Venezuela live updates: interim president offers to ‘collaborate’ with US after Trump warns of further strikes

Delcy Rodríguez adopts conciliatory tone as she stands in for Nicolás Maduro after Venezuelan leader captured by American forces and brought to US

• Tense calm spreads at border with Colombia after Maduro capture

• Analysis: European leaders appear torn in face of new world order

European leaders emerged divided and torn as they tried to welcome the ejection of Venezuela’s authoritarian president but still uphold the principles of international law that did not appear to allow Donald Trump to seize Nicolás Maduro, let alone declare that the US will run Venezuela and control its oil industry.

Europe tried to focus on the principle of a democratic transition, pointing out that the continent had not recognised Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela since what were widely regarded as fraudulent elections in June 2024.

Published: January 5, 2026, 6:40 am

Donald Trump warns of ‘big price to pay’ if Caracas fails to toe line

Washington keeping 15,000-strong military presence in Caribbean in case interim president hinders US objectives

The prospect of the United States seizing direct control of Venezuela appeared to recede on Sunday after the shocking ousting of president Nicolás Maduro – but US officials warned they might make a fresh military intervention if interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, did not accommodate their demands.

Speaking to reporters late Sunday, Donald Trump also raised the possibility of military action in Colombia.

Published: January 4, 2026, 8:20 pm

Protests erupt in US cities over Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela

Hundreds came out to protest in large cities coast to coast, even as many in the diaspora celebrated ousting of Maduro

• Top Republicans backpedal from Trump claim that US will run Venezuela

Protests bubbled up in several US cities over the weekend as people demonstrated against the Trump administration’s unilateral military intervention in Venezuela – even as many in the diaspora publicly celebrated the forced removal of president Nicolás Maduro.

Gatherings took place as crowds expressed opposition to a potential war with Venezuela and to declare illegal the US operation to snatch Maduro early on Saturday and bring him to the US to face drug-trafficking charges in court.

Published: January 4, 2026, 9:02 pm

‘Things are complicated’: tense calm holds at Venezuela’s border with Colombia after Maduro capture

Many shops closed after rush to buy essentials, as exiles held muted celebrations amid uncertainty about future

At the Simón Bolívar International Bridge, which spans the Táchira River, foot and vehicle traffic flowed as normal through the main border crossing between Venezuela and Colombia.

But a day after the extraordinary US capture and rendition of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, there was an air of uncertainty over what comes next.

Published: January 4, 2026, 9:21 pm

Few in Caracas are celebrating as they face an uncertain post-Maduro future

Stockpiling not partying is the priority for Venezuelans who say they fear crackdowns by the regime the US left in place

There was a whirlwind of emotions on the streets of Caracas on Sunday, 24 hours after the first-ever large-scale US attack on South American soil and the extraordinary snaring of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

“Uncertainty,” said Griselda Guzmán, a 68-year-old pensioner, fighting back tears as she lined up outside a grocery store with her husband to stock up on supplies in case the coming days brought yet more drama.

Published: January 4, 2026, 10:03 pm

‘The perfect storm’: Trump has left the US less prepared for natural disasters, experts say

Emergency managers say the US president has presided over a dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters

Donald Trump has presided over a dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters, according to emergency management experts.

The first year of his second term was marked by crackdowns on climate science that produced world-class weather forecasts and the gutting of frontline federal agencies - policies that have left the country, already struggling to keep pace with severe storms, even more at risk.

Published: January 4, 2026, 5:00 pm

Canadian officials say US health institutions no longer dependable for accurate information

Misinformation from the Trump administration is cited as fuelling Canadians’ concerns over childhood vaccinations

Canadian officials and public health experts are warning that US health and science institutions can no longer be depended upon for accurate information, particularly when it comes to vaccinations, amid fears that misinformation from the Trump administration could further erode Canadians’ confidence in healthcare.

“I can’t imagine a world in which this misinformation doesn’t creep into Canadians’ consciousness and leads to doubt,” said Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor at McMaster University in Ontario.

Published: January 4, 2026, 1:00 pm

Last 16 victims of Crans-Montana fire identified, police say

Hundreds of people join silent procession in Swiss town, with youngest known victim just 14-years-old

• Visual guide: what happened in Crans-Montana?

Investigators have identified the last 16 people who died in the New Year’s Eve bar fire at the Swiss mountain resort of Crans-Montana, police said on Sunday.

Officers in Valais canton said they had managed to identify the last of the 40 bodies from the blaze, one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history, with forensic work particularly slow-going due to the horrific burns sustained by most of the victims.

Published: January 4, 2026, 8:08 pm

‘Respect our privacy’: family of Tommy Lee Jones after his daughter’s death

Victoria Jones, daughter of US film actor, was found unresponsive at a San Francisco hotel on New Year’s Day

The family of actor Tommy Lee Jones has asked for privacy following the loss of his daughter, Victoria Jones, who was found dead on New Year’s Day at a San Francisco hotel.

“We appreciate all of the kind words, thoughts, and prayers,” the family said in a statement. “Please respect our privacy during this difficult time. Thank you.”

Published: January 4, 2026, 10:09 pm

Wisconsin judge resigns after being convicted of obstructing immigrant arrest

Hannah Dugan faced calls to resign from state Republicans amid threats to impeach her if she did not

The Wisconsin judge convicted of obstruction for helping an immigrant evade federal officers has resigned.

Hannah Dugan was convicted on 19 December and faced calls to resign from state Republicans, who threatened to impeach her if she did not.

Published: January 4, 2026, 5:59 pm

High tides and heavy rain flood parts of California’s Bay Area

King tides cause highest floodwaters in decades for area, while people are rescued from trapped cars and roads close

High tides and heavy rains have flooded parts of the Bay Area, prompting road closures and rescues of people trapped in cars.

