The Katie Miller Podcast: an aggressively vibeless curriculum for the Maga mom

The wife of the Trump adviser aims to entice conservative women into Maga – but like much of the rest of the movement, her sales pitch is fundamentally lacking

When Katie Miller, the wife of Donald Trump’s powerful adviser Stephen Miller, interviewed Pete Hegseth on her podcast last week, she didn’t ask him about whether the war secretary had ordered the US military to kill the shipwrecked survivors of an airstrike. She didn’t ask him about the settlement he paid a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. Nor did she ask about allegations of alcohol abuse, or the accusation that he had made his ex-wife so terrified that she hid in a closet.

Instead, when Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, appeared on the Katie Miller Podcast, the titular host asked questions like: “If you could write one Hegseth family rule on that whiteboard, what is that?”

Published: December 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

The eight best gifts in the US for the DIYer in your life

From tools to headlamps, here’s everything they’ll need to get things fixed right the first time – and to clean up the mess

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We all know someone who lives by the age-old adage of “If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.” It’s a timeless phrase, but one that just seems to get more true by the moment. Hourly rates for repair and service just keep going up, and every year it gets harder and harder to find qualified technicians who genuinely care about doing a job right.

All the more reason to do it yourself, but a big part of that is having a proper selection of tools. The right tool not only makes the job go faster, but ensures it’s done correctly. Over the decades, as I’ve gotten more proficient at weekend DIY antics, I’ve discovered some indispensable tools that I gravitate to before all the others. Whether you know a budding DIYer still building a tool collection, or maybe even a seasoned pro who would appreciate some upgrades, here are some of my favorite picks.

Published: December 13, 2025, 6:15 pm

‘This extraordinary story never goes out of fashion’: 30 authors on the books they give to everyone

Colm Tóibín, Robert Macfarlane, Elif Shafak, Michael Rosen and more share the novels, poetry and memoirs that make the perfect gift

I love giving books as presents. I rarely give anything else. I strongly approve of the Icelandic tradition of the Jólabókaflóðið (Yule book flood), whereby books are given (and, crucially, read) on Christmas Eve. Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain is the one I’ve given more often than any other; so much so that I keep a stack of four or five to hand, ready to give at Christmas or any other time of the year. It’s a slender masterpiece – a meditation on Shepherd’s lifelong relationship with the Cairngorm mountains, which was written in the 1940s but not published until 1977. It’s “about the Cairngorms” in the sense that Mrs Dalloway is “about London”; which is to say, it is both intensely engaged with its specific setting, and gyring outwards to vaster questions of knowledge, existence and – a word Shepherd uses sparingly but tellingly – love.

Published: December 13, 2025, 9:00 am

Our 25 favourite European travel discoveries of 2025

The most exciting places our writers came across this year, from untouched islands in Finland to an affordable ski resort in Bulgaria and the perfect Parisian bistro

On a midsummer trip to Ireland, I saw dolphins in the Irish Sea, sunset by the Liffey, and misty views of the Galtee Mountains. The half-hour train journey to Cobh (“cove”), through Cork’s island-studded harbour, was especially lovely. As the railway crossed Lough Mahon, home to thousands of seabirds, there was water on both sides of the train. I watched oystercatchers, egrets, godwits and common terns, which nest on floating pontoons. Curlews foraged in the mudflats, and an old Martello tower stood on a wooded promontory.

Published: December 13, 2025, 10:41 am

Deal or no deal? The inside story of the battle for Warner Bros

As Paramount, with close ties to the Trump administration, entered the bidding, experts predict any merger will ‘raise red flags’ among regulators

Over the first 10 months of his second presidency, Donald Trump has not hidden his desire to control the US media industry – from encouraging TV networks to fire journalists, comedians and critics he dislikes to pushing regulators to revoke broadcast licences. Now he seems determined to set the terms for one of the biggest media deals in history.

It’s a deal that could have repercussions not just in the US, but across the world, with not just the future of Hollywood at stake but also the landscape of news.

Published: December 13, 2025, 6:00 am

Blind date: ‘He’s a cat lover and I’m allergic. I would hate to make him have to choose!’

Rita, 35, a travel agent, meets Tom, 40, a social media manager

What were you hoping for?
To have a refreshing new experience. I was curious to see who the Guardian would match me with.

Published: December 13, 2025, 6:00 am

Top Democrats call for investigation into share-buying spree by Trump allies

Fossil fuel execs Robert Pender and Michael Sabel deny wrongdoing after report on potential conflict of interest

Two more senior Democrats have called for an investigation into a share-buying spree by two fossil fuel billionaires with close ties to the Trump administration, after a Guardian investigation raised questions about potential wrongdoing.

Robert Pender and Michael Sabel, the founders and co-chairs of Venture Global, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company headquartered in Virginia, bought more than a million shares worth almost $12m each in March. The trades took place just days after a meeting with senior White House officials, who then issued a key regulatory permit that helped expand the company’s business in Europe.

Published: December 13, 2025, 12:00 pm

Three Americans killed in Syria by suspected Islamic State gunman, Pentagon says

US Central Command reports an ambush on Saturday, the first attack to inflict US casualties since fall of Bashar al-Assad

Two US army soldiers and one American civilian interpreter have been killed and several other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by the Islamic State group in central Syria, the Pentagon said.

The attack on US troops in Palmyra is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of the former Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, a year ago.

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:14 pm

Israel says its military killed Hamas commander Raed Saed in Gaza City strike

If Saed is dead he would be most senior militant to be killed since October ceasefire, in attack on car that reportedly left four dead

The senior Hamas commander Raed Saedhas been killed in a strike on a car in Gaza City, the Israeli military said on Saturday.

The attack killed four people and wounded at least 25 others, according to Gaza health authorities. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics that Saed was among the dead.

Published: December 13, 2025, 5:27 pm

Belarus releases 123 prisoners including opposition leaders after US lifts sanctions

Nobel prize winner Ales Bialiatski and opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava among those freed after US talks with Alexander Lukashenko

The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has freed 123 prisoners, including Nobel peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, after the US lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash, a key export.

The announcement came after two days of talks with an envoy of the US president, Donald Trump, the latest diplomatic push since the Trump administration started talks with the autocratic leader.

Published: December 13, 2025, 4:03 pm

Washington state flood waters receding after days of rescues and evacuations

No fatalities reported in flooding, which prompted Trump to approve emergency declaration request from governor

Record-breaking flood waters in Washington state have started slowly retreating after days of devastation that saw neighborhoods inundated, emergency rescues from cars and rooftops, and widespread evacuations.

“This is not just a one- or two-day crisis,” Washington’s governor, Bob Ferguson, said during a press briefing. “These water levels have been historic, and they’re going to remain very high for an extended period of time.”

Published: December 13, 2025, 5:26 pm

Pulp Fiction actor Peter Greene found dead in New York apartment

Greene, 60, praised for the various villains he played during his career but manager says he also had ‘heart as big as gold’

Peter Greene, the actor known for his roles in Pulp Fiction and The Mask, has died at the age of 60.

He was found dead at his New York City apartment on Friday, his manager said, and the cause of death has not been disclosed.

Published: December 13, 2025, 5:37 pm

Two girls, 9 and 11, awarded $31.5m after sister’s California torture death

Arabella McCormack, 11, died after being tortured and starved by adoptive family and police and church failed to intervene

A lawsuit over the death of an 11-year-old California girl who was allegedly tortured and starved by her adoptive family reached a settlement on Friday totaling $31.5m from the city and county of San Diego as well as other groups.

The suit was brought on behalf of the two younger sisters of Arabella McCormack, who died in August 2022. The girls were ages six and seven at the time. Their adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, and McCormack’s parents, Adella and Stanley Tom, are facing charges of murder, conspiracy, child abuse and torture. They pleaded not guilty to all charges, and their criminal case is ongoing.

Published: December 13, 2025, 2:52 pm

Psychedelic treatments show promise for OCD while cannabis doesn’t, review finds

Psychiatry professor theorizes that the difference is related to how the substances interact with areas of the brain

A recent review of alternative treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) indicates that psychedelic treatments show promise for the disorder while cannabis does not.

Dr Michael Van Ameringen, a psychiatry professor at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada and lead author of the review published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, said that 40-60 % of OCD patients get either partial or no relief with available treatments, including SSRIs and exposure and response prevention therapy.

