All the president’s millions: how the Trumps are turning the presidency into riches

From Vietnam to the Balkans, Donald Trump’s family has launched a global dealmaking blitz since his re-election

A crusading prosecutor in the Balkans comes under pressure to drop a big case. Vietnamese villagers learn they are to be evicted. A convicted crypto kingpin in the Gulf receives a pardon.

All have one thing in common: they appear to be connected to the Trump family’s campaign to amass riches around the world. Since Donald Trump’s re-election a year ago, warnings that his use of presidential power to advance personal interests is corroding American democracy have grown ever louder. What is less understood – and perhaps even more dangerous – is the damage this is doing everywhere else.

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:00 am

‘I was hooked’: the rise of the intrepid female solo traveller

Women of all ages, especially older ones, are actively choosing to travel alone. What’s behind the trend?

UK travel companies have reported an increase in bookings for solo travellers, primarily older women, often leaving partners behind to “explore on their own terms”.

Last month, the tour operator Jules Verne said solo travellers accounted for 46% of bookings for its trips departing next year, up from 40% in 2023. Just under 70% of its current solo bookings are made by women.

Published: November 30, 2025, 3:00 pm

We have a practical framework for American resistance. Now we need a spiritual one | Rami Nashashibi

There is growing understanding that our country is witnessing evil in our public life. Here is a path to confronting it

Across the country, organizers are carrying something heavier, clearer and more spiritually charged than anything I have seen in over 30 years of this work. From veteran freedom fighters to young activists, there is a growing alignment around the unmistakable presence of evil in our public life. The horrors unfolding before us have sharpened our collective sight and deepened the understanding that our resistance must be morally unwavering and spiritually grounded.

The spiritual framework for this argument begins with a simple conviction. Our movements need to reclaim a moral vocabulary that names evil plainly. Dr King understood this. When he named the pain of poverty, the sickness of racism and the excess of materialism, he called them the “triple evils”, speaking with unflinching clarity about the devastation that this collective evil was inflicting on the country, on our conscience and on our very souls. We are living in such a moment again. The evil is fully out, and anyone with spiritual integrity can see it. Among the forces driving that clarity are Gaza, empire and ICE.

Dr Rami Nashashibi is a MacArthur fellow and the founding executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN)

Published: November 30, 2025, 12:00 pm

Nine eco-minded gifts that actually make a difference

From tool library memberships to repair kits and even refurbished electronics – here are ways to give sustainable gifts this holiday season

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

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

Here is the uncomfortable truth about gift-giving: many fun-to-unwrap baubles get used twice, shoved in a drawer, and eventually hauled off to Goodwill or the landfill. So for anyone who cares about the climate crisis or the environment, the holidays are a minefield of cognitive dissonance: you want to give loved ones something meaningful, while cringing at your own consumerism. It’s a dilemma, but it doesn’t have to be.

There are thoughtful ways to give without adding to the problem, or better yet, giving gifts that make the right kind of difference. We’re not talking about carbon credits or vague promises of planting trees – the gifts here can extend the life of things you already own, replace single-use waste, or fund conservation work directly. Some I have tested myself; others come from trusted organizations with long track records and verifiable credentials. Here are some gift ideas that you and your eco-minded recipient can both feel great about.

Published: November 30, 2025, 3:15 pm

Does ‘laziness’ start in the brain?

Understanding the surprising mechanism behind apathy can help unlock scientific ways to boost your motivation

We all know people with very different levels of motivation. Some will go the extra mile in any endeavour. Others just can’t be bothered to put the effort in. We might think of them as lazy – happiest on the sofa, rather than planning their latest project. What’s behind this variation? Most of us would probably attribute it to a mixture of temperament, circumstances, upbringing or even values.

But research in neuroscience and in patients with brain disorders is challenging these assumptions by revealing the brain mechanisms that underlie motivation. When these systems become dysfunctional, people who were once highly motivated can become pathologically apathetic. Whereas previously they might have been curious, highly engaged and productive – at work, in their social lives and in their creative thinking – they can suddenly seem like the opposite.

Published: November 30, 2025, 12:00 pm

This is how we do it: ‘I have an urgent desire to have group sex – and I want Sophie to join me on this journey’

For John, group sex is a fantasy he wants to make reality. For Sophie, it is a mistake she does not want to repeat

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

There’s still so much I want to do sexually, and I want to do it now while I still can

Published: November 30, 2025, 11:00 am

Kristi Noem claims suspect in national guard shooting was ‘radicalized’ in US

Homeland security secretary also blamed ‘activist’ judges for defying court order to halt deportation flights

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, claimed on Sunday that the suspect in the national guard shooting in Washington DC was “radicalized” in the US and blamed the Biden administration, though the suspect’s asylum was approved under Donald Trump.

The shooting suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was granted asylum under the Trump administration in April 2025. He worked with CIA backed units in Afghanistan, coming to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program.

Published: November 30, 2025, 4:29 pm

Ukrainian and US officials meet in Florida to discuss proposals to end Russia’s war

Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meet Kyiv delegation amid more deadly Russian attacks in Ukraine

Ukrainian negotiators have met US officials in Florida to thrash out details of Washington’s proposed framework to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, as Kyiv faces pressure on military and political fronts.

The secretary of state, Marco Rubio; the special envoy, Steve Witkoff; and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law; sat down with a Ukrainian delegation on Sunday before planned US talks this week in Moscow with Vladimir Putin.

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:20 pm

AI’s safety features can be circumvented with poetry, research finds

Poems containing prompts for harmful content prove effective at duping large language models

Poetry can be linguistically and structurally unpredictable – and that’s part of its joy. But one man’s joy, it turns out, can be a nightmare for AI models.

Those are the recent findings of researchers out of Italy’s Icaro Lab, an initiative from a small ethical AI company called DexAI. In an experiment designed to test the efficacy of guardrails put on artificial intelligence models, the researchers wrote 20 poems in Italian and English that all ended with an explicit request to produce harmful content such as hate speech or self-harm.

Published: November 30, 2025, 2:00 pm

Winter storm brings foot of snow to midwest over busiest US travel weekend

Plane skidded off runway and 45 cars were piled up as 53 million were under winter weather alerts over Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving weekend storm system brought over a foot of snow and strong winds across the US midwest and thunderstorms across the south, as 53 million people from South Dakota to New York were under winter weather alerts.

