Why Trump’s lavish Saudi courtship leaves Israel on the back foot

Pageantry and trillion-dollar promises reveal how Washington’s loyalties may be tilting toward the Gulf

The White House welcome bestowed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was the most lavish of the Trump presidency, and a gaudily clear statement of its foreign policy priorities.

It was billed as a mere working visit, but it was more extravagant than any previous state visit. The president greeted the prince on the south lawn, the White House’s biggest stage. There were uniformed men on horses bearing flags and a flypast of fighter jets.

Published: November 23, 2025, 6:00 am

Five key findings from our investigation into the Free Birth Society

Year-long investigation into multimillion-dollar business exposed serious concerns, from dangerous medical claims to FBS-linked stillbirths

• Full story: How the FBS is linked to baby deaths around the world

The Free Birth Society (FBS) is a business run from North Carolina that promotes the idea of women giving birth without midwives or doctors present.

It is led by Emilee Saldaya and Yolande Norris-Clark, ex-doulas turned social media influencers who have gained a global following through the FBS podcast, which has been downloaded millions of times.

Published: November 23, 2025, 7:00 am

Five theories to explain the Donald-Zohran meet-cute | Dave Schilling

Why was the US president so pleased to hang with the democratic socialist? Perhaps we’ll never know

Zohran and Donald. Donald and Zohran. Not since Turner met Hooch has a couple so captivated the American psyche. This might be the meet-cute of the decade, unless you count RFK Jr and Olivia Nuzzi. Which was actually not cute at all, when I think about it.

Why can’t we all stop talking about the New York City mayor-elect and his No 1 fan in the White House? Probably because absolutely none of this makes even a tiny bit of sense. From almost the beginning of his rise, Zohran Mamdani positioned himself as an anti-Trump democratic socialist who would use the bully pulpit of Gracie Mansion to battle Maga attacks on the city. Trump, sensing an opportunity to create yet another punching bag, called Mamdani a communist and questioned his American citizenship. He even went to the trouble of endorsing Mamdani’s opponent, Andrew Cuomo, in the mayoral election.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Published: November 22, 2025, 9:22 pm

Less politics, more makeup: the unraveling of Teen Vogue under Trump 2.0

The folding of the progressive youth-focused magazine into Vogue comes at turbulent time for journalism and the crumbling of feminist media

In late 2016, just a few weeks after Donald Trump won his first presidential election, Teen Vogue published a story that set the internet ablaze: “Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America.”

The story garnered more than 1.3m hits, making it the magazine’s most-read story of the year. Elaine Welteroth, then the editor-in-chief, told NPR that the day it published, Teen Vogue sold “in that month, more copies of the magazine than we had that entire year”. It was a transformative moment for the publication: proof that a magazine long associated with Disney child stars and headlines like “Prom Fever!” could shine light on the political dimensions of young people’s lives.

Published: November 22, 2025, 1:00 pm

The 163 best holiday gift ideas for 2025, vetted by the Guardian US staff

Unique, tested gift ideas for every budget – from stocking stuffers to splurges – to cover every recipient and scenario

Every holiday season, I envision a sunny Saturday when I can peacefully pursue aisles as I select the perfect gift for my loved ones. And every year, I run out of time, often doling out an impersonal gift card or a wad of cash to the people closest to me.

We want to save you that time with this mega gift guide: a one-stop shop for gifts and stocking stuffers in all of these categories: home, sleep, travel, tech, kitchen, food and drink, fitness, camping and outdoors, clothing, beauty, games, kids and pets.

Published: November 22, 2025, 1:00 pm

End of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed after bitter standoff

Wealthy countries should triple funds for countries to tackle climate impacts, but deforestation and critical minerals blocked from final deal

The world edged a small step closer to the end of the fossil fuel era on Saturday, but not by nearly enough to stave off the ravages of climate breakdown.

Countries meeting in Brazil for two weeks could manage only a voluntary agreement to begin discussions on a roadmap to an eventual phase-out of fossil fuels, and they achieved this incremental progress only in the teeth of implacable opposition from oil-producing countries.

Published: November 22, 2025, 9:52 pm

Trump says Ukraine deal is not ‘final offer’ as officials gather for Geneva summit

US president signals potential room for adjustments after Zelenskyy says proposals force Ukraine to choose between national dignity and losing the US

Donald Trump said on Saturday that his Moscow-drafted “peace plan” was “not my final offer”, after a furious backlash from Ukrainians who described it as reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 Munich agreement with Adolf Hitler.

The US president told reporters during brief remarks at the White House: “We’d like to get to peace. It should’ve happened a long time ago … we’re trying to get it ended, one way or the other we have to get it ended.”

Published: November 23, 2025, 3:02 am

Security fears rise in Nigeria after more than 300 schoolchildren kidnapped

Christian group revises up number of students and teachers missing after one of country’s largest mass abduction

Gunmen have kidnapped more than 300 students and teachers in one of the largest mass kidnappings in Nigeria, a Christian group said on Saturday, as security fears mounted in Africa’s most populous nation.

The early Friday raid on St Mary’s co-educational school in Niger state in western Nigeria came after gunmen on Monday stormed a secondary school in neighbouring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.