Published: December 13, 2025, 4:00 pm

Arsenal v Wolves: Premier League – live

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Scott

Fulham have just won 3-2 at Burnley. Fold in earlier victories for Liverpool (2-0 over Brighton & Hove Albion) and Chelsea (2-0 over Everton) and this is how the Premier League now looks, heading into this final fixture of the day. Arsenal will be looking to extend their lead at the top to five points, cranking up the pressure on Manchester City and Aston Villa, who tomorrow visit Crystal Palace and West Ham United respectively. Should Wolves manage a Christmas miracle this evening, they’d close the gap on fellow strugglers Burnley to five points.

Mikel Arteta, with the laid-back vibe of a man atop both Premier League and Champions League tables, speaks to TNT Sports. “We have some players back which is great news … all of them bring different qualities … different connections … they have been doing well … we are still missing some very important players … but to have options … manage the load … we all know the importance of each other … it is genuine … it is not easy to do it … it is harder to maintain it … when you lose one game in 19, it can happen … the immediate reaction shows they cared … if I had seen something different, I would have been worried … we have to put in performance after performance.”

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:27 pm

Gavin Newsom pushes back on Trump AI executive order preempting state laws

California governor says order pushes ‘grift and corruption’ instead of innovation just hours after president’s dictum

The ink was barely dry on Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence executive order when Gavin Newsom came out swinging. Just hours after the order went public Thursday evening, the California governor issued a statement saying the presidential dictum, which seeks to block states from regulating AI of their own accord, advances “grift and corruption” instead of innovation.

“President Trump and David Sacks aren’t making policy – they’re running a con,” Newsom said, referencing Trump’s AI adviser and crypto “czar”. “Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it.”

Published: December 13, 2025, 3:00 pm

Cuba denounces US seizure of oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast as ‘piracy’

Cuban foreign ministry called US military action ‘maritime terrorism’ under a policy of ‘economic suffocation’

Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday, calling it an “act of piracy and maritime terrorism” as well as a “serious violation of international law” that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.

“This action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela’s legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba,” the Cuban foreign ministry statement said.

Published: December 13, 2025, 4:34 pm

‘They fought for American values’: Afghan immigrants and advocates push back against Trump crackdown

The US has been punishing ‘an entire group’ since the arrest of an Afghan in the shooting of two national guard troops

Afghan immigrants and advocates across the United States are pushing back firmly against the Trump administration’s most recent crackdown on legal immigration, saying the American government is punishing hundreds of thousands of people for the alleged actions of one man.

Since the shooting of two national guard soldiers in Washington DC late last month, with the authorities charging an Afghan man as the suspect, the Trump administration has taken harsh action, especially against Afghans in the US, generating a mix of fear, outrage and defiance in the diaspora.

Published: December 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

Trump attacks old foe Biden – but presidential parallels hard to avoid

US president finds himself shouldering same burdens of affordability crisis and the inexorable march of time

He was supposed to be touting the economy but could not resist taking aim at an old foe. “Which is better: Sleepy Joe or Crooked Joe?” Donald Trump teased supporters in Pennsylvania this week, still toying with nicknames for his predecessor Joe Biden. “Typically, Crooked Joe wins. I’m surprised because to me he’s a sleepy son of a bitch.”

Exulting in Biden’s drowsiness, the US president and his supporters seemed blissfully ignorant of a rich irony: that 79-year-old Trump himself has recently been spotted apparently dozing off at various meetings.

Published: December 13, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘Not a gift-giving year’: student loan debt upends US borrowers’ holiday spending

After Trump ended key repayment plan, 40% of borrowers say their student loans make it harder to cover essentials

A recent survey found that a whopping 40% of student loan borrowers say that their loans have negatively affected their ability to cover their basic needs, such as food, housing and transportation – a financial burden that becomes even more apparent around the holiday season.

At first glance, someone like Ben L should not be struggling financially. He attended Georgetown University and Columbia University for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, respectively, and now earns a six-figure salary working at a biotech company. Still, the 36-year-old is drowning in student debt.

Published: December 13, 2025, 2:00 pm

You and me against the world: who was behind Trump’s anti-Europe foreign policy?

The US’s national security strategy, shared last week, claims European immigration will cause ‘civilisational erasure’

How do you create a foreign policy manifesto for a US president who leads from the gut?

The initial draft fell to Michael Anton, a Maga firebrand whom officials have called the lead author behind the US’s radical new national security strategy (NSS). The document shocked US allies, warning that immigration to Europe would cause “civilizational erasure”, reviving the Monroe doctrine in the western hemisphere, and downgrading the US’s responsibility for great power competition with China and Russia.

Published: December 13, 2025, 12:00 pm

Will other countries follow Australia’s social media ban for under-16s?

Several European nations are already planning similar moves while Britain has said ‘nothing is off the table’

Australia is taking on powerful tech companies with its under-16 social media ban, but will the rest of the world follow? The country’s enactment of the policy is being watched closely by politicians, safety campaigners and parents. A number of other countries are not far behind, with Europe in particular hoping to replicate Australia, while the UK is keeping more of a watchful interest.

Published: December 13, 2025, 5:00 am

Dior, Chanel and … Veja? The ethical Paris trainer worn by A-listers and royalty

Veja doesn’t do surveys or freebies, hates greenwashing and Black Friday, and as demand for trainers wanes, it continues to go its own way

In the grand hierarchy of Paris fashion, it’s tricky for a brand to stand out. Especially one whose coup de maître is a goes-with-everything white sneaker. Yet 20 years after Veja first began selling sustainable footwear, it has become the ultimate affordable It brand for scooter-wielding mums, sustainably minded millennials and A-list bigwigs who want to wear their values on their ethical leather-clad feet.

Veja’s co-founder Sébastien Kopp says he doesn’t know if people buy his trainers because of how they are made or because of how they look. The company is fastidious about social and fairtrade practices, “but because we don’t do surveys, we don’t do marketing, we simply don’t know this information”, he says, speaking from Veja’s Paris headquarters.

Published: December 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

How did Mail on Sunday’s US editor become ‘rock solid friend’ of Meghan’s father?

Duchess of Sussex says journalistic ethics breached as dad turns to journalist first to break news of leg amputation

When Thomas Markle received bad news about his health earlier this month, he immediately texted someone close to him to let them know. The 81-year-old had been admitted to hospital after one leg swelled up and turned black. “Going to lose the leg today,” he wrote.

The message was not sent to his son, Thomas, who lives with him in Cebu in the Philippines, nor to his older daughter, Samantha, who is based in Florida. Instead, Markle contacted Caroline Graham, the US editor of the Mail on Sunday, who is based in Los Angeles. It was she who called Markle’s two older children to let them know the news. She wrote later that they were “flabbergasted”.

Published: December 13, 2025, 3:00 pm

The moment I knew: as he opened the Uber door, he opened my eyes to a love beyond work

Ash Jacks McCready had low expectations for her first date with Tom, but after an awkward start, their relationship moved fast and wild

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In high school I was in an all-consuming relationship with one thing: dance. Any free time I had was spent on working towards a coveted spot at a performance company.

As soon as I graduated school in Brisbane, I left to begin my career as a performer.

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:00 pm

Edward Enninful: ‘Britain feels less tolerant now than we were in the 90s’

The former British Vogue editor reflects on his early years in London, the importance of celebrating diversity and why he takes comfort in the younger generation

When Edward Enninful was scouted on the tube travelling through London in 1988, it changed his life. The Ghanaian teenager, newly arrived in Britain, was drawn into the capital’s creative scene of the 90s – as a model, then stylist and, by 18, the fashion director of i-D magazine.

“It was the height of the YBA [Young British Artists] movement – Jay Jopling, Tracey Emin. I met Kate [Moss] at a casting,” he recalls. “Then Naomi [Campbell] for a cover, and I knew we’d be great friends. We all hung out across disciplines. Friday rolled into Saturday into Sunday. I miss that rawness.”

Published: December 13, 2025, 8:00 am

Has Simon Cowell lost his mojo? Seven things you need to know about the music mogul’s new direction

The former X Factor judge is back, auditioning boyband wannabes for his latest talent show – but gen Z doesn’t seem to care very much, or even know who he is

Have we gone back in time to 2010? If only! No, Simon Cowell is just back in the headlines, reasserting his svengali status for his new Netflix show. Reviews suggest that Cowell’s attempted comeback, 15 years since his celebrity peak, highlights less his particular star power than how totally the world has moved on. But is there anything to learn from SyCo now, and will his new boyband work? Let’s see!