Five northern counties remained under a flood watch, with up to 3in (7.6cm) of rain possible through Monday night in areas that have been drenched off and on since around Christmas, said the National Weather Service office in Eureka. At least a foot (0.3 meters) of snow was likely in the mountains.

Published: January 4, 2026, 11:41 pm

Evangeline Lilly reveals she has brain damage after hitting her head in fall

Marvel, Lost and Hobbit actor says ‘almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity’ after she fainted and fell face-first into a boulder

Evangeline Lilly has revealed she has brain damage, months after she suffered a concussion when she fainted and fell face-first into a boulder.

The 46-year-old Canadian actor, known for her roles in Lost, The Hobbit films and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shared the “bad news” video on her Instagram, one of many updates she has shared since she suffered the traumatic brain injury (TBI) in May, when she fainted on a beach and hit her head on a rock.

Published: January 4, 2026, 11:29 pm

Mickey Rourke launches fundraiser to pay $60,000 in rent after threat of eviction

The 73-year-old Oscar-nominated actor was issued with an eviction notice in December

Mickey Rourke has turned to fundraising to pay the US$59,100 (£44,000, A$89,000) he allegedly owes in rent, after being sued by his landlord and facing eviction from his Los Angeles home.

The 73-year-old actor, who was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for his performance in the 2008 drama The Wrestler, has approved a GoFundMe page launched by Liya-Joelle Jones, a friend and member of Rourke’s management team. At time of writing, the fundraiser had raised US$33,000 of its US$100,000 goal.

Published: January 5, 2026, 5:12 am

Former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson says her twin babies may never walk

The 34-year-old posts emotional video saying the girls will ‘fight all the odds’ after spinal muscular atrophy diagnosis

The former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson has said her twin babies will “fight all the odds” after being diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that means it is unlikely they will ever be able to walk.

The 34-year-old singer and her fiance, Zion Foster, welcomed their twins, Ocean Jade and Story Monroe Nelson-Foster, in May after they were born prematurely. In an emotional Instagram video posted on Sunday, Nelson revealed the girls had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1).

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:53 pm

The weightlifting champion jailed by Russia for ‘plotting sabotage and assassinations’

Yulia Lemeshchenko was defiant and did not deny the accusations, saying she had decided to fight against Russian military aggression

At the beginning of autumn 2023, Yulia Lemeshchenko stopped appearing at the Kharkiv gym where she trained most days. A driven athlete, whose talent for weightlifting led her to become champion of Ukraine in 2021, her disappearance prompted confusion among her training partners.

Months later, she resurfaced in a Moscow courtroom, accused of plotting sabotage and assassinations in Russia on behalf of the Ukrainian security services. Prosecutors claimed Lemeshchenko had blown up power lines outside St Petersburg and had later travelled to Voronezh, where she was staking out a Russian air force commander with a view to killing him.

Published: January 5, 2026, 5:00 am

‘It’s an opportunity’: joy and wariness among US Venezuelans after Maduro toppled

Hundreds of people danced, sang and waved the flag of Venezuela in the suburban Miami city of Doral on Saturday

The first chants of “libertad” cut through the air well before dawn in Doral, the suburban Miami city where up to 40% of the population is Venezuelan. Hundreds of people, dancing, singing and waving Venezuela’s yellow, blue and red flag filled the street outside the El Arepazo restaurant, the traditional community meeting place, as they celebrated the downfall of the despised president Nicolás Maduro.

The euphoria lasted well into the day on Saturday as residents learned how the strongman and his wife, first lady Cilia Flores, were snatched from their beds by US military members and bundled away towards an eventual court date in New York City.

Published: January 4, 2026, 1:00 pm

‘Venezuela helped us a lot’: US’s capture of Nicolás Maduro stirs anxiety in Cuba

Trump government issues warning to Havana, which has lost key ally in its struggle with blackouts and fuel shortages

• US attacks Venezuela – live updates

• ‘Naked imperialism’: how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the US

Dr Ifraín Pérez had been checking the news on his phone since the early hours. All day, the capture of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, had been the main subject of conversation in his neighbourhood in Havana. “It’s really pretty unpleasant news – for Cuba and the world,” he said late on Saturday.

Pérez, 62, served twice in Venezuela as part of Cuban medical missions, from 2005 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2016. “I’m worried because I know many Venezuelans. I have a great affinity with that people because of what I lived through with them,” he said.

Published: January 4, 2026, 1:54 pm

‘A big bad bull whipped me down’: cowboy poetry, old art form of the US west, lassos a new generation

From Los Angeles to Nevada, younger people are preserving a longstanding tradition one lyric at a time

Deep in the heart of Los Angeles’s Koreatown, just a few doors down from H Mart and a K-pop music superstore, an American flag hangs over the entrance of a saloon called Eastwood.

The western-themed bar would normally be cranking Luke Bryan while customers play skee-ball, line dance and get bucked off their mechanical bull named Gucci. But tonight, the music is low and the loudest sounds come from the clacking of vintage mechanical typewriters. About 30 people in the bar are drafting poems about horses, sunsets and Stetson hats – which are plentiful atop the heads in the crowd.

Heck, they thought they killed me back in 15

flew me out in a chopper, covered me with a sheet.

Published: January 4, 2026, 4:00 pm

From eggs to s’mores: 10 foods you didn’t know your toaster oven could make

Toaster ovens aren’t just for toast. Here’s why this ‘sleeper hit’ appliance might become your go-to in the kitchen

• The 10 best toaster ovens in the US – tested and reviewed

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

As a former professional chef and part-time recipe developer, I have found that in both restaurant and home kitchens, toaster ovens are a sleeper hit. In restaurants, we treated them like tiny salamanders or ovens: they heated small portions of food faster – and saved more energy – than a full-sized oven. (This is why you’ll often see a toaster oven residing on omakase counters, where they’re used for broiling eel or fish.)