Published: November 22, 2025, 11:22 pm

Trump news at a glance: Marjorie Taylor Greene is gone, but Trump wonders for how long

The ultra-loyal Maga star announced her departure in typical shocking fashion, but president says he would love to see her back in politics – key US politics stories from 22 November 2025

The surprise resignation of Marjorie Taylor Greene reverberated through Saturday, as figures from across the political spectrum gave responses ranging from criticism to acclaim, including Donald Trump, who hinted at a future political career for her.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman and Greene’s frequent sparring partner, criticized her voting record on healthcare and claimed “She’s carefully timing her departure just 1-2 days after her pension kicks in”, adding: “… her actions have not backed up the rhetoric. For all her talk, she’s still voting with them to gut healthcare … ”

Published: November 23, 2025, 5:53 am

Court rules Trump can’t expand fast-track deportation process

Federal appeals court declines to put hold on lower court’s finding that administration violated migrants’ due process

A federal appeals court on Saturday declined to clear the way for Donald Trump’s administration to expand a fast-track deportation process to allow for the expedited removal of immigrants who are living far away from the border.

A 2-1 panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit declined to put on hold the central part of a ruling by a lower-court judge who had found that the administration’s policies violated the due process rights of immigrants who could be apprehended anywhere in the US.

Published: November 23, 2025, 1:00 am

Chomsky had deeper ties with Epstein than previously known, documents reveal

The philosopher and the sex trafficker were in contact long after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, documents reveal

The prominent linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky called it a “most valuable experience” to have maintained “regular contact” with Jeffrey Epstein, who by then had long been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, according to emails released earlier in November by US lawmakers.

Such comments from Chomsky, or attributed to him, suggest his association with Epstein – who officials concluded killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges – went deeper than the occasional political and academic discussions the former had previously claimed to have with the latter.

Published: November 22, 2025, 1:00 pm

UAB football player faces attempted murder charge after allegedly stabbing teammates

• Incident happened hours before Saturday’s game

• Two players in stable condition in local hospital

A University of Alabama at Birmingham football player allegedly stabbed two teammates on Saturday morning, hours before the team’s game against the University of South Florida, the university said in a statement.

“UAB’s top priority remains the safety and well-being of all of our students,” the statement said. “Given patient privacy and the ongoing investigation, we have no further comment at this time.”

Published: November 23, 2025, 12:20 am

Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of JFK, announces terminal cancer diagnosis

Journalist, daughter of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, reveals she has acute myeloid leukemia

Tatiana Schlossberg, a journalist and the granddaughter of John F Kennedy, disclosed on Saturday that she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, saying her doctor informed her that she has less than a year left to live.

The environmental writer also addressed her cousin, Robert F Kennedy Jr, criticizing the influence his policies as secretary of health and human services have had on her experience with the illness.

Published: November 22, 2025, 7:43 pm

Ignorance is bliss: rightwing media largely keeps quiet on Trump-Epstein saga

Fox News and other conservative networks have mostly avoided covering the president’s ties to the sex trafficker

When House Democrats released emails which showed Jeffrey Epstein claiming Donald Trump “knew about the girls”, rightwing news channels in the US reacted the same way: with silence.

Viewers of Fox News and other conservative networks would have had no idea that the president allegedly spent hours at Epstein’s home with one of his victims. Rightwing media largely kept quiet on all of it, apart from a notable slip when a progressive guest on Sean Hannity’s show repeatedly told his audience: “Trump’s all over the Epstein files.”

Published: November 22, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘Horribly wrong’: US veterans condemn Trump’s politicization of military

Experts infuriated by president accusing Democrats of ‘sedition’ for urging soldiers to refuse illegal orders

Veterans have condemned the politicization of the military after Donald Trump accused Democratic lawmakers of “sedition, punishable by death” after a small group of them released a video in which they urged US soldiers not to follow any “unlawful” orders.

The extraordinary exchange was sparked after Democratic lawmakers with military or national security backgrounds – the Congressional representatives Maggie Goodlander, Jason Crow, Chris DeLuzio and Chrissy Houlahan, and the senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin – posted a video on Facebook addressed to US service members.

Published: November 22, 2025, 11:00 am

Trump news at a glance: president meets Mamdani at White House and it was … nice?

Trump told the press he’s ‘very confident that [Mamdani] can do a very good job’ in surprisingly cordial meeting – key US politics stories from 21 November 2025

It’s not as if they were holding hands and skipping down the halls of the White House, but President Trump and New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani appeared to get along well in their first meeting.

Trump hosted the 34-year-old Democratic socialist, who defied early expectations to win the city’s Democratic primary, then the mayoral race. And Trump let it be known he was impressed by that, congratulating Mamdani and describing his victory as “an incredible race against smart people”.

Published: November 22, 2025, 2:09 am

‘This is not right’: grassroots campaign aims to repeal Missouri Republicans’ gerrymandering

A new congressional map was abruptly passed by Republicans in mid-September – but voters have a chance to rebuke politicians and stop it from going into effect

When canvassers fan out across neighborhoods, they usually rely on sophisticated lists that will tell them things like a voter’s political party and how likely they are to support a given cause. Jill Imbler isn’t bothering with any of that.

The 69-year-old has lived in Moberly – a Missouri town of about 14,000 people – her entire life. She doesn’t use a GPS when she drives around, knows where people live, and what time they’re likely to be home. And there’s a pretty good chance that she, or one of her six siblings, knows them personally.