1. Cowell is chasing a new direction

Published: December 13, 2025, 5:00 am

The ethnic cleansing of the US will destroy it | Heba Gowayed

Trump’s racist remarks on Ilhan Omar and Somali immigrants reveals his vision for the US as a white Christian nation

A rally on affordability in Pennsylvania on 9 December devolved into a racist tirade when Donald Trump said to the crowd: “We only take people from shithole countries. Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? … From Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”

Referring to the US representative Ilhan Omar’s hijab as a “little turban”, Trump continued: “She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out.” His supporters erupted in chants of: “Send her back.”

Published: December 13, 2025, 12:00 pm

Can you imagine raising a kid without ChatGPT? Sam Altman can’t | Arwa Mahdawi

The OpenAI CEO gushed about the bot’s parental-assistance abilities. Is it really his best child-rearing hack?

Just how does he do it all? Every time I look at the news, Sam Altman’s face seems to be staring back at me. The CEO of OpenAI, a well-known workaholic, is constantly in the public eye explaining how AI will probably cure cancer and transform the social contract and generally change the world. While doing all that he’s reportedly gearing up for OpenAI to file for a stock market listing valuing the company at $1tn, as soon as next year. And he’s also a new dad: Altman and his husband, Oliver Mulherin, welcomed their first child into the world in February. So he’s got a lot on his plate.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: December 13, 2025, 2:00 pm

The Trump administration keeps picking fights with pop stars. It’s a no-win situation | Adrian Horton

By using music from SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo in ICE videos, the government is playing a game of rage-bait

Last week, as the Trump administration was engulfed in controversy over its illegal military strikes near Venezuela (among numerous other crises), a Department of Homeland Security employee – I picture the worst sniveling, self-satisfied, hateful loser – got to work on the official X account. The state-employed memelord posted a video depicting Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials arresting people in what appeared to be Chicago, celebrating the humiliation and incarceration of undocumented immigrants as some sort of patriotic achievement. The vile video borrowed, as they often do, from mainstream pop culture; in this case, a viral lyric from Sabrina Carpenter’s song Juno – “Have you ever tried this one?”, referring to sex positions – overlaid on clips of agents chasing, tackling and handcuffing people, cheekily nodding to all the methods in ICE’s terror toolbox.

Carpenter, as a pre-eminent pop star, was caught in an impossible position. Say nothing, as her friend and collaborator Taylor Swift did weeks earlier when the White House used her music in a Trump hype video, and risk appearing as if you condone the administration’s use of your art for a domestic terror campaign (the administration hasn’t yet used Swift for an ICE video, but I’m sure it’s coming); or engage, even if to honestly express your utter disgust, and risk bringing more attention to objectionable propaganda designed to provoke a response.

Published: December 13, 2025, 10:03 am

Hunger’s whip: why connecting US food stamps to work is outdated and ineffective

In many parts of the country, there are new work requirements to get food aid. But starving people doesn’t motivate them – despite centuries of this rhetoric

For more than 200 years, common wisdom and policymakers have assumed that to get people to work, you had to make them hungry. New work requirements for Snap food benefits, which went into effect in most of the US on 1 December, are only the latest in a long line of policies based on this idea. The new rules cut off benefits for any non-disabled adult up to age 65 who cannot prove that they are working or seeking work at least 80 hours every month (that includes homeless people, veterans and former foster youth). The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 2.7 million people will lose their benefits.

You’ve heard this reasoning before: people are motivated to work because they and their families have to survive. If you give someone welfare – especially food aid – they become dependent and lazy. The Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative thinktank that has been campaigning for years to cut welfare, calls this “the dependency trap”. Starving people by taking away their food stamps is supposed to “incentivize individuals to better themselves and transition from dependency to work and self-reliance”.

Published: December 12, 2025, 6:00 pm

The Paris climate treaty changed the world. Here’s how | Rebecca Solnit

There’s much more to do, but we should be encouraged by the progress we have made

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris climate treaty, one of the landmark days in climate-action history. Attending the conference as a journalist, I watched and listened and wondered whether 194 countries could ever agree on anything at all, and the night before they did, people who I thought were more sophisticated than me assured me they couldn’t. Then they did. There are a lot of ways to tell the story of what it means and where we are now, but any version of it needs respect for the complexities, because there are a lot of latitudes between the poles of total victory and total defeat.

I had been dreading the treaty anniversary as an occasion to note that we have not done nearly enough, but in July I thought we might be able celebrate it. Because, on 23 July, the international court of justice handed down an epochal ruling that gives that treaty enforceable consequences it never had before. It declares that all nations have a legal obligation to act in response to the climate crisis, and, as Greenpeace International put it, “obligates states to regulate businesses on the harm caused by their emissions regardless of where the harm takes place. Significantly, the court found that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is fundamental for all other human rights, and that intergenerational equity should guide the interpretation of all climate obligations.” The Paris treaty was cited repeatedly as groundwork for this decision.

Published: December 12, 2025, 11:00 am

The Guardian view on Trump and Venezuela: a return to seeking regime change | Editorial

The US is ramping up the pressure on Nicolás Maduro with a tanker seizure and expanded sanctions following threats and boat strikes

Early in his first term, Donald Trump mooted a “military option” for Venezuela to dislodge its president, Nicolás Maduro. Reports suggest that he eagerly discussed the prospect of an invasion behind closed doors. Advisers eventually talked him down. Instead, the US pursued a “maximum pressure” strategy of sanctions and threats.

But Mr Maduro is still in place. And Mr Trump’s attempts to remove him are ramping up again. The US has amassed its largest military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama. It has carried out more than 20 shocking strikes on alleged drug boats. Mr Trump reportedly delivered an ultimatum late last month, telling the Venezuelan leader that he could have safe passage from his country if he left immediately. There was already a $50m bounty on his head. This week came expanded sanctions and the seizure of a tanker.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: December 12, 2025, 6:30 pm

Donald Trump is pursuing regime change – in Europe | Jonathan Freedland

The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new reality

When are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it comes to Donald Trump, Europe needs to learn from Sex and the City’s Miranda Hobbes and realise that “He’s just not that into you”. After this past week, it’s clear that understates the problem. Trump’s America is not merely indifferent to Europe – it’s positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.

The depth of US hostility was revealed most explicitly in the new US national security strategy, or NSS, a 29-page document that serves as a formal statement of the foreign policy of the second Trump administration. There is much there to lament, starting with the sceptical quote marks that appear around the sole reference to “climate change”, but the most striking passages are those that take aim at Europe.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: December 12, 2025, 5:36 pm

Welcome to the 2026 World Cup shakedown! The price of a ticket: the integrity of the game | Marina Hyde

In World Cup parlance, Qatar was Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s qualifier. Now it’s the big time for Trump’s dictator-curious protege

I used to think Fifa’s recent practice of holding the World Cup in autocracies was because it made it easier for world football’s governing body to do the things it loved: spend untold billions of other people’s money and siphon the profits without having to worry about boring little things like human rights or public opinion. Which, let’s face it, really piss around with your bottom line.

But for a while now, that view has seemed ridiculously naive, a bit like assuming Recep Erdoğan followed Vladimir Putin’s election-hollowing gameplan just because hey, he’s an interested guy who likes to read around a lot of subjects. So no: Fifa president Gianni Infantino hasn’t spent recent tournaments cosying up to authoritarians because it made his life easier. He’s done it to learn from the best. And his latest decree this week simply confirms Fifa is now a fully operational autocracy in the classic populace-rinsing style. Do just absorb yesterday’s news that the cheapest ticket for next year’s World Cup final in the US will cost £3,120 – seven times more than the cheapest ticket for the last World Cup final in Qatar. (Admittedly, still marginally cheaper than an off-peak single from London to Manchester.)

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Published: December 12, 2025, 2:00 pm

The Guardian view on Nnena Kalu’s historic Turner prize win: breaking a glass ceiling | Editorial

The UK art world is finally becoming more inclusive. But greater support must be given to the organisations that enable disabled artists to flourish

The Turner prize is no stranger to sparking debate or pushing boundaries. This year it has achieved both. For the first time, an artist with learning disabilities has won. Glasgow-born Nnena Kalu took the award for her colourful, cocoon-like sculptures made from VHS tape, clingfilm and other abandoned materials, along with her large swirling vortex drawings. Kalu is autistic, with limited verbal communication. In an acceptance speech on her behalf, Kalu’s facilitator, Charlotte Hollinshead, said that “a very stubborn glass ceiling” had been broken.