Over the weekend, ahead of one of the busiest travel days of the year on Sunday, a 45-car pile-up occurred on interstate 78 in Indiana and a Delta Air Lines plane skidded off the runway in Des Moines, Iowa, during landing.

Published: November 30, 2025, 5:49 pm

EPA urged to ban spraying of antibiotics on US food crops amid resistance fears

Use of 8m pounds of antibiotics and antifungals a year leads to superbugs and damages human health, lawsuit claims

A new legal petition filed by a dozen public health and farm worker groups demands the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stop allowing farms to spray antibiotics on food crops in the US because they are probably causing superbugs to flourish and sickening farm workers.

The agricultural industry sprays about 8m pounds of antibiotic and antifungal pesticides on US food crops annually, many of which are banned in other countries.

Published: November 30, 2025, 1:00 pm

Death toll passes 900 in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka floods

Officials in Indonesia say more than 442 people have died, while Sri Lanka suffers worst natural disaster since 2004 tsunami

Authorities in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand are racing to clear debris and find hundreds of missing people after more than 900 died in devastating floods and landslides across the south of Asia.

In the latest example of the impact of the climate crisis on storm patterns and extreme weather, heavy monsoon rains, exacerbated by a tropical storm, have overwhelmed parts of south-east Asia in recent days, leaving thousands of people stranded without shelter or critical supplies.

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:37 pm

Power surge: law changes could soon bring balcony solar to millions across US

Tweaks to state laws mean many Americans will be able to benefit from small, simple plug-in solar panels

Acquiring solar panels at home can be an expensive hassle for people in the US. But small, simple, plug-in solar panels for use on balconies are soon to become available for millions of Americans, with advocates hoping the technology will quickly go mainstream.

Earlier this year, Utah became the first state in the country to pass legislation allowing people to purchase and install small, portable solar panels that plug into a standard wall socket.

Published: November 30, 2025, 12:00 pm

Four killed and 11 wounded in shooting at child’s party in California, officials say

Victims who died range from ‘juveniles to adults’ in attack on banquet hall in Stockton, county sheriff’s office says

Four people have died and eleven were wounded after a shooting at a family gathering in northern California on Saturday night, police said.

The victims who died, who range in age from eight to 21 , were taken to local hospitals, Heather Brent, a spokesperson for the San Joaquin County sheriff’s office, said. “What we have confirmed at this time is that there was a banquet hall where a family was celebrating.”

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:08 pm

Love Actually star says romcoms have lost their magic

Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played Sam in Richard Curtis’s film, thinks streaming ushered in genre’s decline

If modern romcoms aren’t sweeping you off your feet any more, you’re not the only one wondering where the magic went.

Romantic comedies are just not as good as they used to be, according to one of the stars of Love Actually.

Published: November 30, 2025, 5:14 pm

Virginia Democrat flips seat in state legislature by taking on datacenters

John McAuliff won against a Republican by focusing on something affecting all his constituents: the cost of energy

John McAuliff, a 33-year-old small business owner and former civil servant, was one of the more unlikely Democrats to win election to Virginia’s legislature this month, after a campaign in which he could, at times, come off a bit like a Republican.

McAuliff was among the 13 Democrats elected to the legislature in Virginia’s elections earlier this month, as part of a blowout victory for the party that gives it firm control of the southern state’s government. Along with wins in New Jersey, California and elsewhere, the results put some wind back into Democrats’ sails nationwide, a year after their drubbing at the hands of Donald Trump and the Republicans.

Published: November 30, 2025, 2:51 pm

‘He massages Trump’s basest instincts’: why is Fifa’s Gianni Infantino cosying up to the US president?

For a man who insists football isn’t political, the Fifa boss is putting a lot of effort into into courting the most divisive politician on Earth

Gianni Infantino was 18 years old the first time he ran for office. It was a presidential election at FC Brig-Glis, the local amateur football club in the small Swiss town where he grew up. Running against two older men, and with no discernible footballing record of his own, the little red-haired kid with freckles was, unsurprisingly, the rank outsider in the race.

But he had a vision. He had a ferocious work ethic, boundless enthusiasm, well-established networks in the town’s Italian immigrant community. And even at this tender age, he had a flair for an eye-catching scheme. To the shock of many veterans at the club, Infantino surged to victory: partly on the back of his pledge to attract new sponsors and revenue streams, and partly on something more tangible. Infantino promised that if he won, his mother Maria would wash all the players’ kits, every week, for as long as he was president.

Published: November 30, 2025, 8:00 am

White House launches website to excoriate media for ‘biased’ stories

Trump administration lists reporting it objects to in latest escalation of attacks on US journalism

The White House rolled out a new section of its official website on Friday that publicly criticizes and catalogs media organizations and journalists it claims have distorted coverage.

At the top of the page, the text reads: “Misleading. Biased. Exposed.” The feature names the Boston Globe, CBS News and the Independent as “media offenders of the week”, accusing them of inaccurately portraying Trump’s remarks about six Democratic lawmakers who released of video encouraging military members to not follow illegal orders.

Published: November 29, 2025, 6:50 pm

As Epstein files release looms, questions abound on what happens next: ‘Possibilities are endless’

People implicated in the late sex offender’s crimes could face criminal charges or, at the least, social ostracism

As the clock ticks toward the congressionally mandated deadline of 19 December by which Donald Trump’s justice department must release its files related to Jeffrey Epstein, there is intense speculation about the contents of these documents – but also questions as to what happens when they are released.

The US president on 19 November signed a bipartisan bill requiring that the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, disclose these documents to the US public within 30 days. Given that other tranches of materials related to the disgraced financier included damning correspondence with high-profile individuals, many expect that still more names of the rich, famous and powerful will be named.

Published: November 29, 2025, 2:00 pm

A teenager redrew the Alabama voting map – and it’s now state law

Daniel DiDonato, 18, drafted new state senate districts at home on free software – and a judge picked his map ahead of professionals’ efforts to remedy voting rights violations

Earlier this month, after years of litigation, a federal judge in Alabama ordered a new state senate map. In a surprising decision, the map she chose wasn’t one drafted by a court-appointed special master and his expert cartographer, but rather one that had been submitted by an anonymous member of the public, known only by their initials, “DD”.