Published: November 22, 2025, 6:00 pm

What will a ban on most US hemp products mean?

Ban forbids all products that contain more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per package – a trace amount present in most CBD products

The US hemp industry is preparing for a ban on most hemp products that Senator Mitch McConnell slipped into the spending bill just before the Senate voted to pass it and end the government shutdown.

Many in the industry have criticized the last-minute change, arguing that it should have been subject to open hearings rather than added at the last minute to a bill whose passage was essential for the government reopening. The ban, which goes into effect 12 months after the law’s passage, forbids all products that contain more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per package – a trace amount that is present in most CBD products, not just those whose primary component is THC.

Published: November 22, 2025, 4:00 pm

Santa Monica’s shine has dimmed – can a bold reset revive the beach city’s fortunes?

Years of hollowed out shops, safety worries and stalled leadership have left the famed coastal city searching for a way back

Santa Monica is a city that would seem to have everything. A glorious, wide sandy beach. A fabled pier framed by palm trees and views of the southern California mountains. An aura of Hollywood magic, with a native honor roll that runs from Shirley Temple to Sean Penn. Streets that smell like the Mediterranean, filled with restaurants, cafes and interesting one-off shops.

And yet, for the past several years, almost nothing has gone right for a beach resort known and envied in the Los Angeles area for its beauty, its excellent public schools, and a progressive political culture that has sought to keep the city accessible and affordable to people of all income levels.

Published: November 22, 2025, 4:00 pm

‘The French people want to save us’: help pours in for glassmaker Duralex

The brand, which evokes nostalgia and pride, hit its €5m fundraising target within hours and orders have soared

Drop a Duralex glass and it will most likely bounce, not break. The French company itself has tumbled several times in the past two decades and always bounced back, but never quite as spectacularly as when, earlier this month, it asked the public for money.

An appeal for €5m (£4.4m) of emergency funding to secure the immediate future of the glassworks took just five hours and 40 minutes to reach its target. Within 48 hours, the total amount pledged had topped €19m.

Published: November 22, 2025, 12:00 pm

Brandi Carlile: ‘I’m in a sweet spot – my kids are little, my wife is hot and my body doesn’t hurt’

The singer on being a school bully, having a panic attack on stage, and ‘fearless bitch’ Elton John

Born in Washington state, Brandi Carlile, 44, released her self-titled debut album in 2005. She went on to win 11 Grammy awards and is part of the country supergroup the Highwomen. She has collaborated with Joni Mitchell and this year released the album Who Believes in Angels? with Elton John. Their song Never Too Late was Oscar nominated. She has published a memoir, and established the charitable Looking Out Foundation. Her eighth studio album, Returning to Myself, was released last month. Carlile lives in Washington state with her wife and two daughters.

When were you happiest?
I’m the happiest right now. I can see that I’m in a kind of sweet spot: my parents are alive, my kids are little, my wife is hot and my body doesn’t hurt.

Published: November 22, 2025, 10:00 am

Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI

When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say

Krista Pawloski remembers the single defining moment that shaped her opinion on the ethics of artificial intelligence. As an AI worker on Amazon Mechanical Turk – a marketplace that allows companies to hire workers to perform tasks like entering data or matching an AI prompt with its output – Pawloski spends her time moderating and assessing the quality of AI-generated text, images and videos, as well as some factchecking.

Roughly two years ago, while working from home at her dining room table, she took up a job designating tweets as racist or not. When she was presented with a tweet that read “Listen to that mooncricket sing”, she almost clicked on the “no” button before deciding to check the meaning of the word “mooncricket”, which, to her surprise, was a racial slur against Black Americans.

Published: November 22, 2025, 2:00 pm

Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world

A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors

As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.

Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?”

Published: November 22, 2025, 7:00 am

Six great reads: the world’s scariest CEO, gen Z in the workplace, and a lost great console

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the past seven days

Published: November 22, 2025, 6:00 am

Celebrity crib sheet: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are back on the red carpet – here are seven things you need to know

As Wicked: For Good premieres in the UK, find out just how close its costars are, why so many of the cast are vegan and the truth about Grande’s move away from pop

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen the musical, have no interest in the film or are left cold by red carpets: Wicked season is here again, and you will be made to pay attention. After last year’s chaotic press tour for the first instalment, giving rise to some of 2025’s biggest and most bizarre pop culture moments, all eyes are now on the rollout of the sequel Wicked: For Good and the theatre-kid capers of its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Here’s what you need to know.

1. They are still ‘holding space’ for one another …
Last year’s Wicked press tour was an infamous love-in for Grande and Erivo. Such was the intensity of their connection and mutual affection, both were frequently moved to tears in interviews. The enduring image was of Erivo stroking Grande’s index finger in response to a journalist’s unintelligible remark about people “holding space” with the song Defying Gravity. Grande poked fun at her and Erivo’s histrionics, declaring them “insufferable” and “the most annoying” – but their bond still appears unbreakable. At the New York premiere of Wicked: For Good on Monday, Erivo declined to give interviews to preserve her voice. Grande was reported to also be skipping press “in solidarity”, but couldn’t help plugging her costar’s forthcoming projects “as Erivo looked on smiling”, as CNN described the scene. Asked what they were feeling, ahead of the film’s final instalment, Grande spoke for them both: “overwhelming gratitude”. Late on Thursday, she tested positive for Covid.

