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

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

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

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

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

Brown University shooting: two dead and eight in critical condition as suspect remains at large – live updates

Suspect or suspects remain at large as Ivy League university tells students to shelter in place

• Multiple people shot at Brown University in Rhode Island, police say

Police said no weapons were recovered from the scene and the last sighting of the suspect was him leaving the Hope Street side of the building on foot.

Timothy O’Hara, a deputy police chief, told a press conference that the suspect is a “male dressed in black” who exited the complex at Brown University.

Published: December 14, 2025, 2:21 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

Drone strike on UN facility in war-torn Sudan leaves six peacekeepers dead

UN secretary general António Guterres says ‘unjustifiable’ attack on base in city of Kadugli ‘could be war crime’

A drone strike has hit a United Nations peacekeeping logistics base in war-torn Sudan, killing six peacekeepers, the UN secretary general António Guterres has said.

Eight other peacekeepers were wounded in the strike on Saturday in the city of Kadugli in the central region of Kordofan. All the victims are Bangladeshi nationals, serving in the UN interim security force for Abyei (Unisfa).

Published: December 13, 2025, 9:35 pm

Kansas Native American tribe in turmoil over deal to design ICE facilities

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed deal in October, but president says tribe is now trying to exit contract

A Native American tribe in Kansas is facing criticism from other tribal groups after its economic development subsidiary secured a $29.9m federal contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to design potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities.

The development entity of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed the contract to design the detention facilities in October, leading to criticism that the tribal group, which was uprooted from the Great Lakes region to reservation lands north of Topeka, Kansas, in the 1830s, was itself benefiting from forced removals under the Trump administration.

Published: December 13, 2025, 9:12 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

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

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

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

‘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

Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza wins Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player

• Mendoza becomes Indiana’s first ever Heisman winner

• Hoosiers QB led unbeaten run to CFP top overall seed

Fernando Mendoza, the mercurial quarterback of No 1 Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to win college football’s most prestigious award since its inception in 1935.

Mendoza beat Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love and Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.

Published: December 14, 2025, 1:08 am

Jalen Brunson’s 40 points guide in-form Knicks past Magic into NBA Cup final

• Brunson explodes for season-high 40 points

• Knicks shoot 60.7% to reach NBA Cup final

• Orlando eliminated as Suggs exits late hurt

Jalen Brunson scored 25 of his season-high 40 points in the first half, Karl-Anthony Towns added 29 points and the New York Knicks advanced to the NBA Cup final with a 132-120 victory over the Orlando Magic on Saturday in Las Vegas.

OG Anunoby scored 24 points and Mikal Bridges added 16 as the Knicks won their fifth consecutive game to match a season high. New York shot 60.7% from the floor while improving to 9-1 since 24 November.

Published: December 14, 2025, 1:41 am

Mosquera’s last-gasp own goal hands Arsenal dramatic win against luckless Wolves

No easy games? Surely this one would be for Arsenal. Never before in English football history had a team endured a worse league record after 15 matches than Wolves. In any of the professional divisions. Their haul of two points gave an outline of the grimness, although by no means all of the detail.

Before kick-off, the bookmakers had Wolves at 28-1 to win; it was 8-1 for the draw. You just had to hand it to the club’s 3,000 travelling fans who took up their full ticket allocation. There were no trains back to Wolverhampton after the game, obviously. It was a weekend. Mission impossible? This felt like the definition of it.

Published: December 13, 2025, 10:19 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

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

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

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

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

Death on high-speed roller coaster in Florida deemed accidental

Kevin Rodriguez Zavala died from blunt-impact trauma on ride at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park

A Florida sheriff’s office has concluded that the death of a 32-year-old man while riding a high-speed roller coaster at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park was accidental.

According to a report released Friday by the local medical examiner, Kevin Rodriguez Zavala suffered a deep cut on the left side of his forehead, a fracture to the bone ridge above his eye and bleeding above his skull. Additional injuries included bruises on his arms and abdomen, a broken nose and a fractured right thigh bone.

Published: December 13, 2025, 7:59 pm

Police forces in England and Wales to get units that tackle violence against women

Specialist teams will deal with offences such as rape and stalking as part of VAWG strategy, home secretary says

All police forces in England and Wales will have dedicated rape and sexual offences teams by 2029, the government has said.

The plans are being unveiled as the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, prepares to outline a delayed strategy on violence against women and girls (VAWG) next week.

Published: December 13, 2025, 10:30 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

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

‘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

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

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

‘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

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

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

‘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

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

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

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

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

‘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