At home, it toasts, of course, but it can also dehydrate, broil, churn out snacks and help make quick meals with modest portions. (No wasted leftovers here!) Even if you possess a toaster oven that only has a basic heat function, so long as you can control the temperature, you have a powerful workhorse on your hands. And if you own a toaster oven with every preset imaginable, from bagel to cookie dough, you can still unlock even more uses.

Best overall:
Breville Joule Smart Countertop Oven Air Fryer

Published: January 4, 2026, 5:00 pm

‘This is where it all started’: Nina Simone’s childhood home gets long-awaited rehabilitation

North Carolina home preserved to commemorate legendary musician and civil rights activist, and to serve as arts hub

It was a surreal experience for Dr Samuel Waymon, Nina Simone’s youngest sibling, to walk back into the renovated childhood home that he once shared with the singer and civil rights activist. On that day in the fall of 2025, Waymon, an 81-year-old award-winning composer, said that memories flooded back of him playing organ in the house and cooking on the potbelly stove with his mother as a child in Tryon, North Carolina. He was overjoyed to see the large tree from his youth still standing in the yard. Simone, born Eunice Waymon, lived in the 650 sq ft, three-room home with her family from 1933 to 1937.

After sitting vacant and severely decayed for more than two decades, the recently restored home is now painted white, with elements of its former self sprinkled throughout the interior. On the freshly painted mint-blue wall hangs a shadow box that encases the rust brown varnish of the original home. A small piece of the Great Depression-era linoleum sits on the restored wooden floor like an island of the past in a sea of the present.

Published: January 4, 2026, 12:00 pm

Sex object, animal rights activist, racist: the paradox that was Brigitte Bardot

A fantasy figure for men and women, a victim of press intrusion, a defender of animals … the French actor was also a mouthpiece for racial hatred whose views grew uglier over time

Brigitte Bardot inspired many fantasies, from the wanton, panting reveries of assorted French auteurs in the 1950s and 60s, to the perky-nippled bust created in 1969 as a model for Marianne, the embodiment of the French Republic itself.

With her death on 28 December, another more contemporary Bardot illusion was shattered. The singer Chappell Roan, responding to Bardot’s passing at 91, posted a photo of the actor in her beehived prime on Instagram, saying she had inspired her song Red Wine Supernova and writing": “Rest in peace Ms Bardot.”

Published: January 4, 2026, 6:00 am

Actor and writer Paterson Joseph: ‘Tilda Swinton asked me a question that changed everything that came next’

Joseph on sussing the school system at the age of four, an awkward audition for the National Youth Theatre, and why he loves his ‘horrible’ Peep Show character

Born in Willesden, north-west London, in 1964, Paterson Joseph is an actor and writer. A graduate of Lamda, he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving into TV and film, with roles including Alan Johnson in Peep Show and Keaty in The Beach. He published his award-winning debut novel, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, in 2022. His children’s book, Ten Children Who Changed the World, is out now. Joseph is a judge for the debut fiction category of the 2025 Nero Book Awards. The winners will be announced on 13 January.

This was taken by my sister Glenda, who had decided she wanted to get into hair and makeup. She was pulling together a portfolio and used me as a guinea pig, something my sisters had done since I was small. I was going for that slightly curmudgeonly old man expression, but it came out more like a smirk.

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘I’ve got a fearlessness to being laid bare’: how Yungblud became Britain’s biggest rock star

In 2025 the Doncaster-born singer-songwriter has earned two UK No 1s, three Grammy nominations and the respect of rock’s greats – and he says it’s all down to putting fans first

In November, Dominic Harrison, better known as Yungblud, received three Grammy nominations. The news that he had become the first British artist in history to be nominated that many times in the awards’ rock categories came as a suitably striking finale to what, by any metric, was an extraordinary year for the 28-year-old singer-songwriter.

In June, his fourth studio album, Idols, entered the UK charts at No 1, outselling its nearest competitor by 50%. The same month, the annual festival he curates and headlines, Bludfest, drew an audience of 30,000 to The National Bowl in Milton Keynes. In July, he played at Back to the Beginning, the farewell performance by Black Sabbath, whose frontman Ozzy Osbourne died 17 days after the gig. On a bill almost comically overstuffed with heavy metal superstars paying tribute – Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Anthrax, Slayer – his rendition of Black Sabbath’s 1972 ballad Changes unexpectedly stole the show, appearing to win him an entirely new audience in the process: the crowd at the gig skewed considerably older than the gen Z fans Harrison traditionally attracts.

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:00 pm

This is how we do it: ‘After 50 years together, I’m more orgasmic than ever’

Valerie and Max have discovered the secret of maintaining an active sex life in your 70s – and are happy to pass on their tips

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

I’ve actually found that age has affected sex in a very positive way. Now I can have five orgasms in a row

Published: January 4, 2026, 11:00 am

Kindness of strangers: I was ill and about to miss my flight when a well-dressed man helped me to the airport

I was running an hour late and couldn’t think clearly. I was in despair that I might miss my plane home

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

Twelve years ago, I was in Queanbeyan to see a specialist for my chronic health condition. I was headed home to Queensland early the next morning and had set my alarm to wake me for the taxi I had ordered to the airport. But when I woke up, I realised that I had forgotten to allow for daylight savings. I was now running an hour late to the airport, with no taxi to get me there.

I ordered another taxi and made my way out to wait in front of the motel, in despair that I might miss my flight. I stood on the dark footpath and spoke on the phone to my sister in Queensland about how I had missed my taxi and how unwell I felt. My health condition can affect my ability to think clearly, and I was telling her how my brain just wasn’t working that day. Then the taxi arrived – phew. Except, as the driver told me when I opened the door to get in, it wasn’t for me.