The decision stunned “DD” – an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Alabama named Daniel DiDonato – who learned his map had been selected as he was preparing to leave for his 9.30am introduction to political science class.

Published: November 30, 2025, 4:00 pm

‘We have become so divided’: Georgia district prepares for life after Marjorie Taylor Greene

Republicans and Democrats alike look to fill congressional firebrand’s House seat when she departs in 2026

Marjorie Taylor Greene for president. Randy Bone rolled the idea around in his hands for a second as he stood inside his wife’s antique shop in Ringgold, Georgia. He’s heard the talk. He’s even seen the prediction market action. He doesn’t have a problem with his boisterous, attention-seeking congresswoman. He just doesn’t think it will work.

“I don’t know. I don’t see her as one that is very attractive … You’ve got to focus on those that are kind of in the middle, and I don’t think that she’s unifying enough,” he said.

Published: November 30, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival

Biden earmarked billions for former coal communities in Appalachia – and his successor came and took it away

For a moment, Jacob Hannah saw an unprecedented opportunity to make Appalachia great again.

In 2022, the Biden administration earmarked billions of dollars to help revitalize and strengthen former coal communities. The objective was to lay down building blocks for the region to transition from extractive industries like coal and timber to a hub for solar and other advanced energy technologies, with a view to long-term economic, climate and social resilience.

Published: November 29, 2025, 11:00 am

Can you have a community without craic? Scholars of Ireland’s pubs warn of declining numbers

Two new books analyse what makes the ‘perfect pub’ and both come to a sobering conclusion: Irish pubs are in trouble

Like triple-distilled whiskey, Irish pubs appear to have timeless appeal. They are staple setting in films, books and plays, draw tourists to Ireland, replicate themselves around the world and induce social media quests for the perfect snug and the perfect pint.

Scholars have now bestowed academic imprimatur on this cultural treasure status by examining – and celebrating – pubs through the lens of history, sociology, architecture, psychology, design, art and literature.

Published: November 30, 2025, 5:00 am

‘I took literary revenge against the people who stole my youth’: Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu

As the first part of his acclaimed Blinding trilogy is released in the UK, the novelist talks about communism, Vladimir Nabokov – and those Nobel rumours

In 2014, when he was travelling around the US on a book tour, Mircea Cărtărescu was able to fulfil the dream of a lifetime: a tour of Vladimir Nabokov’s butterfly collection. Cărtărescu is a great admirer of the Russian-American author, and shares with him a literary career that bridges the western and eastern cultural spheres – as well as a history of being mooted as the next Nobel literature laureate but never having won it.

Above all, the Romanian poet and novelist shares Nabokov’s fascination with butterflies. As a child, he harboured dreams of becoming a lepidopterist. On a visit to Harvard, Cărtărescu was allowed access to Nabokov’s former office and marvelled at specimens the St Petersburg-born author had collected. “His most important scientific work was about butterflies’ sexual organs, and I saw these very tiny vials with them in,” he whispers in awe. “It’s like an image from a poem or a story. It was absolutely fantastic.”

Published: November 30, 2025, 12:00 pm

Expect a tale of two holiday seasons as the well-off spend and the rest pull back | Gene Marks

Parts of the US economy are doing just fine but many are struggling to make rent, let alone splurging on gifts

Will retailers and merchants have a strong holiday season? That depends. This year, more than most, the 2025 holiday season will actually be two holiday seasons.

If your business caters to higher-income individuals or if you’re located in a wealthier part of the country, you’ll probably have a decent holiday season. True, even the wealthy are cutting back. But according to the HR firm ADP average salaries have risen between 4.5% and 6.7% depending on whether workers stayed or switched jobs. The stock markets, though increasingly volatile, are up over 13% since the beginning of the year. And in some parts of the country, notably New York, Boston, DC and San Francisco, the average household income is over $125,000 - almost $41,000 higher than the national average. People in this demographic may be a little more cautious but they’ll spend.

Published: November 30, 2025, 3:00 pm

I want be a single mum, but feel envious of peers with partners | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

It is good that you are getting expert counselling, but seeking support from other solo mums might be helpful too

I am a very lucky person who has a huge amount to be happy and grateful for. But although I have many excellent friendships, I have had very few romantic relationships. I am now 36 and after 10 years of giving dating a real “go”, I have decided to become a single mum by choice. This has been a very positive decision for me and I am excited about the journey.

During a pre-screening psychological counselling session, the psychologist spoke about the grief many women in my shoes experience as a result of not having the family they’d hoped for. Although I was aware of this and have worked extensively on self-acceptance with my own therapist, I now feel deep sadness and regret at being unable to have formed a relationship with someone who wanted to have children with me. In my friends and colleagues groups, this sets me apart from most women my age. I am envious of the companionship and support my peers receive from their partners.

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:00 am

‘Desire in one of its rawest forms’: what do we know about limerence?

For everything from pop music to poetry, overwhelming infatuation offers inspiration and storylines. But when might this tip over into something a little less healthy?

For months after her relationship ended, Anna* couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Each morning she’d wake with a jolt of grief; an intense, almost physical feeling that morphed into thoughts of him that consumed nearly every waking hour.

Published: November 29, 2025, 7:00 pm

China is bearing down on Taiwan – enabled by Trump’s weakness and vacillation | Simon Tisdall

The US hasn’t just left Ukraine vulnerable; it is also provoking Xi’s intensifying attitude towards what he considers a renegade province

Sheer ignorance, fed by malign intent, historical prejudice and mutual misunderstanding, is often the crucial spark that ignites simmering international conflicts. If Adolf Hitler, remarkably ignorant of the US, had grasped the true extent of American industrial might, would he still have fatefully declared war on Washington in 1941?

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, it evidently had no idea what it was getting into. Humiliating defeat contributed greatly to its subsequent disintegration. In 1990, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait, convinced he had a green light from the White House. In all these cases, stupidity produced disastrous misjudgments that proved fatal.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: November 30, 2025, 8:00 am

Don’t filter your dates by age and hobbies, ask them how they shop | Polly Hudson

Big deal-breakers are all very well, but the seemingly small things often tell in the end. How do they feel about sell-by dates? Will they walk out of a bad film? Not asking will come back to haunt you

A friend of mine once declined a date with a kind, funny, clever man because she hated his shoes. When she relayed this to our group of twentysomethings, it didn’t warrant comment or discussion, because it was such a rational decision, which we all would have made. I mean, come on – you can’t go out with someone with bad trainers, can you?