Kalu’s win is a high-profile symbol of a shift towards greater inclusivity that has been happening in the UK arts world over the past five years. Last month, Beyond the Visual opened at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, in which everything is curated or created by blind and partially sighted artists. The exhibits range from Moore sculptures (which visitors are encouraged to touch) to David Johnson’s 10,000 stone-plaster digestive biscuits stamped with braille. Design and Disability at the V&A South Kensington is showcasing the ways in which disabled, deaf and neurodivergent people have shaped culture from the 1940s to now.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: December 12, 2025, 6:25 pm

Mohamed Salah returns and sets up Ekitiké to help Liverpool beat Brighton

There were tears in Mohamed Salah’s eyes when he applauded the Kop after the final whistle and his family were present, as requested, for what the forward had suggested could be his goodbye to Liverpool. But Anfield was not in the mood to let go. Say it ain’t so, Mo.

Did victory over toothless Brighton really represent the end of a phenomenal Liverpool career? Only Salah knows the answer to that. Beyond question was the 33-year-old’s determination to make an impact following his 26th-minute introduction, Arne Slot’s willingness to put the team above the individual and Anfield’s appreciation for one of its greatest talents.

Published: December 13, 2025, 5:18 pm

Lindsey Vonn second at St Moritz a day after historic World Cup win

• Vonn denied second straight downhill win at St Moritz

• Aicher edges ageless American star by 0.24sec

• Vonn remains atop downhill standings after two races

At 41, Lindsey Vonn is no longer defying expectations so much as resetting them. One day after becoming the oldest woman to win a World Cup race, the American came within a quarter-second of doing it again, finishing second in Saturday’s downhill at St Moritz behind Germany’s Emma Aicher.

Less than 24 hours after rewriting the World Cup age record, Vonn briefly looked on course for another victory as she surged ahead of Italy’s Sofia Goggia on the sunlit Corviglia course. But Aicher, skiing immediately after her, attacked the increasingly rutted track and edged Vonn by 0.24 seconds to deny her a rare opening-weekend double.

Published: December 13, 2025, 1:22 pm

As Sudan burns, the NBA’s embrace of the UAE shows how sport enables atrocity

While UAE-backed forces are accused of mass killings in Sudan, the NBA is deepening its partnership with the controversial Gulf state. This is what sportswashing looks like

As paramilitary fighters from the brutal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the largest city in western Sudan – carrying out mass executions, rapes and ethnic cleansing with weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates – the NBA’s annual in-season tournament, the Emirates NBA Cup, tipped off on Halloween night, proudly sponsored by the very same Gulf state.

The tournament is the most visible example of the NBA’s expanding partnership with the UAE – a partnership that includes annual preseason games in Abu Dhabi, a lucrative sponsorship deal with Emirates airlines, and plans for a new NBA Global Academy at NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus.

Published: December 13, 2025, 9:00 am

Minnesota Wild go all-in with blockbuster trade for Norris winner Quinn Hughes

• Wild acquire star defenseman from Canucks

• Vancouver receive three prospects and a first

• Trade signals Minnesota’s all-in push

The Minnesota Wild made an all-in move for one of the NHL’s best players in his prime, acquiring defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks in a blockbuster trade – their boldest action yet toward ending a decade-long skid of playoff series defeats.

The teams announced the seismic move on Friday night, after the 2024 Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman had been the most talked-about trade candidate over the past couple of weeks. Minnesota sent center Marco Rossi, defenseman Zeev Buium, winger Liam Ohgren and a first-round pick in the 2026 draft to suddenly rebuilding Vancouver to complete the deal.

Published: December 13, 2025, 1:47 pm

Trump loomed over baseball’s Hall of Fame. But voters still said no to Bonds and Clemens

With Trump championing Pete Rose and pressuring MLB’s commissioner, the Hall of Fame vote became a referendum on power, memory and whether integrity still matters

Since mid-May, when Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced Pete Rose would be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration and explained his specious reasonings behind it, last week’s Hall of Fame vote by the 16-member Classic Era committee carried with it a certain air of inevitability for Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, the two greatest players currently not enshrined in Cooperstown.

Rose was championed by Donald Trump, who used his populism to demand the Hit King finally be allowed into the Hall, an honor denied Rose since 1989 when baseball placed him on the permanently ineligible list for betting on games when he managed the Cincinnati Reds. After Rose died in September 2024, Trump then won the presidency five weeks later and immediately increased the pressure on Manfred to end Rose’s 36-year banishment – despite the absence of any evidence suggesting Rose was any less guilty in death of gambling on the sport than he had been alive. Nevertheless, Manfred acquiesced to Trump, and in 2027, for the first time, Pete Rose will be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame.

Published: December 13, 2025, 9:30 am

Lionel Messi’s India tour starts in chaos as angry fans throw seats in stadium

• Argentinian makes 20-minute appearance in Kolkata

• Supporters climb fence and hurl objects from stands

Lionel Messi’s tour of India kicked off on a chaotic note on Saturday as fans ripped up seats and threw them towards the pitch after the Argentina and Inter Miami forward’s brief visit to the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, the ANI news agency reported.

Messi is in India as part of a tour during which he is scheduled to attend concerts, youth football clinics and a padel tournament, and launch charitable initiatives at events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

Published: December 13, 2025, 9:00 am

‘It’s not normal to walk into the tornado’: To fans, there was only one Ricky Hatton. Those who loved him knew many

Three months after Hatton’s death, his bereft former trainer Billy Graham, friend Jane Couch and his brother Matthew are all trying to find a hopeful future amid the grief

“Of course I remember,” Billy Graham says quietly as he pushes back his straw trilby to show me his wounded expression. “I can remember everything.”

Graham, who trained Ricky Hatton for all but the last three of his 48 fights, used to sit with his fighter on the grimy steps outside their first boxing gym in Salford in the late 1990s. It was a more innocent time and, rather than being called The Preacher and The Hitman, they were just Billy and Ricky then.

Published: December 13, 2025, 6:00 am

Caitlin Clark says CBA negotiations are ‘biggest moment in the history of the WNBA’

• Clark makes senior Team USA debut at Duke camp

• WNBA CBA talks loom as players seek revenue share

• Clark calls negotiations league’s biggest moment

WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is making her debut with the senior US women’s national team this weekend, taking part in a training camp at Duke under first-time Team USA head coach Kara Lawson.

And while much of the attention on Friday was focused on how the American squad might evolve before the 2026 Fiba World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics – Clark is one of 10 newcomers – a topic of conversation looming over the first day of practice were the collective bargaining negotiations happening now between the WNBA and its players.

Published: December 12, 2025, 9:30 pm

Sherrone Moore charged with home invasion, stalking after dismissal as Michigan football coach

• Moore charged after abrupt firing at Michigan

• University says conduct violated policy

• Prosecutors allege home invasion, stalking

Sherrone Moore, who was abruptly fired this week as the University of Michigan football coach, was charged Friday with three crimes including home invasion and stalking a person he had dated, prosecutors said.

Moore has spent two nights in jail following his firing and subsequent arrest Wednesday.

Published: December 12, 2025, 6:40 pm

House Democrats release Epstein photos with Trump, Bannon, Clinton and others

Notable figures in batch of images include Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Woody Allen and Bill Gates

• The latest tranche of Epstein evidence – in pictures

House Democrats have published a new tranche of what they called “disturbing” photographs from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, featuring among others Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the British former royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The 19 photographs in the initial drop – some of which have been seen before – plus another 70 released later Friday afternoon represent a small number of the almost 100,000 images released to the House oversight committee, which is looking into the conduct and connections of Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by apparent suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 after he was charged with sex-trafficking offenses.

Published: December 12, 2025, 10:04 pm

‘He’s living his best life’: drunk raccoon hit DMV for snacks before liquor store

Officials say raccoon that broke into Virginia liquor store on 29 November had previously hit DMV and karate studio

The raccoon that barged into a Virginia liquor store, smashed bottles of booze and passed out drunk in a bathroom this past Black Friday has at least two other break-ins under his belt, a local government official has revealed.

Before burgling the Ashland ABC store on 29 November, the raccoon had separately broken into a karate studio and a department of motor vehicles office, all on the same block of businesses, Hanover county animal protection officer Samantha Martin said on an episode of the local government’s official podcast published Thursday.

Published: December 13, 2025, 11:00 am

Satellite images show huge fog formation haunting central California

Dense, 450-mile-long fog bank lingering over central valley as experts blames unusual combination of weather factors

New Nasa satellite images reveal the scope of central California’s dreary December, caused by an enormous fog formation that has been haunting the Central Valley for weeks, trapping residents in colder-than-usual temperatures.