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:00 pm

The awkward truth about some of Trump’s views on Europe? European leaders agree with him | Shada Islam

The US president’s fears about ‘woke’ Europe are laughable. He would feel right at home in today’s EU

I expected the EU to push back strongly against Donald Trump’s new national security strategy. Not only does it show contempt for the EU and its “weak” leaders, but it also targets European citizens and migrants with racist dog whistles and barely disguised Islamophobia. Yet instead of a rousing defence of the bloc’s commitment to human rights and equality, there have just been bland platitudes.

António Costa, the president of the European Council, denounced Trump’s plans to boost support for Europe’s far-right parties. But there was no public challenge to the racist logic underpinning his argument. Costa, who has spoken proudly of his mixed ancestry, could have made a convincing counterargument to the US president’s false premise that Europe was heading for “civilisational erasure” because of migrants and, by extension, millions of Europeans of colour.

Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs. She runs New Horizons Project, a strategy, analysis and advisory company

Published: January 5, 2026, 5:00 am

Trump’s coup in Venezuela didn’t just break the rules – it showed there aren’t any. We’ll all regret that | Nesrine Malik

It’s not just the triumphalism in the White House. Leaders loth to oppose this gangsterism must think how that looks to Putin, Xi and in the UAE

I never thought it possible that you could look back on the Iraq war, and the foreign invasions of the “war on terror” in general, and feel some measure of nostalgia. For a time when there were at least concerted attempts to justify unilateral interventions and illegal wars in the name of global security, and even a moral duty to liberate the women of Afghanistan or “free the Iraqi people”.

Now, as the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, is in essence abducted and Venezuela taken over by the US, there is barely any effort to situate the coup in any reasoning other than the US’s interests. Nor are there any attempts to solicit consent from domestic or international law-making bodies and allies, let alone the public. The days of the US trying to convince the world that Saddam Hussein did in fact have weapons of mass destruction despite secretly having no reliable intelligence were, in fact, the good old days.

Published: January 5, 2026, 6:00 am

The government probably took too much of your paycheck this year – here’s how to get it back

Trump’s tax bill carved out several areas for tipped workers and older adults, among others, to lower their tax bills

US taxpayers will have a “gigantic refund year in the first quarter” of 2026, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, recently said in an interview.

Given all the untruths that come out of the current administration, you wouldn’t be blamed if you don’t believe him. But you should. This year, there will be a significant amount of tax refunds. Why? Well, it’s not tariff cash. It’s because many people overpaid their taxes this year.

Published: January 4, 2026, 3:00 pm

After Trump’s illegal Venezuela coup, there are two dangers: he is emboldened, but has no clue what comes next | Rajan Menon

The US president used largely fictitious charges to seize control, but can’t know how Venezuelans will react. He may also overstep now as regards Iran

During his presidential campaigns, Donald Trump pledged to end “forever wars”, abandon “nation-building” interventions and focus instead on reviving a US economy that, in his telling, had been deindustrialised by a floodtide of imports. Though Trump’s electoral victories cannot be attributed to any one thing, his “America first” narrative certainly struck a chord.

But Trump’s use of force to seize the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, his full-bore support for Israel’s demolition of Gaza and his bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment installations show that he’s no less willing than his predecessors to resort to military interventions.

Rajan Menon is a professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York and a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies

Published: January 4, 2026, 1:00 pm

Today, Trump’s target was Caracas. What tomorrow? | Stephen Wertheim

He took office promising to annex Greenland and take back the Panama Canal. Now that he has ousted Maduro, other countries could be next

“This is genius,” Donald Trump enthused. It was 22 February 2022. Vladimir Putin had just declared parts of eastern Ukraine to be independent and sent in Russian troops to serve as so-called peacekeepers. The once and future American president was impressed, even inspired. “We could use that on our southern border,” Trump mused.

Trump didn’t know then that he was speaking at the start of a full-scale invasion that has lasted nearly four years and inflicted upwards of 1.5 million casualties and counting. And Trump doesn’t know now what he has unleashed in Venezuela. The South American country is not Ukraine, nor, for that matter, is it Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. But by ordering military strikes to seize dictator Nicolás Maduro, Trump has thrown a country of around 28 million people into uncertainty and tossed aside the most obvious, hard-won lesson of decades of US foreign policy failures: regime-change wars are easy to start and hard to win, much less to turn into anything resembling genuine success.

Stephen Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School

Published: January 4, 2026, 6:27 am

NFL roundup: Steelers clinch AFC North on Ravens’ missed kick at death

• Rodgers leads Steelers to first AFC North title in five years

• Panthers win NFC South after Falcons beat Saints 19–17

• Jags rout Titans to clinch AFC South, extend hot streak

• Garrett gets sack No 23 to set NFL single-season record

Aaron Rodgers threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III with 55 seconds left, and the Steelers beat the Ravens 26-24 on Sunday night when Baltimore’s Tyler Loop missed a 44-yard field goal as time expired, giving Pittsburgh the AFC North title.

Pittsburgh (10-7) will host Houston (12-5) in the opening round of the playoffs on Monday 12 January, following an electric fourth quarter that saw four lead changes, including three in the final four minutes.

Published: January 4, 2026, 9:19 pm

Falcons fire Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot hours after finishing 8-9 season

• Morris fired after second straight 8-9 season

• Fontenot exits after four-year tenure as GM

• Falcons begin concurrent searches for both roles

The Atlanta Falcons fired coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot on Sunday night, announcing the moves hours after the team completed their second straight 8-9 finish under Morris and an eighth consecutive losing season.