Fortunately for the continuation of the human race, today’s daters appear to be a little less fastidious. A recent report on relationships by the dating app Plenty of Fish not only failed to mention footwear, but showed that people are keen to skip the small-talk phase, so weighty conversation topics such as life goals and dealbreakers are now brought up straight away.

Published: November 30, 2025, 5:00 am

Trump keeps insulting female journalists | Arwa Mahdawi

Trump has a disconcerting tendency to attack the press – but especially female reporters, whom he holds in particular ire

There was a time when it would have been a scandal for the president of the United States to call a journalist “ugly” or a politician “retarded”. Now it’s just another day in America. During a holiday when many Americans were gathering with family and reflecting on what they were grateful for, Trump was crouched over his keyboard slinging insults at his perceived enemies.

On Thanksgiving day, for example, Trump posted a rant on Truth Social about immigration. He called Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, an ableist slur, and then made an Islamophobic jab at “the worst ‘Congressman/woman’ in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab”.

Published: November 29, 2025, 3:03 pm

If toxic humility is a thing, I definitely have it. But perhaps there’s another way | Emma Beddington

We’re taught that modesty is good and pride is bad. This ignores the fact that telling ourselves we’re OK is actually beneficial

What’s your favourite thing about yourself? Stylist’s Love Yourself campaign asked over 400 women that, and published eight pages of their answers. People mostly picked low-key, quite specific stuff – “I can cook something out of nothing”; “I’m really strong”; “I can talk to anyone”; “I’ve got an excellent bum” – and it was lovely, and touching, to see women affirm what they like about themselves. It also felt strange – almost shocking? Stylist called giving yourself a compliment “squirm-inducing” and yes, the thought of doing it myself made me squirm.

I feel something similar when I see people online expressing uncomplicated, justified pride in their achievements or liking who they are out loud – it’s a sort of “is that allowed?” feeling, like the rules have changed and no one told me. If toxic humility is a thing, I definitely have it, because I get a masochistic buzz from self-deprecation, especially when it provokes someone into contradicting me. I have a shopping list of things I hate about myself that I take out and luxuriate in on sleepless nights, but deep down, I don’t actually believe I’m a worthless, irredeemable worm (even typing that feels transgressive!); I do hate the idea of letting anyone know that though.

Published: November 30, 2025, 2:00 pm

What Chicago's fight against ICE can teach us all about how to resist oppression | Zoe Williams

A harrowing US podcast documents a community’s struggle against immigration raids – and warns us about herd mentality

Earlier this year, the Trump administration reversed the convention that nobody would be snatched by immigration and customs enforcement, or ICE, by a school, church or hospital. Since then, teachers have reported classrooms a third empty, as parents are too scared to send their kids in – volunteers walk them there and back.

In the Rogers Park area of Chicago, a group of citizens are organising to resist such immigration raids. Sometimes, it’s simple non-violent tactics, such as slowing officers down by walking in front of them. Last month, 50 people rushed to a church, where the congregation was trapped, having got word that there were ICE agents waiting outside. Maybe their most evocative tactic is whistles – coded blasts for when a convoy is suspected to be ICE agents, a different code when it’s confirmed. They have numerous accounts of undocumented migrants warned off driving right into a raid, which is galvanising, but they also see and hear dismaying things all the time: vehicles standing empty, one door open, not robbed, merely relieved of their drivers; landscape gardeners arrested off ladders. Earlier this month, the Protect Rogers Park group got 1,500 calls in a day.

Published: November 29, 2025, 10:00 am

Max Verstappen beats Piastri to take F1 title race to Abu Dhabi GP as Norris falters

• Norris only fourth in Qatar, making Abu Dhabi decisive

• McLaren failure to pit on safety car costs their drivers

Max Verstappen believed he had long since “checked out” from being able to defend his world championship. Yet the Dutchman, while down, was far from out and has, with victory in the Qatar Grand Prix, battled and bludgeoned his way back into contention just as McLaren have somehow contrived to leave Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri vulnerable to his late charge, as Verstappen forced the title race to the wire at the final round next weekend in Abu Dhabi.

With Lando Norris, the title leader, fourth and his teammate Oscar Piastri second in Doha, after McLaren made an egregious strategy error, there will now be a three-way fight to the finish at the season finale, with 16 points separating all three drivers. Verstappen is 12 points back from Norris, with Piastri a further four worse off. It is a scenario that was all but unthinkable when Verstappen was 104 points behind Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix on 31 August and he had in effect written off his championship ambitions.

Published: November 30, 2025, 5:53 pm

NFL roundup: Panthers shock Rams as Shedeur Sanders loses first home start

• Bryce Young excels in Carolina victory

• AFC South now a battle between three teams

Bryce Young completed 15 of 20 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns – two of them coming on fourth down – and the Carolina Panthers (7-6) forced three turnovers by Matthew Stafford to beat Los Angeles (9-3) and snap the Rams’ six-game winning streak. Carolina’s defense intercepted Stafford twice with Mike Jackson returning one for a 48-yard touchdown and ended the 37-year-old’s NFL record of 28 straight TD passes without an interception. Derrick Brown, who tipped a ball resulting in one of Stafford’s first pick, came up with a key strip-sack with 2:25 left in the game to preserve the win. Stafford completed 18 of 28 passes for 243 yards with two touchdown passes to Davante Adams, his 13th and 14th of the season.

Published: November 30, 2025, 9:47 pm

Belichick remains tight-lipped as UNC season ends in another loss: ‘I don’t have a recap’

• North Carolina beaten 42-19 by NC State in finale

• Belichick’s debut season has been beset by problems

Bill Belichick stood at the microphone in a crowded room of reporters. North Carolina’s season had just ended with a lopsided loss to a fierce nearby rival to cap a four-win season.

And the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach wasn’t in much of a mood to talk about it. A little more than four minutes’ worth, in fact.

Published: November 30, 2025, 8:36 pm

Arsenal held by 10-man Chelsea in feisty draw after Moisés Caicedo gets VAR red

Arsenal would surely have taken a draw beforehand, against a Chelsea team that have emerged as surprise title rivals in recent weeks – and especially when they realised they had to play without William Saliba, who injured himself in training on Saturday.