The low cloud formation, known as tule fog, first formed over central California in November and persisted into early December. The Central Valley typically sees this type of fog during the colder months of the year, when the air near the ground is cold and moist, and the winds are calmer, allowing moisture in the air to transform into a thick layer of fog.

Published: December 13, 2025, 2:00 pm

Utah repeals public employee collective bargaining ban, one of the most restrictive US labor laws

Repeal of law comes as state Republicans prepare to defend four US House seats under new congressional map

Utah has repealed a collective bargaining ban passed in February that prevented labor unions serving teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees from negotiating on behalf of their workers.

The state’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, on Thursday approved the repeal of a policy that experts had called one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country.

Published: December 13, 2025, 2:36 pm

House Republicans propose healthcare plan with no extension of tax credits

With insurance premiums set to rise sharply for at least 22 million Americans, Mike Johnson unveils alternative

With health insurance premiums set to rise sharply for at least 22 million Americans who purchase their coverage through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces using tax credits that will expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts, the US House speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican alternative late Friday.

Johnson’s bill comes as his party refuses to extend the enhanced tax subsidies for people who buy policies through the ACA, dubbed Obamacare by opponents of the 2010 law. Those subsidies help lower premiums for Americans who do not get insurance through employers.

Published: December 13, 2025, 12:45 am

Cruise-ship stowaway owls set for US return after living it up at Spanish resort

Burrowing owls, who boarded cruise ship in Miami, to be returned to US next month after long spell in quarantine

Two burrowing owls stowed away on a cruise ship out of Miami, and are now living the high life at a Spanish resort before returning to the US next month.

Biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said the mating pair boarded Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas before the vessel’s transatlantic crossing to Cartagena in southern Spain in February. The tiny owls, a threatened species in Florida, usually prefer more rural landscapes, and may have been spooked by all the concrete around the Port of Miami, they say.

Published: December 13, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘Chalk Revolution’ strikes nerve as Slovakia fears return to authoritarian past

Teenager who first scrawled messages on pavement in protest at rightwing government did not expect so many others to follow suit

Scrawled in chalk on the pavement near a secondary school in eastern Slovakia, the messages were short and to the point: “Enough Fico,” read one, echoing a popular anti-government slogan, while the other joked about the Slovakian prime minister providing sexual favours to Vladimir Putin.

Appearing hours before the prime minister, Robert Fico, was due to speak at the school, the messages struck a nerve. Similar comments swiftly began sprouting up across Slovakian pavements in what was labelled the “Chalk Revolution” by some and “November Chalk Wave” by others.

Published: December 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

New Israeli barrier will slice through precious West Bank farmland

Palestinians who have worked the ‘breadbasket’ area for generations face being replaced by Israeli settlers

The death knell for the Palestinian village of Atouf, on the western slopes of the Jordan valley, arrived in the form of a trail of paper, a series of eviction notices taped to homes, greenhouses and wells, marking a straight line across the open fields.

The notices, which appeared overnight, informed the local farmers that their land would be confiscated and that they had seven days from the date of their delivery, 4 December, to vacate their properties. A military road and accompanying barrier was to be built by Israel right through the area.

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:00 am

‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement

The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable

Ten years on from the historic Paris climate summit, which ended with the world’s first and only global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it is easy to dwell on its failures. But the successes go less remarked.

Renewable energy smashed records last year, growing by 15% and accounting for more than 90% of all new power generation capacity. Investment in clean energy topped $2tn, outstripping that into fossil fuels by two to one.

Published: December 13, 2025, 6:00 am

Air passengers exposed to extremely high levels of ultrafine particle pollution, study finds

Levels during boarding and taxiing were far above those defined as high by the World Health Organization

A study has revealed the concentrations of ultrafine particles breathed in by airline passengers.

A team of French researchers, including those from Université Paris Cité, built a pack of instruments that was flown alongside passengers from Paris Charles de Gaulle to European destinations. The machinery was placed on an empty seat in the front rows or in the galley.

Published: December 12, 2025, 6:00 am

Indonesia floods were ‘extinction level’ disturbance for world’s rarest ape

Conservationists fear up to 11% of Tapanuli orangutan population perished in disaster that also killed 1,000 people

The skull of a Tapanuli orangutan, caked in debris, stares out from a tomb of mud in North Sumatra, killed in catastrophic flooding that swept through Indonesia.

The late November floods have been an “extinction-level disturbance” for the world’s rarest great ape, scientists have said, causing catastrophic damage to its habitat and survival prospects.

Published: December 12, 2025, 1:42 pm

‘Soil is more important than oil’: inside the perennial grain revolution

Scientists in Kansas believe Kernza could cut emissions, restore degraded soils and reshape the future of agriculture

On the concrete floor of a greenhouse in rural Kansas stands a neat grid of 100 plastic plant pots, each holding a straggly crown of strappy, grass-like leaves. These plants are perennials – they keep growing, year after year. That single characteristic separates them from soya beans, wheat, maize, rice and every other major grain crop, all of which are annuals: plants that live and die within a single growing season.

“These plants are the winners, the ones that get to pass their genes on [to future generations],” says Lee DeHaan of the Land Institute, an agricultural non-profit based in Salina, Kansas. If DeHaan’s breeding programme maintains its current progress, the descendant of these young perennial crop plants could one day usher in a wholesale revolution in agriculture.

Published: December 12, 2025, 12:00 pm

Hightailing along city streets and raiding ponds: otters’ revival in Britain

Still rare only 20 years ago, the charismatic animals are in almost every UK river and a conservation success story

On a quiet Friday evening, an otter and a fox trot through Lincoln city centre. The pair scurry past charity shops and through deserted streets, the encounter lit by the security lamps of shuttered takeaways. Each animal inspects the nooks and crannies of the high street before disappearing into the night, ending the unlikely scene captured by CCTV last month.

Unlike the fox, the otter has been a rare visitor in towns and cities across the UK. But after decades of intense conservation work, that is changing. In the past year alone, the aquatic mammal has been spotted on a river-boat dock in London’s Canary Wharf, dragging an enormous fish along a riverbank in Stratford-upon-Avon, and plundering garden ponds near York. One otter was even filmed causing chaos in a Shetland family’s kitchen in March.

Published: December 12, 2025, 10:00 am

Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $40m to women who said talc to blame for cancer

California jury finds company knew its talc-based products were dangerous but failed to warn consumers

A California jury on Friday awarded $40m to two women who said Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder was to blame for their ovarian cancer.

The jury in Los Angeles superior court awarded $18m to Monica Kent and $22m to Deborah Schultz and her husband after finding that Johnson & Johnson knew for years its talc-based products were dangerous but failed to warn consumers.

Published: December 13, 2025, 2:58 am

81 women file civil suit against army gynecologist already charged criminally

Blaine McGraw is accused of inappropriately touching and secretly filming patients during appointments on base

Another 81 women have joined a civil suit against a US army gynecologist who was recently criminally charged in connection with accusations that he secretly filmed dozens of his patients during medical examinations.

The civil lawsuit, which initially began in November, alleges that Blaine McGraw, a doctor and army major at Fort Hood in Texas, repeatedly inappropriately touched and secretly filmed dozens of women during appointments at an on-base medical center.

Published: December 12, 2025, 11:14 pm

Ancient lake reappears in Death Valley after record-breaking rains

Repeated fall storms led to the temporary lake, known as Lake Manly, appearing in basin 282ft beneath sea level

After record-breaking rains, an ancient lake in Death Valley national park that had vanished has returned to view.

The temporary lake, known informally as Lake Manly, has appeared once more at the bottom of Badwater Basin, which sits 282ft beneath sea level, in California. The basin is the lowest point in North America, according to the National Park Service.

Published: December 12, 2025, 9:24 pm

Louisiana pastor convicted of abusing teenage congregant

Milton Otto Martin III, who has been accused by several alleged victims of assault, convicted of indecent behavior

A Pentecostal pastor in Louisiana charged with sexually molesting a teenage girl in his church has been convicted of indecent behavior with a juvenile – but was acquitted of the more serious crime of statutory rape.

Milton Otto Martin III, 58, faces up to seven years in prison and must register as a sex offender after a three-day trial in Chalmette, Louisiana, resulted in a guilty – if split – verdict against him Thursday. His sentencing hearing is tentatively set for 15 January in the latest high-profile instance of religious abuse in the New Orleans area.

Published: December 12, 2025, 5:50 pm

Kim Jong-un admits North Korean troops clearing landmines for Russia

Leader praises his soldiers for turning ‘danger zone into a safe one’ during ceremony in Pyongyang welcoming them back from Ukraine war

North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech carried on Saturday by state media, a rare acknowledgement by Pyongyang of the deadly tasks assigned to its deployed soldiers.