Morris said after Sunday’s 19-17 win over the New Orleans Saints that he expected to return for a third season. Instead, his 16-18 record was not enough to save his job after a year that began with optimism the Falcons would reach the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Published: January 5, 2026, 3:13 am

Novak Djokovic cuts ties with players’ group he co-founded amid transparency concerns

• Djokovic says values no longer align with PTPA

• Players’ group sued tours and grand slams in March

• Serb was not named as plaintiff in lawsuit

Novak Djokovic is cutting ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association, a group he co-founded that sued the sport’s governing bodies last year, writing on social media on Sunday that “my values and approach are no longer aligned with the current direction of the organization”.

The 24-time grand slam champion announced at the 2020 US Open that he and the now-retired Canadian player Vasek Pospisil were launching the PTPA. They said they were aiming to offer representation for players who are independent contractors in a largely individual sport.

Published: January 5, 2026, 1:13 am

Indomitable Jessie Diggins captures Tour de Ski to sharpen Olympic hopes

• Diggins wins six-stage Tour de Ski for third time

• American finishes more than two minutes clear

• Norway’s Klæbo hauls in record fifth men’s title

Jessie Diggins capped one of the most demanding stretches in cross-country skiing on Sunday by winning the Tour de Ski for the third time, a result that further solidifies her status as an Olympic medal favorite heading into what she has already announced will be her final season.

Diggins, the 34-year-old American from Afton, Minnesota, clinched the overall title after the sixth and final stage of the Tour de Ski, an eight-day, multi-race series staged across Italy and modeled after cycling’s Tour de France. The competition tests skiers across sprint and distance races, classic and freestyle techniques, and concludes with the sport’s most notorious challenge: a steep, lung-burning climb up Alpe Cermis.

Published: January 4, 2026, 6:51 pm

Fernández stuns Manchester City with late equaliser for managerless Chelsea

It would have been easy for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City to think that this was a good time to face Chelsea. The London club had crashed in December, their Premier League form awful and the rising tensions between Enzo Maresca and the board would explode on New Year’s Eve.

There have not been many managerial changes on the very first day of a year and this one left Calum McFarlane, the club’s under-21 coach, thrust in as the interim manager. Never before had he taken charge of a single senior game.

Published: January 4, 2026, 7:56 pm

USA’s Summer Britcher boosts Olympic luge bid with another World Cup gold

• Britcher rallies in Sigulda for second win of season

• American leads World Cup singles despite missing race

• USA Luge star can capture historic overall crown

USA Luge’s Summer Britcher is flying into the Olympics.

Britcher got her second women’s singles luge win of the season on Sunday, moving her atop the World Cup standings and further cementing her status as a medal contender for the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.

Published: January 4, 2026, 5:34 pm

‘I’m back’: Tyson Fury announces boxing return a year after retirement

• Heavyweight last fought in December 2024

• Fury claims he will return to the ring this year

Tyson Fury has announced he will return to boxing in 2026 nearly a year after he announced his latest retirement from the ring.

After a second points loss to his heavyweight rival Oleksandr Usyk for three of the four major world titles in December 2024, Fury confirmed the end of his professional career the following month. But Fury, who said he was bowing out of the sport after beating Dillian Whyte in April 2022 only to return later in the year, posted on Instagram on Sunday: “2026 is that year. Return of the mac.

Published: January 4, 2026, 12:05 pm

Camille Rast ends Mikaela Shiffrin’s slalom winning streak in Slovenia

• Swiss skiier topped the American by 0.14 seconds

• Shiffrin satisfied with her run ahead of Milan Cortina

The duel between Mikaela Shiffrin and her Swiss rival Camille Rast is shaping up nicely with 45 days to go until the women’s slalom race at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Rast ended Shiffrin’s six-race winning streak in World Cup slaloms Sunday, beating the American star by 0.14 seconds after clocking the fastest time in both runs at an event in Slovenia.

Published: January 4, 2026, 4:20 pm

Matheus Cunha earns Manchester United draw as Leeds keep up unbeaten run

Few of the near 40,000 that flooded the Elland Road terraces would have cared to admit it given the depths at which one of English football’s most intense rivalries runs, but it was hard to argue that this was anything but a well-earned point apiece that serves the intentions and ambitions of both Leeds and Manchester United well.

On first glance, a draw away at a ­relegation-threatened, newly ­promoted side does little in terms of oozing positivity. But given the fact Ruben Amorim selected a starting lineup with nine defensive-minded players and the visitors were facing a Leeds side now on their longest unbeaten run in the Premier League since 2001, they will view this as a point gained.

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:38 pm

From the AI bubble to Fed fears: the global economic outlook for 2026

Analysts and investors voice caution about tech valuations and Trump’s influence on the US central bank

Investors expect global stock markets to keep rising in 2026, despite fears that the AI bubble could burst, and anxiety about chaos engulfing the US central bank.

Wall Street strategists broadly expect the S&P 500 share index of US-listed companies to continue to rise over the next 12 months, but said it could be a volatile year if geopolitical tensions increase and inflation fails to fall.

Published: January 4, 2026, 12:00 pm

US ‘has no right’ to take over Greenland, Danish PM says after renewed Trump threats

Mette Frederiksen responds to president amid febrile atmosphere after US actions in Venezuela

• Venezuela crisis – latest updates

Denmark’s prime minister has urged Donald Trump to stop threatening to take over Greenland after the president said the US “absolutely” needs the territory.

Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday: “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland. The US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish kingdom.”

Published: January 4, 2026, 10:03 pm

Woman wearing ‘globalise the intifada’ jacket among three arrested at Sydney protest against US action in Venezuela

About 300 people turned out in Sydney despite NSW police prohibition on public demonstrations, as protests across Australia condemn US actions

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Three people were arrested in Sydney on Sunday evening, including a woman wearing a jacket reading “globalise the intifada”, during a protest against the US military intervention in Venezuela.