It was a different story when, in the 38th minute, Chelsea were reduced to 10 men after Moisés Caicedo’s X-rated challenge on Mikel Merino. It was one of those that made you wince upon each replay, the stand-in Arsenal striker fortunate to emerge unscathed.

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:45 pm

Cooper Flagg passes LeBron to become youngest player in NBA history to score 35 points

• Rookie also holds record for assists for 18-year-old

• Mavericks rally to beat Clippers on Saturday night

Cooper Flagg became the youngest-ever player to score 35 points in an NBA game as he helped the Dallas Mavericks rally to a 114-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night.

The 18-year-old went 13 for 22 from the field in his 20th career game. The top pick in this year’s draft also grabbed eight rebounds. The only other 18-year-old to score 35 points in an NBA game is LeBron James, who did so twice in his rookie season. His first came when he was 18 years and 348 days old, five days older than Flagg was on Saturday.

Published: November 30, 2025, 12:46 pm

College football roundup: Alabama edge Auburn; Ohio State end skid against Michigan

• Buckeyes dominate Michigan to stay perfect at 12-0

• Horton stars as Alabama book SEC title shot v Georgia

• Texas Tech, BYU secure championship-game berths

Isaiah Horton caught three touchdown passes from Ty Simpson to help No10 Alabama survive blowing a 17-point lead to escape with a 27-20 win over rival and host Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Saturday night.

The Crimson Tide (10-2, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) not only clinched a spot in the SEC championship game v Georgia next Saturday with the dramatic victory, but they also likely locked up a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Published: November 30, 2025, 11:16 am

Alexander Isak ends drought as Liverpool stop rot with win at West Ham

For long spells nothing happened. At one point it was so quiet you could hear a distant plane droning by. But Liverpool will not care.

Sometimes you have to get back on the horse however you can, and if that requires a stepladder, an awkward bunk from a scornful stablehand and an ungainly scramble into the saddle, so be it.

Published: November 30, 2025, 4:12 pm

Messi to meet Müller in MLS Cup with Inter Miami set to host Vancouver Whitecaps

• Tadeo Allende hat-trick leads Miami to 5-1 win over NYC

• Early Vancouver goals sink expansion San Diego FC

• MLS Cup matchup repeats Concacaf semi-final

Lionel Messi will play for another trophy. Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets clearly aren’t ready to begin their retirements, either.

Tadeo Allande scored three goals – Alba and Busquets, a pair of longtime Messi teammates who will retire when this season ends, had the assists on his first two – and Inter Miami topped New York City FC 5-1 on Saturday night for the Eastern Conference title and a berth in the MLS Cup final.

Published: November 30, 2025, 1:56 am

Benjamin Netanyahu asks Israel’s president for pardon in corruption case

Request is submitted weeks after Donald Trump called on Isaac Herzog to pardon Israeli prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel’s president for a pardon for bribery and fraud charges and an end to a five-year corruption trial, arguing that it would be in the “national interest”.

Isaac Herzog’s office acknowledged receipt of the 111-page submission from the prime minister’s lawyer, and said it had been passed on to the pardons department in the ministry of justice. The president’s legal adviser would also formulate an opinion before Herzog made a decision, it added.

Published: November 30, 2025, 1:04 pm

Pope Leo urges Lebanese leaders to make peace highest priority

Pontiff tells politicians and religious heads they must persevere with peace efforts despite facing ‘highly complex, conflictual’ situation

Pope Leo has urged political leaders in Lebanon to make peace their highest priority in a forceful appeal as he is visiting the country, which remains a target of Israeli airstrikes, on the second leg of his first overseas trip as Catholic leader.

Leo, the first US pope, arrived in Beirut on Sunday from a four-day visit to Turkey where he said that humanity’s future was at risk because of the world’s unusual number of bloody conflicts, and condemned violence in the name of religion.

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:09 pm

Hong Kong mourns as apartment fire death toll rises to 146

Rescue teams find more bodies in burnt-out buildings of Wang Fuk Court complex after Wednesday’s fire

The death toll in Hong Kong’s apartment complex fire has risen to 146 after investigators discovered more bodies in the burnt-out buildings. A steady stream of people placed bouquets of flowers at an ever-growing makeshift memorial at the scene of the disaster, among the worst in the city’s history.

The Hong Kong police’s disaster victim identification unit has been going through the buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex meticulously and has found bodies both in apartment units and on the roofs, the officer in charge, Cheng Ka-chun, said on Sunday.

Published: November 30, 2025, 10:42 am

Venezuela denounces ‘colonialist threat’ as Trump orders airspace closed

President made declaration in a social media post, after FAA last week warned airlines of ‘worsening security situation’

The Venezuelan government has responded defiantly to the heightened pressure by the US government, including Donald Trump’s recent statements on Saturday that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is to be closed in its entirety.

In a statement, the Venezuelan government said Trump’s comments are a “colonialist threat” against their sovereignty and violate international law. The government also said it demanded respect for its airspace and would not accept foreign orders or threats.

Published: November 29, 2025, 7:47 pm

Failure to diagnose treatable male infertility leading to unnecessary IVF, experts say

Men represent 50% of all infertility cases but poor understanding among GPs means it is often untreated

Couples are needlessly going through IVF because male infertility is under-researched, with the NHS too often failing to diagnose treatable causes, leading experts have said.

Poor understanding among GPs and a lack of specialists and NHS testing means male infertility is often left untreated in couples struggling to conceive, despite men accounting for 50% of all infertility cases.

Published: November 30, 2025, 8:00 am

Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88

A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter

• Tom Stoppard: a life in pictures

• Michael Billington: ‘A brilliant dramatist who always raised the temperature of the room’

The playwright Tom Stoppard, whose playful erudition dazzled the theatregoing world for decades, has died aged 88.

On Saturday, United Agents said Stoppard died at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family. They paid tribute to the “brilliance and humanity” of his work and “his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language”.

Published: November 29, 2025, 8:03 pm

Hondurans vote amid Trump threat to cut aid if his preferred candidate loses

US president favours Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura of rightwing National party, as polls show three candidates are neck-and-neck

Hondurans have begun voting in an election held amid threats by Donald Trump to cut aid to the country if his preferred candidate loses.