According to South Korean and western intelligence agencies, North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.

Published: December 13, 2025, 5:17 am

Venezuela oil exports reportedly fall sharply after US seizure of tanker

The seizure of the Skipper on Wednesday marked the first US capture of Venezuelan oil cargo since sanctions were imposed in 2019

Venezuelan oil exports have reportedly fallen sharply since the US seized a tanker this week and imposed fresh sanctions on shipping companies and vessels doing business with Caracas, according to shipping data, documents and maritime sources.

The US seizure of the Skipper tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday was the first US capture of Venezuelan oil cargo since sanctions were imposed in 2019 and marked a sharp escalation in rising tensions between the Trump administration and the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Published: December 13, 2025, 3:35 am

US scolds Rwanda for breaking peace deal as M23 rebels seize key Congo city

Mike Waltz warns ‘spoilers’ will be held to account as rebel fighters escalate offensive in South Kivu province

The US has accused Rwanda of violating a US-brokered peace agreement by backing a deadly new rebel offensive in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, and warned action will be taken against “spoilers”.

The remarks by the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, came as more than 400 civilians have been killed since the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels escalated their offensive in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, according to officials who also say Rwandan special forces were in the strategic city of Uvira.

Published: December 13, 2025, 2:58 am

US treasury lifts sanctions on Brazilian judge who presided over Bolsonaro case

Justice Alexandre de Moraes and his wife had been under Global Magnitsky sanctions after conviction of ex-president

The US Department of the Treasury has lifted sanctions imposed on the Brazilian supreme court justice who oversaw the conviction of the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes had been under Global Magnitsky sanctions, which target individuals accused of human rights abuses, since July. His wife Viviane Barci de Moraes – who was added the sanctions list in September – was also removed from the register on Friday.

Published: December 12, 2025, 8:07 pm

Elastic limbs, fantastical accents and crackling sexual chemistry: Dick Van Dyke turns 100

The goofy star of Mary Poppins becomes a centenarian on Saturday. And what a precocious performer he has proved, sustaining scrappy mischief through seven decades of mainstream entertainment

All Hollywood stars grow old and die except perhaps one - Dick Van Dyke - who turns 100 today. The real world Peter Pan who used to trip over the ottoman on The Dick Van Dyke Show is still standing. The man who impersonated a wind-up toy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang hasn’t wound down just yet. He has outlived mentors, co-stars, romantic partners and several studios. He’s even outlived the jokes about his performance in Mary Poppins. These days his mangled cockney accent is regarded with more fondness than contempt. It’s seen as one of the great charms of the 1964 classic, along with the carousel chase or the cartoon dancing penguins.

Charm is the magic ingredient of every popular entertainer and few have possessed it in such abundance as Van Dyke, the impoverished son of a travelling cookie salesman who dropped out of high school and educated himself at the movies. “His job in this life is to make a happier world,” his Broadway co-star Chita Rivera once said - and this may explain his stubborn refusal to quit, not while times are tough and he feels that audiences still need cheering up.

Published: December 13, 2025, 6:00 am

Taylor Swift: The End of an Era review – as she breaks down over the terror plot, it’s impossible not to feel her pain

The singer’s tears over the Islamic State terrorist plot against her show and Southport attack make this behind-the-scenes docuseries about her world-conquering tour more moving than anyone could have anticipated

Swifties had long guessed that there would be a documentary going behind the scenes of Taylor Swift’s blockbuster Eras tour. The 2023 Eras Tour concert movie didn’t show any of the inner workings of this three-and-a-half-hour behemoth, which ran for 149 dates from 2023-24. Fans put some bits together, such as how Swift arrived on stage being pushed inside a cleaning cart. Plus, given the two albums she wrote during and about the Eras tour – 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department and this year’s The Life of a Showgirl – it wouldn’t be Swiftian to overlook another lucrative IP extension.

What fans could never have imagined was that Disney was set to start filming as the Eras tour was due to hit Vienna on 8 August 2023 – the first of three shows in the Austrian capital that were cancelled owing to an Islamic State terrorist plot. We learn this in episode one of the six-part docuseries The End of an Era, when Swift and her longtime friend Ed Sheeran are backstage at Wembley, hours before he guests at her first concert after the thwarted attack. “I didn’t even get to go,” Swift tells him of Vienna. “I was on the plane headed there. I just need to do this show and re-remember the joy of it because I’m a little bit just like …” She can’t find the words.

Published: December 12, 2025, 12:24 pm

The Revenge Club review – this starry divorce caper makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time

Martin Compston and Meera Syal are among the names in this tale of divorcees hitting back at their exes. It’s a thriller, comedy and psychodrama all at once – but could maybe do with being more simple

Sometimes three-in-one type things are good. Phone chargers with lots of leads for all your devices that have stupidly different ports. Those woolly hats that cover your neck and lower face, so you look daft but are impregnable to winter cold. The Nars blusher stick that is also a lipstick and eyeshadow.

When it comes to dramas, however, it’s best to stick to one field of endeavour. The Revenge Club is a gallimaufry of tones, styles and performances. Watching it is like looking through a kaleidoscope that someone twists for you every few minutes; it’s fun but quite disorienting after a while.

Published: December 12, 2025, 3:00 pm

‘I live for playing cops and robbers!’ Martin Compston on love, Las Vegas and the new Line of Duty

He’ll soon be going back on the hunt for bent coppers – but not before a wild revenge tale of divorcees going rogue. The star talks feeling inferior to Meera Syal, his life in the US and why he’s thrilled to be typecast

While we embark on the inhumanly long wait for the new season of Line of Duty, which starts shooting in January, you’ll see Martin Compston – the show’s hero and true north – a number of times. Twice as you’ve never seen him before, and once, in Red Eye, in the form that you’ve come to know and love him: brisk and taciturn, brave and speedy, the man you’d trust to save the world while the dopes all around him can’t even see it needs saving.

But first, The Revenge Club, in which he is a revelation. The setting is a support group for divorcees, a ragtag gang united by nothing but the fact that they’ve been summarily dismissed by their spouses. “There’s no other reason for these characters to be in each other’s lives,” Compston says from his home in Las Vegas (more on that later – much more). “They’re all desperate and lonely and in dire need of companionship. They’re all, in their own ways, broken, which makes for this explosive mix.”

Published: December 12, 2025, 5:00 am

‘Men explicitly loving men is so threatening to the status quo’: why are gay male pop stars being shut out of the music industry?

Not long ago, artists such as Lil Nas X and Olly Alexander were ruling pop. But success has stalled as acts face industry obstacles and rising homophobia. What now?

At the turn of the decade, gay male and non-binary pop stars seemed poised to take pop music by storm. Lil Nas X broke out with Old Town Road – which blew up on TikTok, sold about 18.5m copies and remains tied with Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy) and Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You as the longest-running No 1 single in US history – and artists such as Sam Smith, Troye Sivan and Olly Alexander from Years & Years were all singing about gay love and sex.

But the initial promise has stalled. Lil Nas X’s attempts to build on his smash debut album have fizzled, and he is publicly dealing with mental health issues. In October, Khalid released his first album since being outed by his ex last year but only sold 10,000 copies in the first week in the US. A previous album, 2019’s Free Spirit, sold some 200,000 copies in the first week and led to him briefly dethroning Ariana Grande as the most listened to artist on Spotify.

Published: December 12, 2025, 6:00 am

Add to playlist: the slow-burn psychedelia of Acolyte and the week’s best new tracks

Unhurried trippy bass lines and poet Iona Lee’s commanding, velvety voice conjure a glamorously unhurried sense of hypnosis

From Edinburgh
Recommended if you like Dry Cleaning, Massive Attack, Nick Cave
Up next Warm Days in December out now, new EP due early 2026

As fixtures of Edinburgh’s gig-turned-performance art scene, Acolyte’s eerie, earthy psychedelia is just as likely to be found on stage at the Traverse theatre as in a steamy-windowed Leith Walk boozer. Their looped bass lines and poet Iona Lee’s commanding, velvety voice conjure a sense of slow-burn hypnosis – and just like their music, Acolyte are glamorously unhurried. They’ve released only a handful of songs in the seven years since Lee and bassist Ruairidh Morrison first started experimenting with jazz, trip-hop and spoken word, but now the group (with Daniel Hill on percussion and Gloria Black on synth, also known for throwing fantastical, papier-mache-costumed club nights with her former band Maranta) are gathering pace.