About 300 people turned out on Sydney’s streets in spite of a New South Wales police prohibition on public demonstrations, made in late December using laws passed after 15 people were killed and scores injured in the Bondi beach alleged terror attack targeting a Hanukah event.

Published: January 5, 2026, 4:41 am

Trump’s focus on Venezuelan oil reinforces claim action was never about ‘war on drugs’

US president claims US will take back ‘stolen’ oil, but experts say no legal claim to natural reserves exists

• Venezuela crisis – latest updates

Hailing the US military operation to seize Nicolás Maduro as spectacular, extraordinary and “an assault not seen since World War II”, Donald Trump surprised many by making Venezuela’s oil the central focus of his hour-long press conference on Saturday.

The US president made little mention of the “war on drugs” that for months had been his main justification for the military buildup and the strikes on boats that have killed 116 people, instead referring to oil more than a dozen times, even when questions made no reference to it.

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:44 pm

World ‘may not have time’ to prepare for AI safety risks, says leading researcher

AI safety expert David Dalrymple said rapid advances could outpace efforts to control powerful systems

The world “may not have time” to prepare for the safety risks posed by cutting-edge AI systems, according to a leading figure at the UK government’s scientific research agency.

David Dalrymple, a programme director and AI safety expert at the Aria agency, told the Guardian people should be concerned about the growing capability of the technology.

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:00 pm

Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid

Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore

German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.

The fire that broke out on a bridge across the Teltow canal in the south-west of the capital early on Saturday could deprive up to 35,000 homes and 1,900 businesses of electricity – and in many cases heat – until 8 January, the grid company Stromnetz Berlin said.

Published: January 4, 2026, 4:34 pm

Anthony Joshua issues first public update after fatal car crash in Nigeria

• Boxer posts photo with his mother and three women

• Two of Joshua’s team members died in the accident

Anthony Joshua has issued his first public update after the car crash in Nigeria that injured him and killed two of his close friends and team members.

Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, also known as Latz, died after the vehicle that they and Joshua were travelling in struck a stationary truck on a major road near Lagos last Monday. Joshua was taken to hospital before being discharged on Wednesday and he has flown back to the UK before the funerals of Ghami, his strength and conditioning coach, and Ayodele, one of his trainers.

Published: January 4, 2026, 11:18 am

‘Once whispered, now discussed’: the rise of dubious claims of civil war in the UK

Dystopian warnings once reserved for the far right have found a wider audience – but there are good reasons for scepticism

It is a darkly dystopian vision of Britain’s future, in which tens of thousands die in a bitter civil war in just a few years time.

Yet such forecasts are no longer limited to niche corners of the internet or the X feed of Elon Musk, condemned by Downing Street for claiming that war in Britain was inevitable after the post-Southport rioting.

Published: January 4, 2026, 10:00 am

Belgian PM’s cat Maximus is social media star with ‘subliminal political message’

Maximus Textoris Pulcher, an official resident at Rue de la Loi 16, shows a warmer side of Bart De Wever

For nearly 15 years, Britain’s Larry the Cat has charmed visitors to 10 Downing Street. Now another prime ministerial pet is proving a social media hit in Belgium.

Maximus Textoris Pulcher was announced in August as an official resident at the Belgian prime minister’s office, Rue de la Loi 16 in central Brussels.

Published: January 4, 2026, 11:44 am

Battery electric cars will overtake diesels in Great Britain by 2030, analysis suggests

London predicted to be the first UK city to go diesel-free, largely because of the ultra-low emission zone

Battery electric cars are poised to overtake diesels on Great Britain’s roads by 2030, according to analysis that suggests London will be the first UK city to go diesel-free.

The number of diesel cars on Great Britain’s roads in June had fallen to 9.9m in June last year, 21% below its peak of 12.4m vehicles, according to analysis by New AutoMotive, a thinktank focused on the transition to electric cars. Electric car sales are still growing rapidly, albeit more slowly than manufacturers had expected.

Published: January 4, 2026, 3:00 pm

Republican claims of ‘terrorism’ leave everyone unsafe, Muslim leader warns

Edward Ahmed Mitchell of Council on American-Islamic Relations says Texas and Florida governors abusing power

The deputy director of the US’s biggest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group warns that Republican governors’ steps to declare his organization a “terrorist organization” won’t stop with the Muslim community.

“No governor should have the power to unilaterally declare a civil rights or advocacy group he disagrees with a terrorist organization, take punitive action against them, all in violation of due process and free speech,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Guardian this month. “If any governor can get away with abusing that kind of power, then no organization is safe.”

Published: January 4, 2026, 1:00 pm

Why has the US captured Venezuela’s president and what happens next?

Donald Trump’s capture of Nicolás Maduro follows months of military campaign and years of strained relationship

The US carried out airstrikes across Venezuela overnight on Friday, with explosions rocking the capital, Caracas, before dawn. Shortly afterwards, Donald Trump announced that US forces had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them out of the country.

The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said they would face trial in New York on charges of involvement in narco-terrorism. A fresh indictment was issued on Saturday.

Published: January 4, 2026, 1:09 pm

Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv escalating drone attacks on Russia, Moscow claims

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had targeted Moscow with drones every day of 2026 so far. What we know on day 1,412

Russia’s defence ministry claimed that Ukraine has targeted Moscow with drones every day of 2026 so far, in what would mark an escalation from earlier, more sporadic attacks on the Russian capital. By midnight on Sunday alone, Russian air defence systems had destroyed 57 drones over the Moscow region out of 437 downed over Russia, the ministry said. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, but Kyiv has increasingly used long range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia. Ukraine says such attacks aim to disrupt military logistics and energy infrastructure, raise costs for Moscow’s war effort and respond to repeated Russian missile and drone attacks in the war that Russia launched nearly four years ago.