Honduras could be the next country in Latin America, after Argentina and Bolivia, to swing right after years of leftwing rule.

Published: November 30, 2025, 2:31 pm

Thousands rally in Madrid to demand snap election over corruption allegations

Pressure grows on Pedro Sánchez amid series of claims involving his family, party and administration

Tens of thousands of people have attended an anti-government demonstration in Madrid to demand a snap general election as the country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, tries to weather a series of corruption allegations involving his family, his party and his administration.

Sunday’s protest, called by Spain’s conservative People’s party (PP) under the slogan, “This is it: mafia or democracy?”, was held three days after one of Sánchez’s closest erstwhile allies, the former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, was remanded in custody by a judge investigating an alleged kickbacks-for-contracts scheme.

Published: November 30, 2025, 3:15 pm

Bridge to the past: JR to wrap Pont Neuf again, 40 years after artistic forebears

Exclusive: French artist planning to cover bridge over Seine in tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The enigmatic French artist JR will undertake what he says is his biggest ever challenge next year when he “wraps” Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge across the Seine River in Paris, in a tribute to a monumental art project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

For three weeks next June, the 232-metre (761ft) long bridge will be wrapped in fabric, 40 years after the married artists known for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations did the same thing.

Published: November 30, 2025, 9:00 am

Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown

Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications

Vast swathes of Europe’s water reserves are drying up, a new analysis using two decades of satellite data reveals, with freshwater storage shrinking across southern and central Europe, from Spain and Italy to Poland and parts of the UK.

Scientists at University College London (UCL), working with Watershed Investigations and the Guardian, analysed 2002–24 data from satellites, which track changes in Earth’s gravitational field.

Published: November 29, 2025, 6:00 am

JD Vance, Trump Jr, DeSantis? Possible Republican contenders for 2028 run

Next nominee faces enormous task of leading a party that has been entirely reoriented around Trump

Donald Trump hasn’t stopped joking about running again for the White House in 2028, even as he acknowledges it is “pretty clear” he is constitutionally ineligible for a third term. Whether intended as a taunt or a threat, his musings are a reminder that, even barred from the ballot, Trump is likely to remain a central figure in the campaign to succeed him.

The next Republican nominee faces the potentially enormous task of leading a party that has been entirely reoriented around Trump into a post-Trump era. Here’s a look at the Republicans best positioned for a White House run.

Retiring Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene

Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem

Health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr

Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin

Georgia governor Brian Kemp

South Carolina senator Tim Scott

Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley

Utah governor Spencer Cox

Published: November 29, 2025, 10:00 am

Experts say strict new FDA protocol for vaccine approval is ‘dangerous and irresponsible’

Lead FDA vaccine regulator announced new approval process after claiming Covid vaccine had killed 10 children

The leading vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a far stricter course for federal vaccine approvals, following claims from his team that Covid vaccines were linked to the deaths of at least 10 children.

Experts suggest the announcement will make the vaccine approval process significantly more difficult.

Published: November 29, 2025, 5:04 pm

US halts all asylum decisions after national guard shooting

Trump administration says decisions paused until government can ensure ‘every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible’

The Trump administration has announced it is halting all asylum decisions in the wake of the national guard shooting in Washington DC, according to a senior immigration official.

Joseph Edlow, the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a post on X on Friday that asylum decisions would be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”.

Published: November 29, 2025, 2:23 am

‘In the presence of evil’: Manchester synagogue attack survivor on the day that shook British Jews

Exclusive: Shot as he barricaded the synagogue, Yoni Finlay describes the assault – and the climate that allowed it to happen

It was just after 6am and Yoni Finlay woke early with nerves. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, and the 39-year-old Mancunian was due to sing the dawn prayer, Shacharis, before hundreds of worshippers later that morning.

After practising his verse, Finlay buttoned up his white robes and headed to Heaton Park shul in north Manchester. He greeted familiar faces – exchanging a cheery hello with Bernard Agyemang, the security guard – then took a seat on the stage, the bimah, and said prayers.

Published: November 30, 2025, 8:09 am

Japan ‘One Piece’ singer stopped mid-performance as Japan-China relations sour

Axing of Maki Otsuki performance in Shanghai the latest in spate of cancelled cultural events involving Asia’s two biggest economies

Japanese “One Piece” singer Maki Otsuki was forced to halt her performance on stage in Shanghai, her management said, one of the latest events hit by a diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing.

Otsuki, known for the theme song of the popular anime, had been slated to perform for two days from Friday at the Bandai Namco Festival 2025 in the Chinese city.

Published: November 30, 2025, 8:26 am

Water shortages could derail UK’s net zero plans, study finds

Tensions grow after research in England finds there may not be enough water for planned carbon capture and hydrogen projects

• Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown

Tensions are growing between the government, the water sector and its regulators over the management of England’s water supplies, as the Environment Agency warns of a potential widespread drought next year.

Research commissioned by a water retailer has found water scarcity could hamper the UK’s ability to reach its net zero targets, and that industrial growth could push some areas of the country into water shortages.

Published: November 30, 2025, 6:00 am

Stranger Things to Blue Moon: the week in rave reviews

The supernatural drama inches closer to the end, while Ethan Hawke fully encapsulates Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s Broadway breakup drama. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Published: November 29, 2025, 6:00 am

Fran Lebowitz: ‘Hiking is the most stupid thing I could ever imagine’

The US author and orator on leaf blowers and Labubus, the weirdest thing she has done for love and struggling with contemporary novels

I would like to ask your opinion on five things. First of all, leaf blowers.

A horrible, horrible invention. I didn’t even know about them until like 20 years ago when I rented a house in the country. I was shocked! I live in New York City, we don’t have leaf problems. We have every other kind of problem. When I was a kid, we had leaf raking. Which is quiet. Leaf blowers are the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. First of all, they are incredibly noisy. And second of all, 10 minutes after you use it, that big leaf blower in the sky blows them all back. It’s a very stupid invention.

Published: November 29, 2025, 7:00 pm

‘I sang karaoke with Novak Djokovic – a surreal experience’: Jacob Collier’s honest playlist

The musical prodigy discovered Stevie Wonder aged two and danced to Brazilian jazz at a Grammys afterparty. But what song does he think is the best in the world?