Published: November 22, 2025, 5:00 am

Who can tame Trump? An unlikely candidate is emerging: the Catholic church | Simon Tisdall

Inequality, immigration and civil rights are the battlegrounds on which the church, and some other Christian denominations, are fighting

The supreme court can’t do it – it’s packed with conservatives who owe him their jobs. Congress won’t do it – Republicans slavishly follow his orders, Democrats are ill-led and divided. For today’s White House, the concept of constitutional limits on executive power is a quaint relic. The news media, or sections of it, does its best amid constant legal threats. But, too often, they pay him off. Brave reporters who insist on asking awkward questions are insulted or silenced: “Quiet, piggy.”

So who will tame Donald Trump? Who will halt his rolling constitutional coup – his ongoing evisceration of US democracy, civil rights, living standards, global reputation and moral integrity? Voters may try to indirectly rein him back in next November’s midterms (as they did recently in New York and elsewhere). But those elections are a year away. The emergency is today.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: November 23, 2025, 6:00 am

Maga is in meltdown over a preppy pink sweater for men. So, what exactly is the problem? | Ellie Violet Bramley

The outrage a J Crew jumper has provoked shows that the US right’s sense of masculinity is far more fragile than it would care to admit

A men’s jumper by the all-American preppy label J Crew has sent thousands of Maga Americans into meltdown. From a fashion point of view, it couldn’t be more innocuous. It’s got a crew neck. It’s made from wool. It has a Fair Isle pattern at the upper yoke. There’s nothing asymmetric about it, no fringing or tassels, no slogan blasted across the front; no “Make America Kind Again”. So what’s the big deal? Reader, the jumper is pink.

The main storm broke underneath a tweet by conservative social media commentator Juanita Broaddrick, in which she asked: “Are you kidding me?? Men, would you wear this $168 sweater?” The consensus among her followers was a resounding no, and not because of its price. “No man in my family would wear it!” wrote “MOMof DataRepublican”. “My husband wouldn’t use a pink bathroom towel,” assured another. Another X user was even more passionate: “HELL NO. I’m a man, not gay and won’t be dressing up as a Golden Girl anytime soon.” Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican congressman, called the sweater “something a sorority girl would wear in the 80s”. I think he meant it witheringly; I read that and think it sounds quite fun.

Ellie Violet Bramley is a freelance writer

Published: November 23, 2025, 8:00 am

Republicans will be left holding the bill for Trump’s policies in the midterms | Sidney Blumenthal

The abject obedience of GOP members and the 4 November election results do not augur well for Republicans in the midterms

The elections of 4 November were the end of a grandiose illusion. After his 2024 victory, Donald Trump claimed he had an “unprecedented and powerful mandate”, that his “mandate” was “massive” and that his “Maga movement” was irresistible, the wave of the future. It lasted 10 months, in which he had betrayed his chief promise to lower inflation, turned the public against him on every issue and Republicans at last faced a battering by voters.

Trump’s image of omnipotence has rested upon a pyramid of dread. His ability to maintain the servility of the Republican Congress, whose members are intimidated by the danger that if they defy him he would support primary opponents to run against them, has been the political foundation for all the other forms of fear he incites throughout American institutions. Trump could not have leveraged himself as “dictator on day one” without congressional abdication. The Republicans immediately fell into lockstep. But within two weeks of the 4 November elections, only one Republican in the House voted against the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which Trump had called a “hoax” before he felt compelled to bend in the cyclone to sign the bill – and yet still suppresses the files.

Published: November 22, 2025, 11:00 am

Why is Ghislaine Maxwell getting the Club Fed treatment? | Arwa Mahdawi

Her privileges in America’s two-tiered legal system reportedly range from from unlimited toilet paper to puppy playtime

I don’t know what, if anything, keeps Ghislaine Maxwell up at night. But it’s certainly not the prospect of running out of toilet paper in the minimum-security prison where she’s residing. Maxwell is serving a 20-year-sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. Rather than doing hard time, however, it seems Maxwell is having a relatively easy go of it. While most inmates get an allocation of two rolls of toilet paper per week, for example, CNN reports that Maxwell gets an unlimited supply.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: November 22, 2025, 2:00 pm

Trump’s Ukraine peace plan is a gift to Putin | Kenneth Roth

The plan would leave Ukraine’s democracy in jeopardy and its sovereignty compromised

For a moment, Donald Trump seemed to have seen the light on Ukraine. After promising “severe consequences” in August if Vladimir Putin continued to obstruct ceasefire talks – but then doing nothing as Putin did just that – Trump finally on 22 October imposed significant sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, seriously compromising Putin’s ability to finance his invasion. But now, with his 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, drafted by US and Russian officials without Ukrainian or European participation, Trump has reverted to his pro-Putin norm.

Trump’s plan would reward Putin for invading Ukraine while leaving Ukraine’s democracy in jeopardy. The plan’s ringing proclamation that “Ukraine’s sovereignty will be confirmed” rings hollow when so much of the plan compromises that sovereignty. A Kremlin dream, the plan would be a Ukrainian nightmare.