Three out of four of Moscow’s airports shut to air traffic on Sunday after Ukraine launched dozens of drones, authorities said. The attacks led to multiple flight delays, including at Moscow’s second-busiest airport of Vnukovo, Russian media reported. The disruption comes during Russia’s extended New Year and Orthodox Christmas break, when many Russians take vacations and travel domestically and abroad, making it one of the country’s busiest periods for transport and tourism.

Two people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes in Russian border regions, local officials said on Sunday. Belgorod’s governor said one person died and two others, including a young child, were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a car. Another person was killed in a drone strike on a village in the Kursk region, the region’s governor said.

Russia launched overnight strikes on Kyiv province killed two people, Ukrainian authorities said Monday, after a countrywide air alert was issued. One person was killed in the capital, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city’s military administration. And in the neighbouring city of Fastiv, a man in his 70s also died, Mykola Kalashnyk, the Kyiv regional governor, said.

In Ukraine, three people were wounded in the Kharkiv region in drone strikes from Saturday into Sunday, the country’s state emergency service said. Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian missile attack on the city of Kharkiv on Friday increased to five when body parts were found under the rubble of a building, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire in an industrial zone in the town of Yelets in Russia’s Lipetsk region, the regional governor said. There were no casualties reported. Yelets is home to the Energiya battery plant, a major producer of batteries and accumulators for Russia’s defence industry, which Ukraine said it has hit in the past.

Published: January 5, 2026, 12:50 am

Bangladesh withdraws from T20 World Cup matches in India amid growing tensions with neighbour

Bangladesh was scheduled to play three cricket matches in Kolkata next month, but concern about players’ safety has spiked

Bangladesh will not play their Twenty20 World Cup matches in India, with the country’s cricket board saying they are concerned for the safety of their players amid growing tensions between the countries.

Bangladesh were scheduled to play three Twenty20 World Cup matches in Kolkata next month, with the 7 February to 8 March tournament being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

Published: January 5, 2026, 2:03 am

Ban on TV junk food advertising before 9pm comes into force in UK

Watchdog will also monitor online ban for high fat and sugar products as part of wider effort to tackle childhood obesity

A ban on junk food advertising on TV before 9pm and a total ban online has come into force as the government attempts to tackle the childhood obesity crisis.

Under the rules, which will be enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) 13 categories of products can no longer be advertised on TV before the watershed or at any time online. The banned products are high in fat, sugar and salt.

Published: January 5, 2026, 5:00 am

Anne Frank stepsister and Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss dies aged 96

King Charles leads tributes to Holocaust education campaigner, who he met in 2022, saying he and Camilla ‘admired her deeply’

King Charles has paid tribute to Anne Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss, who has died at the age of 96.

The king, who danced with Schloss while visiting a Jewish community centre in north London in 2022, said he and Queen Camilla had “admired her deeply” and he was “privileged and proud” to have known her.

Published: January 4, 2026, 7:19 pm

When a heart attack left me in a coma, my hallucinations inspired a novel – and a new life

After his heart stopped beating for 40 minutes, the former lawyer experienced weeks of hallucinations. The visions he experienced during his recovery set him on the path to a new career

On the evening of Monday 1 February 2021, during the third Covid lockdown, my wife Alexa and I sat down on the sofa to have sausages and chips in front of the TV. The children were tetchy, and we were worn out from trying to home-school them while working from home, me as a lawyer in the music industry and Alexa as a charity fundraiser. But at least, Alexa said to me, we had made it through January.

Then I started making strange noises. “Are you joking?” she asked. Then, “are you choking?”

Published: January 4, 2026, 4:00 pm

Aliens: the spread of invasive plants and animals across Europe – in pictures

Erik Irmer has been documenting the spread of invasive plant and animal species that disrupt native ecology across Europe. He focuses on humans’ interactions with these plants and animals. Aliens is published by Fotohof

Published: January 4, 2026, 9:00 am

’I inexplicably detest Mr Brightside’: John Simm’s honest playlist

The actor first realised what music was when he heard Yellow Submarine and knows a lot of Paul Simon lyrics, but what would he put on at a party?

The first song I fell in love with
My earliest memory is walking into a room at nursery school where they were playing Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. I was captivated by the sound effects, and Lennon shouting: “Full speed ahead!” When it got to the chorus, I remember thinking: “This must be music!”

The first single I bought
When I was eight, I won a competition at school to pick a new record to play at the mini disco we had on Fridays. My teacher took me to Woolworths, and I chose Come Back My Love by [50s revivalists] Darts. The first single I bought with my own pocket money was Mull of Kintyre by Wings from a record shop in Colne in Lancashire. It was No 1 at the time, and I chose it when my dad pointed out that it was by one of the Beatles.

Published: January 4, 2026, 9:00 am

Tom Gauld on reading resolutions – cartoon

Published: January 4, 2026, 4:00 pm

From K-pop and The Traitors to Dune and the return of Madge: your A-Z of the biggest culture of 2026

With 2025 but a distant memory, it’s time to get stuck into a huge year of entertainment. To help with this daunting task, we’ve provided a handy, alphabetised guide to the big releases and trends coming in the next 12 months, from AI’s continued rise to a whole lot of Zendaya

Bad news: the intellectual property equivalent of The Terminator is here to obliterate the concept that the mug who actually wrote something matters somewhat. Better news: cinemas are fighting back against AI with films anxious about the new tech, including Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (13 February), in which a man apparently from the future (Sam Rockwell) wants to warn people about an incoming AI hellscape, followed by The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (title says it all really), from the film-makers behind Everything Everywhere All at Once, in March. Then, later in the year, Luca Guadagnino unveils Artificial, his biopic of Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. Catherine Bray

Published: January 4, 2026, 10:00 am

As a student, he was involved in a drunk-driving incident that killed a cyclist. Years later he would become expert in the healing powers of guilt

Psychologist Chris Moore saw first-hand how powerful and complex an emotion it is

Fuelled by the relief of having finished end-of-year exams, the pleasure of a warm late spring evening and quite a lot of alcohol, the house party was one of those that should have been remembered for all the right reasons. At some point, later in the night, Chris Moore and three friends were ready to leave. The party was some way out of town – Cambridge – and too far to walk, and, anyway, there was a car, temptingly, in the driveway, its keys in the ignition.