The first song I fell in love with
So many songs hit me as a child, they were like windows opening up new worlds. But the first I truly loved was Did I Hear You Say You Love Me, by Stevie Wonder, which I remember clearly when I was around two years old.

The first single I bought
I bought an iTunes single by Take 6 when I was 13. They are a six-part a cappella, gospel, jazz group, and they completely exploded my creative imagination. The song, He Never Sleeps, has the most unbelievable harmonic journey.

Published: November 30, 2025, 9:00 am

‘It has made me live life more’: Jessie J on cancer, comebacks and cracking China

Endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, suicide and gaslighting … they are all laid bare on the singer-writer’s new album. But just as she finished recording it, she got a shock diagnosis. She explains why it’s made her determined to be in the moment

You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler having struggled to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

Published: November 29, 2025, 6:00 am

Comedian Judi Love: ‘I’m a big girl, the boss, and you love it’

Before she was a TV mainstay, Judi Love was a single mum juggling standup with care work. Now she’s back on stage for a show that finds humour in past trauma: ‘It’s laughter that helped me’, she says.

Judi Love was 17 when she was kidnapped, though she adds a couple of years on when reliving it on stage. It was only the anecdote’s second to-audience outing when I watched her recite it, peppered with punchlines, at a late-October work-in-progress gig. The bones of her new show – All About the Love, embarking on a 23-date tour next year – are very much still evolving, but this Wednesday night in Bedford is a sell out, such is the pull of Love’s telly star power.

She starts by twerking her way into the spotlight, before riffing on her career as a social worker and trading “chicken and chips for champagne and ceviche”. Interspersed are opening bouts of sharp crowd work – Love at her free-wheeling best. Next, she’s at college, studying IT, but mostly “going into the games room looking for boys”. It’s here that Love meets this unnamed lad.

Published: November 30, 2025, 10:00 am

With his restless imagination, Tom Stoppard showed us a mind on the move

The questing Czech-born playwright gave us plays that explored arcadias, utopias and affecting notions of home

• Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88

• Tom Stoppard – a life in pictures

• Where to start with Tom Stoppard: from Brazil to Leopoldstadt

Tom Stoppard’s breakthrough play opened on a bare stage, with two characters in the middle of nowhere tossing a coin. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, notoriously mix-uppable minor characters from the lower reaches of the Hamlet cast list, meet actors on the road to Elsinore, face the haughty Danish court, board the ship that takes them to their unwitting deaths – but they don’t really go anywhere, except in their puzzled, playful minds. They are always on the road to nowhere, a long way from home. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and they’re the only ones who don’t know it.

Some writers create a dramatic territory so identifiable you could type it into a satnav. Harold Pinter’s grubby suburbia, David Hare’s deceitful establishment, Caryl Churchill’s unmoored dystopia. Home in Stoppard is a fitful notion: often historically and geographically exact, but rarely found in the same place twice. He is hardly an autobiographical writer, but the biography gives a clue. Born Tomáš Straussler in Zlín, Czechoslovakia in 1937, he wasn’t even two years old when, as the Nazis invaded, his family left the country. Then came Singapore and Darjeeling and, after his mother’s second marriage, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Bristol. Later came tours behind the iron curtain in support of dissident artists with Amnesty and PEN. Stoppard was the image of the cosmopolitan intellectual, a restless, rootless imagination. But where do his plays feel at home?

Published: November 29, 2025, 5:47 pm

‘If I was American, I’d be worried about my country’: Margaret Atwood answers questions from Ai Weiwei, Rebecca Solnit and more

Democracy, birds and hangover cures – famous fans put their questions to the visionary author

After the ­phenomenal global success, not to mention timeliness, of the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale in 2017, Margaret Atwood has been regarded as “a combination of figurehead, prophet and saint”, the author writes in her new memoir Book of Lives. Over 600 pages this “memoir of sorts” ranges from her childhood growing up in the Canadian backwoods to her grief at the death of her partner of 48 years, the writer Graeme Gibson, in 2019, with many friendships, the occasional spat and more than 50 books (including Cat’s Eye, Alias Grace and the Booker prizewinning The Blind Assassin and The Testaments) in between.

The author, who turned 86 last week, always likes to take the long view, often from a couple of centuries’ distance. As Rebecca Solnit notes below, she now has a long view of our times. Age and the freedom of being a writer (as she says, she can’t get sacked) make her fearless in speaking out.

Published: November 29, 2025, 9:00 am

Celebrity crib sheet: Katy Perry has spent all year in the headlines – here are the six things you need to know

She made a short, and much-ridiculed, trip to space. She tried to buy a house and fell foul of public opinion. And she’s found love, apparently, with Justin Trudeau. Time to get up to speed before this singer next hits the headlines

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? No? Just Katy Perry then. Seven months since her sense-defying jaunt into space, life on planet Earth hasn’t let up for the embattled hitmaker. She’s back in the headlines this week, implied to be raiding the pockets of a “disabled veteran” while facing scrutiny for her somewhat inexplicable new romance with Justin Trudeau. Yes, that Justin Trudeau. Shall we?

1. Perry wins in court, but loses online
By one metric, such as “relative to the rest of 2025”, this might have been a good week for Katy Perry. Since 2020, she has been embroiled in a legal battle against Carl Westcott, who sold her an eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom mansion in Montecito for $15m. Westcott then attempted to renege on the deal, claiming to have been incapacitated by painkillers (prescribed after a back operation) when signing the paperwork. A judge ruled in Perry’s favour in May last year, finding that Westcott was sound of mind when the sale went through. This week, another judge ruled that Perry was owed $1.8m in damages. This sounds like a win, you might think – except Perry had pushed for Westcott to pay $4.7m, and it’s been widely written up as Perry money-grubbing from an “85-year-old disabled veteran”. To give military.com’s headline, from earlier in the dispute in 2023: “Katy Perry Is Fighting a Dying, Elderly Veteran to Force Him to Sell His Home.” It is true that Westcott served in the 101st Airborne Division, is 85 years old and seriously ill with incurable Huntington’s disease. But the insistent framing may say more about Perry’s unenviable position as pop culture’s preferred punching bag.

Published: November 29, 2025, 5:00 am

The 23 most unique and thoughtful gifts under $10 in the US

These presents punch above their price point, making them perfect for Secret Santas, White Elephants or stocking stuffers

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

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

A genuinely good holiday gift under $10 is kind of a unicorn: elusive but thrilling to come across. In the single digits, you risk foregoing quality, even though that nice neighbor or coworker deserves something better than a dusty candle found near the CVS checkout line.