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, is published by Knopf and Allen Lane.

Published: November 22, 2025, 11:00 am

Max Verstappen dominates F1 Las Vegas GP to keep championship hopes alive

• Red Bull driver all but untouchable under the lights in Nevada

• Lando Norris took second, George Russell third and Oscar Piastri fourth

Max Verstappen has won the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a dominant drive that was enough to just keep his world championship hopes alive. Title leader Lando Norris took second and with his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth he managed to put another six points on him, with the Australian too just hanging on to his title chances.

However an hour and a half after the race the FIA announced they were investigating the wear on the skid blocks on both McLaren cars. If they are found to have been worn down beyond the limits of the regulations both will almost certainly be disqualified given the rules around skid wear are hard and fast.

Published: November 23, 2025, 8:17 am

Arsenal v Tottenham buildup, Liverpool lose again, and Sheffield derby updates – matchday live

⚽ News, discussion and previews before day’s action
⚽ Arsenal can reset title push | Life returns to Camp Nou
⚽ Email Matchday live

Sunday’s key fixtures

Premier League

Leeds v Aston Villa, 2pm

Arsenal v Tottenham, 4.30pm

Championship

Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United, 12pm

Scottish Premiership

Aberdeen v Hearts, 3pm

La Liga

Elche v Real Madrid, 8pm

Serie A

Inter v Milan, 7.45pm

Published: November 23, 2025, 10:01 am

Rose Lavelle’s magic gives Gotham an NWSL championship that once seemed inevitable

The NWSL’s would-be superteam gritted out another title, as the Spirit and Trinity Rodman face a bevy of questions

When Rose Lavelle won the World Cup with the US in 2019, she did so by scoring the decisive goal. Six years, three club transfers, and nearly 100 national team caps later, she secured her first NWSL title in similar style.

The playmaker made the difference for Gotham FC in a tense final on Saturday, taking advantage of a rare scoring chance and placing her shot to the far corner in a 1-0 victory over the Washington Spirit. The strike was a rare moment of attacking incisiveness in a match between two of the league’s fiercest rivals, with Gotham capitalizing on a period of indecision by Spirit manager Adrián González.

Published: November 23, 2025, 4:27 am

Nine-man Vancouver Whitecaps dump LAFC, Son Heung-min from MLS playoffs in stunner

• Whitecaps win on PKs after surrendering 2-0 lead

• LAFC hit woodwork three times in extra time

Defender Mathías Laborda scored a first-half goal before delivering the winner in a penalty-kick shootout and the Vancouver Whitecaps beat Los Angeles FC in a Western Conference semi-final on Saturday night before a club-record crowd of 53,957 at BC Place in Vancouver.

The second-seeded Whitecaps advance to their first Western Conference final after the two clubs played to a 2-2 draw through regulation and 30 minutes of extra time.

Published: November 23, 2025, 6:17 am

Arch Manning has running, passing and receiving TDs as Texas stay alive in CFP race

• Quarterback accounts for six touchdown in 52-37 win

• No 17 Longhorns aiming to make third straight playoffs

Arch Manning passed for four touchdowns, ran for one and caught another as Texas beat Arkansas 52-37 on Saturday to keep the Longhorns clinging to hopes of making the College Football Playoff.

Ranked No 1 in the preseason, the Longhorns (8-3, 5-2, Southeastern Conference, No 17 CFP ) will have to beat third-ranked rival Texas A&M on Friday for a chance to make a case they deserve to be in the playoff for the third consecutive season.

Published: November 23, 2025, 3:55 am

Ronaldo dines with Donald for glamour portion of grotesque Saudi-funded spectacle | Barney Ronay

A pension-pot World Cup looms and with Trump in the White House and a crown prince at his back, it is now a safe space

It was hard to choose one favourite photo from football’s double-header at the White House this week. In part this is because the pictures from Donald Trump’s state dinner with Mohammed bin Salman and his in-house hype men Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino were everywhere, recycled feverishly across the internet, dusted with their own drool-stained commentary by the wider Ronaldo-verse.

Mainly there were just so many jaw-droppers. Perhaps you liked the one of Trump and Ronaldo strolling the halls of power, Ronaldo dressed all in black and laughing uproariously, like a really happy ninja. Or the one of Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez standing either side of a weirdly beaming Trump at his desk, holding up some kind of large heraldic key as though they’ve just been presented with their own wind-up wooden sex-grandad.

Published: November 22, 2025, 8:00 am

Arne Slot offers no excuses and vows to plot route out of Liverpool malaise

• Nottingham Forest leave Anfield as 3-0 winners

• Slot: ‘I should look at myself first and my team’

Arne Slot said he needed to “look at myself” after Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in seven Premier League games at home to Nottingham Forest and insisted he would find a way out of the champions’ slump.

Forest, in the relegation zone before kick-off, produced the biggest win at Anfield in their history as Liverpool slipped to an eighth loss in 11 matches in all competitions. The British record signing, Alexander Isak, was again anonymous and Liverpool argued Murillo’s opener should have been ruled out for similar reasons to Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed effort against Manchester City before the international break. But Slot admitted the buck stopped with him and made no excuses.