Somebody – Moore can’t remember who – suggested they drive back, and with the recklessness of youth and too much beer, they all got in. “I ended up in the front passenger seat and fell asleep,” he says. He came to, being taken out of the car by paramedics, then sitting by the side of the road, his face streaming with blood, surrounded by the lights of the emergency services. They had been in an accident, and Moore had hit the windscreen, asleep, and had deep lacerations on his forehead. He was the only one of the four who had been injured. What he didn’t know until the next day, in hospital after surgery, was that they had driven into a cyclist and killed him.

Published: January 4, 2026, 12:00 pm

Doomscrolling, people pleasing and low-fat foods? Life’s too short! Nine writers on what they won’t bother with this year

Rutger Bregman, Josie Long, Michael Rosen, Meera Sodha and others on what they are no longer wasting their time on

Rutger Bregman, author

Published: January 4, 2026, 6:00 am

My friend has cancer and talks of ending her life. Should I tell her family? | Annalisa Barbieri

Your friend fears dependency and wants to regain control. Is there someone you can talk to about your own feelings?

I am in my 80s and an old friend has several health issues. She will probably die in the not too distant future due to the inoperable cancer she has been aware of for some years.

She has two adult children, with domestic and career problems of their own, but she sees them frequently, and I know them both.

Published: January 4, 2026, 6:00 am

Glum? Stressed? Obsessed? How to know when it’s time to let go of a goal

Sticking with the wrong goal can lead to stress, some scientists say. Could abandoning or modifying a goal be healthier?

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January is often a time to take stock. New year’s resolutions roll into back-to-work blues and a determination that this year will be different, somehow. A reset might be just the tonic, according to some scientists, with a recent study showing that giving up on a goal, or even just modifying it, could lead to a happier experience.

“That decision to let something go can be a tricky one,” says Hugh Riddell, a lecturer at the Curtin University School of Population Health, and lead author of the study, published in November. “But when people make that decision, it can often have positive implications for a person’s well-being.”

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:00 pm

Overnight oats, spinach pie and cheesy corn muffins: Alexina Anatole’s recipes for make-ahead breakfasts

Batch-cook weekday breakfasts in advance, and you’ll always have something filling and healthy to kickstart your day

The saying goes that you should breakfast like a king, and I’ve long found that the key to making that happen during the busy work week is to batch-prepare breakfast at the weekend. As we start a new year, the focus is back on balance, and these dishes offer both nourishment and flavour, while also being ideal for making ahead. The overnight oats are a source of fibre, the muffins are high in protein and the pie is a source of both.

Published: January 5, 2026, 6:00 am

Readers reply: should we turn the internet off?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions ponders the online world – from what’s despicable to what’s indispensable

• This week’s question: can you really fake it to make it?

The internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy – from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to go back to a previous world of landlines, letters and face to-face-contact, audiotapes and Ansaphones? What would we miss about the online world that is worth the risk to liberal culture and basic freedoms? Should we turn the internet off? Mees Visser, Groningen, the Netherlands

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Published: January 4, 2026, 2:00 pm

How to make the perfect breakfast tacos – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

Roll up, roll up for the yummiest start to the day with this tantalising TexMex mishmash of refried beans, eggs, potatoes. But just what goes in, and what should be left out?

Breakfast tacos should not be confused with tacos eaten for breakfast. Of course, they often are eaten for breakfast, but the stuffed flour tortillas eaten on both sides of the southern US border are quite different from the tacos mañaneros of central and southern Mexico, the rich, corn-based tacos de canasta (“tacos in a basket”) or the smoky beef barbacoa that Monterrey-born Lily Ramirez-Foran recalls being her dad’s favourite Sunday breakfast. Instead, Texas Monthly explains, breakfast tacos “marry the key elements of an American morning – scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes – with the Mexican staples of salsa, cheese, refried beans … genius.”

Although they’re originally a Mexican creation, according to José R Ralat, the magazine’s taco editor (what a job title!), these $3 treats are now so popular north of the border that they’re the subject of regular taco wars, mostly between those who claim Austin as their spiritual home (often blow-ins, according to their fiercest critics), and those who know that no single city can take the credit. The fillings may vary, from pork chops to chilaquiles and beans to cheese, but Ralat maintains that all should be salty, soft and, above all, comforting, and told the Washington Post a few years ago that “the greatest breakfast taco is the one made at home”. Which, if you live 5,000 miles from the Mexican border, is good news indeed.

Published: January 4, 2026, 1:00 pm

Dining across the divide: ‘I think gentrification is a social good. He said you lose communities’

A psychotherapy trainee and a retired software engineer bonded over living abroad, but did they agree on gentrification, second homes and mental health?

Rupert, 36, Worthing

Occupation Psychotherapy trainee

Published: January 4, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘Naked imperialism’: how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the US

Most of the Americas have suffered from interference from their powerful northern neighbour – and are usually the worse off for it

• Maduro detained in New York – live updates

The US bombardment of Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro, follow a long history of interventions in South and Central America and the Caribbean over the past two centuries. But they also mark an unprecedented moment as the first direct US military attack on a South American country.

At a press conference after Maduro’s capture, Donald Trump said that “American dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again”.

Published: January 4, 2026, 4:00 am

Maduro’s capture and a Stonehenge sunrise: photos of the weekend

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

Published: January 4, 2026, 4:33 pm