Published: December 12, 2025, 12:00 pm

The 50 best albums of 2025

The year’s finest LPs as decided by 30 Guardian music writers – from a slip’n’slide through British club culture to a UK rapper like none before her
• More on the best culture of 2025

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Published: December 12, 2025, 1:59 pm

Joyride by Susan Orlean review – an extraordinary, curious life

An exuberant, inspiring memoir from the New Yorker writer and author of The Orchid Thief

In 2017, 10 years after Susan Orlean profiled Caltech-trained physicist turned professional origami artist Robert Lang for the New Yorker, she attended the OrigamiUSA convention to take Lang’s workshop on folding a “Taiwan goldfish”. I was with her, a radio producer trying to capture the sounds of paper creasing as Orlean attempted to keep pace with the “Da Vinci of origami”, wincing when her goldfish’s fins didn’t exactly flutter in hydrodynamic splendour.

It was Orlean in her element: an adventurous student, inquisitive and exacting, fully alive to the mischief inherent to reporting – and primed to extract some higher truth. “When we first met you said something to me I’ve never forgotten,” Orlean told Lang. “That paper has a memory – that once you fold it, you can never entirely remove the fold.” Was that, she wondered, an insight about life, too?

Published: December 12, 2025, 7:00 am

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

Halcyon Years by Alastair Reynolds; Paris Fantastique by Nicholas Royle; All Tomorrows by CM Kosemen; The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson; The Witching Hour by various authors

Halcyon Years by Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz, £25)
Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut who was the first man in space, is reborn as a private eye on board the starship Halcyon as it draws nearer to the end of a centuries-long journey. Yuri knows he died for the first time back in the 1960s, long before the technology existed to launch such sophisticated spaceships, but believes his remains were preserved and stored for future revival. Onboard life is modelled on classic crime noir from the 1940s: men in hats, cigarettes and whisky, with no futuristic tech beyond some clunky, glitching robots. As he doggedly pursues the truth about the seemingly unconnected deaths of two teenagers from the most powerful families on the ship, Yuri gradually learns about himself. There’s a conspiracy that goes back generations in this clever, entertaining blend of crime and space opera.

Paris Fantastique by Nicholas Royle (Confingo, £9.50)
The third collection after London Gothic and Manchester Uncanny captures both the reality and the mysteries of contemporary life in Paris in 14 short stories, 11 published here for the first time. Royle is a genius at blending the ordinary with the eerie, and his stories range from displays of outright surrealism to sinister psychological mysteries that play out as suspensefully as Highsmith or Hitchcock. It’s a memorable, unsettling excursion through the streets, passages and banlieues of Paris, and a masterclass in writing evocative short fiction.

Published: December 12, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘If we build it, they will come’: Skövde, the tiny town powering up Sweden’s video game boom

It started with a goat. Now – via a degree for developers and an incubator for startups – the tiny city is churning out world-famous video game hits. What is the secret of its success?

On 26 March 2014, a trailer for a video game appeared on YouTube. The first thing the viewer sees is a closeup of a goat lying on the ground, its tongue out, its eyes open. Behind it is a man on fire, running backwards in slow motion towards a house. Interspersed with these images is footage of the goat being repeatedly run over by a car. In the main shot, the goat, now appearing backwards as well, flies up into the first-floor window of a house, repairing the glass it smashed on its way down. It hurtles through another window and back to an exploding petrol station, where we assume its journey must have started.

This wordless, strangely moving video – a knowing parody of the trailer for a zombie survival game called Dead Island – was for a curious game called Goat Simulator. The game was, unsurprisingly, the first to ever put the player into the hooves of a goat, who must enact as much wanton destruction as possible. It was also the first massive hit to come out of a small city in Sweden by the name of Skövde.

Published: December 12, 2025, 1:00 pm

Star Wars, Tomb Raider and a big night for Expedition 33 – what you need to know from The Game Awards

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won nine awards, including game of the year, while newly announced games at the show include the next project from Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios

• The Game Awards 2025: the full list of winners

At the Los Angeles’ Peacock theater last night, The Game Awards broadcast its annual mix of prize presentations and expensive video game advertisements. New titles were announced, celebrities appeared, and at one point, screaming people were suspended from the ceiling in an extravagant promotion for a new role-playing game.

Acclaimed French adventure Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began the night with 12 nominations – the most in the event’s history – and ended it with nine awards. The Gallic favourite took game of the year, as well as awards for best game direction, best art direction, best narrative and best performance (for actor Jennifer English).

Published: December 12, 2025, 8:56 am

‘Charismatic, self-assured, formidable’: Lara Croft returns with two new Tomb Raider games

An all-new Croft adventure, Tomb Raider Catalyst, will be released in 2027 – and a remake of the action heroine’s first adventure arrives next year

After a long break for Lara Croft, a couple of fresh Tomb Raider adventures are on their way. They will be the first new games in the series since 2018, and both will be published by Amazon.

Announced at the Game Awards in LA, Tomb Raider Catalyst stars the “charismatic, self-assured, formidable Lara Croft” from the original 1990s games, says game director Will Kerslake. It’s set in the markets, mountains, and naturally the ancient buildings of northern India, where Lara is racing with other treasure hunters to track down potentially cataclysmic artefacts. It will be out in 2027.

Published: December 12, 2025, 2:45 am

My cultural awakening: The Lehman Trilogy helped me to live with my sight loss

My reduced vision badly affected my ability to appreciate films and art, but the stripped-back staging and immediacy of the play gave me back my sense of self

I began to notice my sight deteriorating in my 40s, but not just in the way that you expect it to with age. I had night blindness and blind spots in my field of view. At 44, I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye condition that causes the retina cells to die. I had always been a very visually oriented person: I was a practising architect, and someone who loved to read, draw, go to the cinema and visit art exhibitions. So when black text disappeared on a glaring white page, films became impossible to follow and artworks only took shape once explained to me, I questioned who I would be without my vision.

Around the age of 50, I had a particularly stressful year: I got divorced; dissolved my business; started a new job; moved house; and my dad died. As my life fell off a cliff, so did my eyesight, so that by 2015 my field of vision had decreased to only 5-10 degrees (a healthy average person’s is about 200 degrees). I was registered blind, but for a long time I lived in denial, not telling anyone how much vision I had lost. At work, feeling vulnerable and like I could lose my job, I presented as fully sighted, a daily performance that became exhausting. I was in survival mode, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, hoping I wouldn’t get found out. I refused to see myself as disabled, and resisted using a white stick, but once I eventually did, I found people saw my disability before they saw me. I felt a total loss of identity. And I stopped doing the cultural things that once brought me joy.

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:00 am

A world-weary, hard-drinking hungover Supergirl? This could be James Gunn’s DCU masterstroke

As played by Milly Alcock, the Supergirl trailer shows Kara Zor-El looking burdened and traumatised. Does this mean that the DC universe is getting darker?

Since James Gunn’s Superman became the biggest superhero movie at this summer’s box office, the world has been waiting to find out what the rest of the DCU sandpit will look like. Now, with the debut trailer for Supergirl, we have our first proper glimpse. On this evidence, the new Kara Zor-El lives in a brave new universe of gods and monsters that reflects her loneliness and fury right back at her.

Milly Alcock’s “woman of tomorrow” may not be like anyone we’ve seen on big or small screens before – which is impressive given how often Supergirl has been wheeled out over the decades. Helen Slater’s 1984 version is now widely regarded as a kind of sun-bleached Reagan-era artefact – a well-meaning but terminally camp experiment. Sasha Calle’s Supergirl in the recent The Flash looked soulful, angry and potentially gamechanging. And Melissa Benoist spent six seasons headlining a Supergirl series that was warmly received by its audience but rarely intruded into the consciousnesses of people who actually buy comic books.

Published: December 12, 2025, 11:54 pm

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, floods in Indonesia, the IDF in Gaza and the Nutcracker in Nairobi: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Published: December 12, 2025, 7:35 pm

‘Like lipstick on a fabulous gorilla’: the Barbican’s many gaudy glow-ups and the one to top them all

The brutalist arts-and-towers complex, where even great explorers get lost, is showing its age. Let’s hope the 50th anniversary upgrade is better than the ‘pointillist stippling’ tried in the 1990s

The Barbican is aptly named. From the Old French barbacane, it historically means a fortified gateway forming the outer line of defence to a city or castle. London’s Barbican marks the site of a medieval structure that would have defended an important access point. Its architecture was designed to repel. Some might argue, as they stumble out of Barbican tube station and gaze upwards, not much has changed in the interim.