Published: November 22, 2025, 7:08 pm

Devin Haney: ‘They said I couldn’t take a punch. But I got up and I’m still here’

A year and a half after his unstoppable rise was hijacked, the 26-year-old boxing star aims to become a three-weight champion against big-punching Brian Norman Jr

Rain falls in thin, needling lines over Hell’s Kitchen as Devin Haney walks into the Victory Boxing Gym. Somewhere along Ninth Avenue an ambulance threads through the congestion, its siren drawn out into a long, mournful ribbon that slips past the gym’s walls. He nods to a few familiar faces, peels off a Supreme Vanson leather jacket and begins to unwrap himself from the city. His father, Bill, arrives a step behind him, not so much entering the room as taking possession of it.

“The youngest undisputed champion!” Bill cries out, half to the gym, half to himself. “He’s done it on three continents! Twenty-six years old and still writing history! Let the sparks fly!”

Published: November 22, 2025, 2:42 pm

Supreme court blocks order that found Texas congressional map was likely racially biased

Temporary hold on lower court ruling will remain in place while supreme court considers whether to allow new map

The US supreme court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas’s 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by Donald Trump likely discriminated on the basis of race.

The order, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map, which is favorable to Republicans, to be used in the midterm elections.

Published: November 22, 2025, 1:49 pm

Jair Bolsonaro arrested after tampering with ankle tag ‘out of curiosity’

Brazilian ex-president says he used soldering iron on device and is now in custody over fears he was going to abscond

Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he tried to damage his electronic ankle monitor “out of curiosity” after he was arrested at his villa owing to suspicions he was poised to abscond.

In a video released by the supreme court, Bolsonaro – who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for masterminding a military coup – can be heard admitting to a security official that he had used a soldering iron to tamper with the black tag.

Published: November 22, 2025, 9:16 pm

Vietnam flooding death toll reaches 90 amid landslides and relentless rain

Environment ministry says most of the deaths were in the mountainous central province of Dak Lak

The death toll from major flooding in Vietnam has risen to 90, with 12 more people missing, the environment ministry said on Sunday after days of heavy rain and landslides.

Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding.

Published: November 23, 2025, 3:57 am

Stepbrother investigated in death of Florida high schooler on cruise ship

Anna Kepner, 18, from Titusville, was found dead of asphyxiation under a bed on a Carnival cruise ship

The 16-year-old stepbrother of a Florida teenager found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship this month has been identified as a suspect in her death.

Anna Kepner, an 18-year-old from Titusville, was found dead under a bed on the Carnival Horizon on 8 November, wrapped in a blanket and covered by life vests, ABC News reported. Preliminary findings indicate she died of asphyxiation from a bar hold – an arm across the neck – with investigators noting two bruises on the side of her neck. A final autopsy and toxicology report are still pending.

Published: November 22, 2025, 6:04 pm

‘Worst since Tracy’: Darwin in clean-up mode after Tropical Cyclone Fina brings gales and torrential rain

Strongest cyclone to approach Darwin since Tracy in 1974 intensifies to category 4 as it moves towards northeast Kimberley coast

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Top End residents are in cleanup mode after a night of damaging winds and heavy rain from Tropical Cyclone Fina.

Arriving as a category 3 system, Fina brought destructive winds and heavy downpours to remote Tiwi Islands communities, then Darwin and surrounds on Saturday and into Sunday.

Published: November 23, 2025, 8:39 am

‘They decided to kill us with cold’: Ukrainians struggle against Russian assault on power network

Chernihiv residents say they are without power for 14 hours a day as they gather in ‘invincibility points’ to charge up and warm up

Valentyna Ivanivna showed off her new head torch. It was a present from her grandson, she said. Most evenings she wears it while doing household chores: cooking dinner, washing up and stacking plates. “It’s impossible to plan anything without power. You can’t even invite people round for a cup of tea because the kettle won’t work. It’s stressful and exhausting for everyone,” she explained.

Ivanivna lives in Chernihiv, an ancient Ukrainian city known for its early medieval cathedrals. The border with Belarus and Russia is a short drive away, across a landscape of pine forests, villages with geese and the occasional wandering moose. In 2022, Russian troops invaded and occupied most of the oblast. They bombed and laid siege to Chernihiv, pulling out after six weeks and rolling north.

Published: November 22, 2025, 5:00 am

Can a wildlife paradise on a Colombian island survive the arrival of a military base?

It took 40 years to turn Gorgona into a biodiversity haven and model marine protected area. Now a new coastguard station has sparked fears of militarisation and ecological ruin

For more than 15 years, Luis Fernando Sánchez Caicedo had dedicated himself to human rights in Colombia, supporting young people and advocacting for Afro-descendant and campesino – small farmer – communities in the Pacific region. A prominent local leader and adviser to the area’s administration in Nariño, he was also a longtime collaborator with the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), working to promote dialogue in a country torn apart by decades of war.

That all ended in September when the boat carrying him and the mayor of Mosquera, Karen Lizeth Pineda, was fired on, reportedly by the Colombian navy. Sánchez was killed and the mayor’s bodyguard was seriously injured in the attack.

Published: November 22, 2025, 8:00 am

Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?

Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses

Nigel Farage has denied – albeit through a spokesperson – that he ever said anything racist or antisemitic when he was a teenager.

The Guardian has spoken to 20 of his contemporaries while at Dulwich College in south London who say otherwise – more than half of them on the record.

