonia

Todd Snider, the influential alt-country singer-songwriter who created Americana hits such as Alright Guy, has died at 59.

His passing was shared through announcements on his official social media accounts. Although no cause of death was provided, his family shared on Friday that he had recently been hospitalized with pneumonia.

Published: November 15, 2025, 6:38 pm

Hurricane Melissa a ‘real-time case study’ of colonialism’s legacies

Destruction in Jamaica shows why climate justice cannot be separated from reparatory justice, campaigners say

Perched on the edge of a hill in the idyllic village of Cold Spring in Hanover, Jamaica, the Gurney’s Mount Baptist church has stood for centuries as a symbol of resistance and endurance. The church and its congregation have endured through uprisings – in particular the famous 1831 slave revolt led by the Black Baptist deacon Samuel Sharpe – and earthquakes.

But when Hurricane Melissa descended on Jamaica, it ripped off the church roof and shredded the rows of sturdy pews, leaving an unrecognisable mangle of wood and debris in its wake. Outside, parts of the structure had survived the onslaught of the category 5 storm. The church is one of Jamaica’s 146,000 buildings – just 15% of those assessed so far – that has suffered major to severe damage, according to Alvin Gayle, director general of Jamaica’s emergency management office. The death toll on Thursday was 45, with 13 people missing; an estimated 90,000 households and 360,000 people have been affected by the damage.

Published: November 15, 2025, 9:25 am

$170,000 a minute: why Saudi Arabia is the biggest blocker of climate action

Desert kingdom depends on oil dollars but its people already face a climate ‘at the verge of livability’. What’s going on?

Published: November 15, 2025, 2:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: November 15, 2025, 6:00 am

Salt Lake City declines to charge anti-child-trafficking activist with sexual assault

District attorney cites ‘insufficient admissible evidence’ against Tim Ballard in connection with allegations

A district attorney based in Salt Lake City is declining to file charges against the founder of an anti-child-trafficking organization – made famous by the 2023 movie Sound of Freedom – in the wake of sexual assault claims by several women in lawsuits.

Sim Gill, the district attorney, issued a statement Friday saying there is “insufficient admissible evidence”, and his office has declined to file charges against Tim Ballard in connection with the allegations.

Published: November 15, 2025, 6:52 pm

Ukraine war briefing: Drones hit Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery

Russian attacks kill four on Saturday; Serbian government faces deadline to oust Russian owners from state oil company. What we know on day 1,362

Ukraine’s army said on Saturday it struck a Russian oil refinery in the Ryazan region near Moscow, as “part of efforts to reduce the enemy’s ability to launch missile and bomb strikes”. Explosions and a large fire were observed at the site, said the military. Ryazan is located about 200km (125 miles) south-east of Moscow.

Russian officials often do not admit such attacks have succeeded, and the Ryazan governor, Pavel Malkov, adopted the standard line that Ukrainian drones were shot down but debris happened to hit the target. “Falling debris caused a fire on the premises of one enterprise,” Malkov said. A wave of 25 Ukrainian drones attacked the region, Malkov said.

Officials in southern Ukraine said four people were killed by Russian attacks on Saturday. Prosecutors in the Kherson region said “three civilians are known to have been killed” in the village of Myklitskyi and the city of Kherson. The governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Federov, said a Russian attack killed one person.

The US will not lift sanctions on Serbian oil company NIS unless Belgrade terminates the firm’s majority Russian ownership, Serbia’s energy minister said on Saturday, warning that her country faced “difficult” decisions. Washington sanctioned Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) as part of its crackdown on the Russian energy sector. Analysts say Serbia is on the brink of a winter energy crisis with its lone oil refinery facing a potential shutdown.

Serbia’s energy minister, Dubravka Đedović Handanović, said the US wanted a “complete change of Russian shareholders” to be negotiated by 13 February before lifting sanctions. NIS is 45% owned by Gazprom Neft, which has been targeted by US sanctions. Neft’s parent company, Gazprom, has transferred its own 11.3% stake in NIS to another Russian firm, Intelligence. The Serbian state holds nearly 30% of NIS, with the rest owned by minority shareholders. Handanović suggested the Serbian government was looking at a possible Russian takeover of NIS and would hold a special cabinet meeting about it on Sunday.