The use of the word “barbican” was in decline in this country until the opening in 1982 of the Barbican Arts Centre. Taking 20 years to build, it completed the modernist megastructure of the Barbican Estate, grafted on to a huge tract of land devastated by wartime bombing. The aim was to bring life back to the City through swish new housing, energised by the presence of culture. Nonetheless, the arts centre, the elusive minotaur at the heart of the concrete labyrinth, was always farcically difficult to locate. To this day, visitors are obliged to trundle along the Ariadne’s thread of the famous yellow line, inscribed in what seemed like an act of institutional desperation, across concrete hill and dale.

Published: December 12, 2025, 2:49 pm

The 12 best gifts in the US for minimalists that marry form and function

Even the gift-averse minimalist in your life will fall for these lovingly crafted essentials that add a touch of taste to day-to-day life

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Too often, practical gifts are uninspiring, and gorgeous ones are superfluous. Most people would be bummed to receive, say, a package of tube socks, though they might wear them every day. On the other hand, they may gasp upon unwrapping a mother-of-pearl caviar set, only to put it on a shelf and never touch it again.

But there are Goldilocks gifts out there that are both beautiful and useful – elevated essentials that your recipient might not buy for themselves but will quickly come to realize they can’t live without.

Published: December 12, 2025, 8:15 pm

My darling clementine: why did Chalamet and Jenner dress in matching orange?

Colour-coordinating couples are nothing new, but Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner still caught the eye

When the Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet and the media personality and businesswoman Kylie Jenner appeared at the LA premiere of his new film, Marty Supreme, this week, they appeared to have been Tangoed.

Dressed head to toe in matching bright orange outfits made by the LA-based brand Chrome Hearts, they drew strong reactions online. “I have now confirmed there is such a thing as too much orange,” said one on Reddit.

Published: December 12, 2025, 1:11 pm

Flora Shedden’s Christmas desserts recipes for figgy crumble mince pies, boozy ice-cream, and choc pear meringues

Three sweet treats for even the fussiest sweet tooth: fig and hazelnut crumble mince pies, sherry and raisin ice-cream, and chestnut and pear meringues

Out of sheer laziness, this is a no-churn, very quick to assemble take on things. I tend usually not to recommend no-churn ice-creams unless there is booze involved, so this sherry and raisin one is a great candidate (the alcohol stops the ice-cream from becoming too hard and crystallised). And keep the leftover egg whites from the mince pies to make the chestnut and pear meringue, an alternative for the Christmas pudding haters at your table – there is always one. I think it’s important to have at least two puddings at Christmas.

Published: December 13, 2025, 10:00 am

A cure for ‘bacon neck’: How to keep your T-shirts in top shape

Marlon Brando was a victim of it, even Princess Diana was caught out by a collar ‘curled like bacon in a pan’. Here are a few ways to avoid their fate

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It is sometimes, amusingly, known as “bacon neck”, and it is the bane of my life: the loss of elasticity that results in a crinkly, ill-fitting collar. This undulating menace commonly befalls the classic crew-neck T-shirt or sweatshirt, but scoop, polo and V-necks can also be afflicted. Too often, science conspires to transform a smooth neckline into something resembling a failed polygraph test.

The term “bacon neck” (not to be confused with “turkey neck”, the disparaging phrase for sagging skin that is almost uniformly levelled at women) was coined, or at least popularised, in a 2010 Hanes commercial featuring the basketball star Michael Jordan. In the clip, Jordan’s seat-mate points out a fellow plane passenger’s worn-out collar: “See how it’s all curled up like bacon in a pan? See how bad this guy looks?”

Published: December 12, 2025, 8:00 am

Tim Dowling: my band is set to play live on the radio. What could possibly go wrong?

Rehearsals for a live broadcast at short notice reduce us to silence then swearing. This does not bode well

On Wednesday afternoon I receive a text that seems to suggest the band I’m in has been invited to play live on national radio. Twenty minutes later, the guitarist rings me.

“Did you get my text?” he says.

Published: December 13, 2025, 6:00 am

Dorothy Parker ‘fwowed up’ in a 1928 review of which children’s classic? The Saturday quiz

From demon, equal and encyclopedia to The Tour of Life and Before the Dawn, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Inflation adjusted, what is the highest-grossing film of all time?
2 What was revamped in 1279, 1560, 1696, 1816 and 1971?
3 Dorothy Parker “fwowed up” in a 1928 review of which children’s classic?
4 Native to South America, what is the world’s largest bird of prey?
5 Which fabric is protected by the orb certification mark?
6 The Almanach de Gotha is a directory of what?
7 Which amusement park was opened in Vienna in 1766?
8 What British term for rare US R&B 45s was coined by Dave Godin?
What links:
9 Năstase; Connors twice; Tanner; McEnroe twice?
10 Menevia, c600; County Down, c460; Lydda, c303; Patras, c60?
11 Choral by Beethoven; The Great by Schubert; From the New World by Dvořák?
12 Reverend Joy Carroll Wallis; hotelier Donald Sinclair; US military surgeon Richard Hornberger?
13 Demon; equal; encyclopedia; eon; fairy; medieval; primeval?
14 The Tour of Life in 1979 and Before the Dawn in 2014?
15 Charles X’s sword; Corot’s The Road from Sèvres; Empress Eugénie’s tiara; Mona Lisa?

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:00 am

Why do moths eat clothes and how old is the universe? The kids’ quiz

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:00 am

Meat-free under the mistletoe – recipes

Not a fan of the traditional festive spread? These recipes are a Christmas feast that even turkeys would vote for

Published: December 12, 2025, 12:00 pm

Threshold: the choir who sing to the dying - documentary

Dying is a process and in a person’s final hours and days, Nickie and her Threshold Choir are there to accompany people on their way and bring comfort. Through specially composed songs, akin to lullabies, the choir cultivates an environment of love and safety around those on their deathbed.  For the volunteer choir members, it is also an opportunity to channel their own experiences of grief and together open up conversations about death.

Full interview with Nickie Aven, available here

Published: December 12, 2025, 11:01 am

‘There’s power in numbers’: New Yorkers are banding together to protect street vendors from ICE

With ICE targeting vendors and fear rising, community groups are organising fast to keep New Yorkers working on the streets safe

On a December day when temperatures dipped below 20 degrees, Street Vendor Project staff walked along a busy commercial street in the Bronx, handing out “know your rights” information to vendors selling fruits and vegetables. Several vendors mentioned they were scared after watching videos of immigration raids across the city.

“We used to go around helping vendors apply for permits so they wouldn’t get fined,” said Eric Nava-Pérez, Street Vendor Project’s Spanish-speaking member organizer. “But now, we’re out here distributing immigration rights information.”

Published: December 12, 2025, 2:00 pm

‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism

Research shows that the British colonial wealth extraction system still influences the region’s tourist industry

Luxury tourism in the Caribbean sells a kind of timelessness. A paradise of sun, sea and sand. But to step off the cruise ship or away from the all-inclusive resort is to see a more complex picture: a history of colonialism and a future of climate devastation. New research from the Common Wealth thinktank maps how, over the 400 years since the first English ships arrived in Barbados, empire engineered a system of wealth extraction that shapes the tourism economies of today.

Sir Hilary Beckles, Barbadian historian and chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, describes Barbados as the birthplace of British slave society. Between 1640 and 1807, Britain transported about 387,000 enslaved west Africans to the island. Extraordinary violence, from whippings to amputations and executions, were a regular feature of their lives. On the Codrington Plantation in the mid-18th century, 43% of the enslaved died within three years of their arrival. Life expectancy at birth for an enslaved person on the island was 29 years old. This was the incalculable human cost of the transatlantic slave economy.

Published: December 12, 2025, 11:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: December 12, 2025, 2:16 pm

‘My photos are warm and full of imagination – that’s something AI could never achieve’: Yuan Li’s best phone picture

This spectacular image taken in Sakrisøy, Norway, triggered accusations that it was simply too good to be true

Yuan Li splits his time between two careers: in the winter, he works as a ski instructor; in summer, a photographer. When he took this image, Beijing-based Li was visiting Norway and Iceland with friends, on a trip focused on sightseeing and photographing the aurora borealis. He captured this picture while exploring Sakrisøy, a small island in Lofoten, Norway. In the foreground sits this distinctive yellow homestay; in the background, Olstinden mountain.

“It had snowed heavily all day,” Li recalls. “As I was setting up to capture this scene, the snow stopped and the sun came out, which made the perfect environment for taking photos.”

Published: December 13, 2025, 11:00 am