Published: November 22, 2025, 3:00 pm

Tense calm in far north as Israel prepares to ‘finish the job’ against Hezbollah

On the border with Lebanon, communities have started to return and rebuild – even though some are in no hurry to return

Noam Erlich looks out over what was his beer garden. Beyond the disordered chairs and tables and the sign instructing neighbours and friends to “pay whatever you like”, the ridge falls away to fields, then a fence, then hills littered with the skeletal ruins of shattered Lebanese villages.

The 44-year-old brewer is standing in front of the house his grandfather built when the Manara kibbutz was founded in the 1940s in the very far north of Israel. The building was hit repeatedly by missiles fired by Hezbollah during the conflict, which ended a year ago, and will now almost certainly be demolished, along with most of the neighbouring houses.

Published: November 22, 2025, 9:00 am

Bird flu: first ever death from rare H5N5 strain is recorded in US

Washington state resident’s backyard flock of domestic poultry had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said

A person in the US is believed to be the first human to die from a rare strain of bird flu, but state health officials said on Friday the risk to the public is low.

The person in Washington state, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu strain called H5N5 after becoming seemingly the first known human infected by the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.

Published: November 22, 2025, 6:20 am

South Africa declares gender-based violence a national disaster amid G20 protests

Women’s groups welcomed the announcement on the eve of the international leaders’ summit in Johannesburg

Hundreds of women gathered in cities across South Africa on Friday to protest against gender-based violence in the country before the G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend.

Demonstrators turned out in 15 locations – including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban – wearing black as a sign of “mourning and resistance”.

Published: November 22, 2025, 1:57 pm

Greek secondary school teachers to be trained in using AI in classroom

Some teachers and pupils voice concerns about pilot programme after government’s agreement with OpenAI

Secondary school teachers in Greece are set to go through an intensive course in using artificial intelligence tools as the country assumes a frontline role in incorporating AI into its education system.

This week, staff in 20 schools will be trained in a specialised version of ChatGPT, custom-made for academic institutions, under a new agreement between the centre-right government and OpenAI.

Published: November 22, 2025, 10:00 am

EU and US to restart trade talks as sticking points on July tariff deal remain

US officials to hold high-level talks in Brussels amid unhappiness in Washington at slow action on July deal

The EU and US are set to restart trade negotiations next week after a two-month pause to try to settle unresolved sticking points in their controversial tariff deal struck in July.

The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and trade representative Jamieson Greer will hold high-level meetings in Brussels on Monday with ministers, EU commissioners and industry bosses.

Published: November 22, 2025, 12:00 pm

New Caledonia activist says France is impeding travel home after prison release

Exclusive: Kanak leader Christian Tein, who was freed from prison in June, says France is ‘deliberately dragging out’ re-issue of his passport

A pro-independence leader from the French overseas territory of New Caledonia has accused the French government of “deliberately dragging out” his passport application, preventing him from flying home after his release from prison.

Christian Tein, an Indigenous Kanak leader, was arrested in New Caledonia in June 2024 over allegations that he had instigated the deadly pro-independence protests that had taken place on the island a month earlier.

Published: November 22, 2025, 9:00 am

Rocky Horror creator Richard O’Brien: ‘The Spice Girls couldn’t sing. But lovely girls’

The actor, writer and musician on growing up on a sheep farm in New Zealand, being in Spice World and a lovely afternoon with Aretha Franklin

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Strange Journey: The Story Of Rocky Horror is out to celebrate 50 years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. What’s the strangest journey Rocky Horror has taken you on?

I was at the 30th anniversary at Queen’s Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. After the show, I was in the downstairs bar, chatting to a couple of people. I turned around and going up the stairs was a man in such high heels – these fetish shoes – that he couldn’t walk in them. He had a leather thong up his arse, and I thought to myself: “I suppose I’m responsible for that, aren’t I?”

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Published: November 22, 2025, 7:00 pm

‘I prepared for the role by playing in my room’: the making of Toy Story as it turns 30

The groundbreaking, smash-hit adventure was a make-or-break moment for both Pixar and computer animation

When the Pixar studio was casting for Toy Story, children were invited to bring one toy to the audition. Seven-year-old John Morris showed up with 20: a case of his beloved X-Men action figures. He got the part.

Playing Andy, a young boy whose toys include cowboy Woody and spaceman Buzz Lightyear, his was the first voice ever heard in a feature-length Pixar animation. Toy Story was released 30 years ago on Saturday, but to Morris the memory of its premiere is as fresh as ever.

Published: November 22, 2025, 12:04 pm

‘The public has been lied to’: secretly made documentary insists that aliens exist

The Age of Disclosure is a new film featuring high-ranking government officials who claim proof of extraterrestrial life has been covered up

Director Dan Farah grew up with aliens. As a child of the 80s and 90s, pop culture was awash with extra-terrestrial sightings. “How can you be a kid watching movies like ET and Close Encounters, TV shows like The X Files, and not end up curious about whether or not we’re alone in the universe?” he said in an interview with the Guardian. “And whether or not the US government does, in fact, hold secrets from the public.”