Ukraine has recorded a threefold increase in the number of attacks on its railway system since July, according to a senior minister, as Moscow seeks to scupper one of Kyiv’s key logistical systems, Peter Beaumont writes. The rail network carries more than 63% of the country’s freight – including grain shipments – and 37% of passenger traffic, according to the state statistics service. Military assistance from foreign countries often arrives by train. Oleksii Kuleba, a deputy prime minister, said: “What we have seen in these escalating attacks is that they are going after trains, especially trying to kill the drivers.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced an overhaul of state-owned energy companies amid a corruption scandal. Anti-graft investigators allege around $100m has been embezzled. Zelenskyy has already ordered two ministers to resign over the alleged scheme and sanctioned a former business partner who was named as its mastermind. “Alongside a full audit of their financial activities, the management of these companies is to be renewed,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president called for a new supervisory board at Energoatom – the state nuclear company – “within a week” that would enable a “complete overhaul of the company’s management”. He also called for the quick appointment of a new head of hydropower generating company Ukrhydroenergo and other reforms for oil and gas giant Naftogaz and the main gas operator.

Published: November 16, 2025, 2:31 am

Michael Jackson is moonwalking back, but after the Springsteen flop is the pop biopic still relevant?

Jackson’s songs are back on charts and biopic trailer racked up 116m views in 24 hours, yet there is a certain hesitation

Michael Jackson’s voodoo classic Thriller was high on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the week of 15 November, handing the 16-years-gone King of Pop a record for having a Top 10 hit across six different decades. Simultaneously, Jackson also broke records for receiving 116m views in 24 hours for the trailer of a new biopic, Michael, set for release in April.

Millions of fans may be excited and primed for a Jackson biopic. For comparison, the trailer beat out Taylor Swift’s Eras tour preview and it will join a procession of recent music biopics about Bruce Springsteen, Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley and Elton John. The most successful of all – the Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody – took in nearly a billion dollars at the box office.

Published: November 16, 2025, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: November 15, 2025, 7:00 am

‘I once said there’s no way I’ll still be playing Baggy Trousers at 30’: Suggs’s honest playlist

Prince Buster’s Al Capone changed the Madness singer’s life and Aretha Franklin is his go-to at karaoke, but what song makes him cry?

The first song I fell in love with
Judy Teen by Cockney Rebel. I’d seen Steve Harley on Top of the Pops and liked his look, with the mascara and bowler hat, like Alex from A Clockwork Orange. One day, me and my mates decided to cycle to Salisbury Plain. I had a transistor radio tied to the handlebars and Judy Teen came on. Unfortunately, the batteries ran out when we got to Swiss Cottage [in north London] … and my legs ran out at the same time!

The first single I bought
The Wall Street Shuffle by 10cc, from Woolworths in Camden Town. Later on, we used to pinch records, but I paid my dues for a while.

Published: November 16, 2025, 9:00 am

His research on autism was compassionate – how could Hans Asperger have collaborated with the Nazis?

The Vienna-based ‘father of neurodiversity’ was ahead of his time in his work but was also implicated in the Third Reich’s crimes. My novel set out to explore these contradictions

In 2015, I decided to write a novel about Dr Hans Asperger, who worked at the University Children’s Hospital in Vienna during the second world war. My interest was sparked by two nonfiction books: NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman and In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker.

Reading these stories told about Asperger, you would have thought they were talking about two different people. To Silberman, Asperger was a compassionate and original thinker, whereas Donvan and Zucker depict him as an enthusiastic supporter of Hitler. For a historical novelist, widely differing accounts of the same person are gold dust, and I began to dig deeper.

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘He was quite a private person’: expansive auction shows Gene Hackman as actor and artist

Bonhams is selling over 400 items from the estate of the late Oscar-winning actor, from a draft script of The Silence of the Lambs to his own unique artwork

He was Lex Luthor to Christopher Reeve’s Superman. But could he have been Hannibal Lecter to Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling?

The intriguing prospect is raised by an unlikely 33-page draft script for The Silence of the Lambs lurking in a collection of the late actor Gene Hackman’s possessions that goes up for auction later this month.

Published: November 15, 2025, 10:02 am

Dining across the divide: ‘We both came out thinking Zack Polanski is a breath of fresh air’

They both liked the Greens’ Zack Polanski and disliked the tech oligarchs. But could they find common cause over the power of the unions?

Andrew, 70, near Nottingham

Occupation Retired acupuncturist and herbalist

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

This is how we do it: ‘I do get jealous and question whether I’m cut out for non-monogamy’

Maya worried about entering into an open relationship with Ollie, but being honest with each other has deepened their relationship

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

If I know that Ollie’s on a date, I find it difficult sitting around, not knowing what to do with myself

Published: November 16, 2025, 11:00 am

Blind date: ‘She friend-zoned me over text before the night was through’

Alex, 31, an academic, meets Rachel, 28, a university caseworker

What were you hoping for?
A good plotline, a fun evening and the chance of a connection.

Published: November 15, 2025, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: November 15, 2025, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: November 15, 2025, 5:00 am

A Santa parade, the Clooneys and frontline pets: photos of the weekend

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

Published: November 16, 2025, 12:47 pm