I’m here to tell you the rumors are true: you can give a thoughtful gift under $10. In this gift guide, Filter staff and contributors recommend inexpensive treats that feel like they should cost more than they do. They’re all things that really make life a bit easier or more joyful – for example, a sauce that transforms Tuesday-night dinner, a sleep mask that upgrades red-eye flights and a passionately recommended lineup of toys picked by kids, for kids. Read on for our 23 holiday gifts that punch above their price point.

Published: November 29, 2025, 3:15 pm

The moment I knew: it was tender but complicated – then we decided not to hide any more

When mountaineer Allie Pepper met Mikel Sherpa at Manaslu base camp in Nepal, their romance began with stolen kisses and whispered conversations

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

I discovered a passion for mountaineering in 2000 on a technical climbing course in New Zealand. For two decades I dedicated my life to the mountains, climbing some of the world’s highest peaks including Everest.

In early 2022 my marriage ended and I threw myself completely into my dream of climbing the world’s 14 highest peaks without supplemental oxygen. By September I reached Manaslu base camp in Nepal. I was focused on the mountain ahead, not on love.

Published: November 29, 2025, 7:00 pm

Dining across the divide: ‘I was nervous – was he going to attack me for being a snowflake?’

A Green-party globalist and a right-of-centre Tory clash over immigration. Would they see eye to eye over reparations?

Peter, 34, London

Occupation Former civil servant, now a student, studying public health

Published: November 30, 2025, 12:00 pm

Blind date: ‘I hadn’t been on a date for nearly 15 years and it showed’

Sarah, 53, a psychologist, meets Russell, 61, a behaviour officer

What were you hoping for?
A romantic connection. Failing that, getting to know someone I might not otherwise have crossed paths with.

Published: November 29, 2025, 6:00 am

Rage rooms: can smashing stuff up really help to relieve anger and stress?

Venues promoting destruction as stress relief are appearing around the UK but experts – and our correspondent – are unsure

If you find it hard to count to 10 when anger bubbles up, a new trend offers a more hands-on approach. Rage rooms are cropping up across the UK, allowing punters to smash seven bells out of old TVs, plates and furniture.

Such pay-to-destroy ventures are thought to have originated in Japan in 2008, but have since gone global. In the UK alone venues can be found in locations from Birmingham to Brighton, with many promoting destruction as a stress-relieving experience.

Published: November 29, 2025, 12:00 pm

The kindness of strangers: a concierge gave me his mother’s opera ticket

I was travelling with my parents and discovered that Don Giovanni was being performed while we were there. I simply had to try to see it

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

At age 20, I fell head over heels in love with opera. It happened after seeing Joseph Losey’s film adaptation of Don Giovanni. Something clicked in me. I became a fervent subscriber to the Australian Opera and saw every opera I possibly could.

A few years later, I was travelling in France with my parents and discovered that Don Giovanni was being performed in Avignon while we were there, with José van Dam, who had played Leporello in the film, starring as Don Giovanni. I simply had to get a ticket to see it.

Published: November 30, 2025, 2:00 pm

Shopping for Christmas bargains? Beware the ‘spray and pay’ parcel delivery fraud

Criminals send thousands of texts about an undelivered bargain buy and ask for a redelivery fee in a bid to mine your data and bank details

You have landed a lot of bargains in the run-up to Black Friday and most of your Christmas shopping is done.

So when a text arrives about a delivery, it’s no surprise. A quick click on a link and you have paid the £2 redelivery charge it’s asking for.

Published: November 30, 2025, 7:00 am

‘When I saw what I captured I felt a Muybridge-like joy’: Roger Tooth’s best phone picture

Tooth was delighted to capture one of Antony Gormley’s statues on Crosby beach – the dog was an unexpected bonus

Twenty years ago, 100 cast-iron, lifesize sculptures were erected across Liverpool’s Crosby beach. Sculptor Antony Gormley – also the man behind Gateshead’s Angel of the North – had created the figures several years previously, and London-based Roger Tooth had for years wanted to visit the Another Place installation and see them for himself. “I was in Liverpool with my wife and friends for a weekend away, and Sunday was an arty day,” Tooth says. “We began at Walker Art Gallery, and ended with a Guinness in the Philharmonic Dining Rooms. In between we headed the two miles outside the city to the statues. Seeing the rusting figures, all facing the sea amid the moving sands, was stunning.”

This was October 2025 and Storm Amy was in full effect. Tooth notes that it was blowing the sand around, and possibly also this dog. “I was taking a closeup of one of the sculptures when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small white dog bounding towards me,” he says. “I was amazed that an iPhone (and I) could freeze the dog in mid-air.”

Published: November 29, 2025, 11:00 am

How big tech is creating its own friendly media bubble to ‘win the narrative battle online’

At a time when distrust of big tech is high, Silicon Valley is embracing an alternative ecosystem where every CEO is a star

A montage of Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, and waving US flags set to a remix of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blasts out as the intro for the tech billionaire’s interview with Sourcery, a YouTube show presented by the digital finance platform Brex. Over the course of a friendly walk through the company offices, Karp fields no questions about Palantir’s controversial ties to ICE but instead extolls the company’s virtues, brandishes a sword and discusses how he exhumed the remains of his childhood dog Rosita to rebury them near his current home.

“That’s really sweet,” host Molly O’Shea tells Karp.

Published: November 29, 2025, 2:18 pm

They tried to overturn the 2020 US election. Now, they hold power in Trump’s Washington

Those who tried to overturn the 2020 election now occupy key federal roles, shaping rules and sowing doubt for 2026

The people who tried to overturn the 2020 election have more power than ever – and they plan to use it.

Bolstered by the president, they have prominent roles in key parts of the federal government. Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer who helped advance Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election in 2020, now leads the civil rights division of the justice department. An election denier, Heather Honey, now serves as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity in the Department of Homeland Security. Kurt Olsen, an attorney involved in the “stop the steal” movement, is now a special government employee investigating the 2020 election.

Published: November 29, 2025, 12:00 pm

Unhappy Messi and Napoleon’s Battle of Austerlitz: photos of the weekend

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

Published: November 30, 2025, 10:26 am