Farah’s exposure to otherworldly beings in fiction kickstarted an interest that’s now morphed into a professional quest, and the subject of his documentary debut The Age of Disclosure. Here, Farah makes the case that the United States has been hiding, for decades, a fount of information related to UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) – the acronym rebrand of the stigma-ridden UFO.

Published: November 22, 2025, 9:03 am

‘I knew I was doing something I shouldn’t’: Karl Ove Knausgård on the fallout from My Struggle and the dark side of ambition

The Norwegian author on his autofictional epic, moving to London, and the psychopath at the heart of his new novel

Fifteen years ago, discussing the success of his six-volume autofictional work My Struggle on Norwegian radio, Karl Ove Knausgård said he felt as if he had “actually sold my soul to the devil”. My Struggle had become a runaway success in Norway – a success that would subsequently be repeated across the world – but the project provoked anger in some quarters for its portrayal of friends and family members. This was a work of art that came at a price. Hence, for its creator, its Faustian aspect.

That experience lies at the root of Knausgård’s latest novel, The School of Night, the fourth volume in his Morning Star sequence, in which his typical character studies and fine-grained attention to the minutiae of daily life are married to a compelling supernatural plot involving a mysterious star appearing in the sky and the dead returning to life. Volumes one and three, The Morning Star and The Third Realm, cycled between the same group of interconnected characters, while the second book, The Wolves of Eternity, moved back to the 1980s and told the story of a young Norwegian man and his discovery of a Russian half-sister. Only towards the end of its 800 pages did the novel intersect with the events of The Morning Star. The School of Night, perhaps frustratingly for some, again moves backwards instead of forwards, this time to 1985 London, and follows the art school career of a young Norwegian, Kristian Hadeland, who is pursuing his dream of fame as a photographer. Kristian, events reveal, is someone who will sacrifice anything, and anyone, to succeed. Charting Kristian’s rise and fall is an addictive and eerie reading experience.

Published: November 22, 2025, 9:00 am

The moment I knew: he presented me with my hearing aids like they were a little gift

When Lynda Leigh and David started dating, his small, silent gesture spoke volumes about how much he cared

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In 2013 I was a divorcee in my early 40s in need of some financial advice. I was living in Canberra and a friend recommended a polite, plain-speaking accountant who came to town from time to time. That’s how I met David. He was a handsome, jovial fellow with sparkling blue eyes, not quite a silver fox then, but a few years my senior. At 6 foot 3 and dressed in a smart suit and tie (a weakness of mine), he certainly made an impression.

At some point between sorting out my taxes and asking where I wanted to be financially in 10 years, he noticed I was wearing hearing aids and went on to tell me what a hard time his ex-wife and stepson gave him about his hearing, and anyway, wasn’t I far too young to need them? I explained, perhaps a little curtly, that I’d worn them since I was eight so he shouldn’t be so silly as to think they’d make him look old. I had an appointment coming up with my specialist and somehow it was arranged that he’d join me.

Published: November 22, 2025, 7:00 pm

‘I have never felt so popular!’: can I change my look – and my life – with a clip-on fringe?

The haircut of the moment is ‘The Claudia’, but not everyone has the luscious locks of la Winkleman. Not a problem. Fake fringes are everywhere – and I tried one out

The 70s had “the Fawcett.” In the 90s it was all about “the Rachel.” But now there’s a new era-defining hair cut. “The Claudia.” Yes, the glossy inky-black block fringe that mostly shrouds the face of its owner, the presenter Claudia Winkleman, has become a seminal moment on and off TV screens.

It is a fringe that has spawned memes, online forums dedicated to debating its length and a fan account on X. “Thoughts and opinions from the highest paid fringe on the BBC” reads the bio. Alan Carr has described it, not Winkleman, as a national treasure.

Published: November 22, 2025, 10:00 am

Blind date: ‘She did laugh a few times but I’m not sure if it was at me or with me’

Henry, 28, a student, meets Sarah, 30, an operations manager

What were you hoping for?
A fun, easy-going evening with some yummy grub.

Published: November 22, 2025, 6:00 am

Being labelled a Highly Sensitive Person was validating and empowering – until it wasn’t | Miranda Luby

An online personality quiz made me feel understood, but it also created a mental cage

Sometimes, taking an internet quiz on a random Tuesday night can change your life – first for the better, then for the worse.

Are you bothered by intense stimuli, like loud noises, strong smells or caffeine? Are you deeply moved by the arts or nature? Do you become overwhelmed when a lot is going on around you? Do you have difficulty with big changes?

Published: November 22, 2025, 7:00 pm

Meet the conservative lawyer causing headaches for major news networks

Critics are concerned that Daniel Suhr, the head of a conservative legal group, may be pulling the strings behind many of the Trump FCC’s moves

In just 14 months, Daniel Suhr, the 40-year-old president of a two-person, Chicago-based, conservative legal organization called the Center for American Rights, has emerged as a thorn in the side of the major US broadcast news networks at a time when they face both financial and political vulnerabilities.

Suhr has had a key ally in Brendan Carr, who was hand-picked by Donald Trump to serve as the chair of the powerful Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the Trump administration has sought new avenues to take on the mainstream media. Carr has resuscitated several complaints that were filed by Suhr and dismissed at the end of Joe Biden’s administration and has seemingly factored in Suhr’s suggestions when reviewing media mergers.

Published: November 22, 2025, 11:00 am