The magic touch: how healthy are massages actually?

While they can be seen as a luxury, massages are often part of healthcare – here’s how they affect physical and mental health

Massages can feel great. But are they actually good for you?

In one study, researchers observed that 8.5% of Americans reported using massage for “overall health” in the 2022 National Health Interview Survey. However, definitions of health tend to vary widely, explains the study’s first author, Jeff Levin, an epidemiologist and distinguished professor at Baylor University. For instance, does it refer to physical health, mental health or both? That makes it tough to study, but may explain why it has such broad appeal, Levin explains.

Published: November 13, 2025, 9:20 pm

Whoopi Goldberg at 70: her 10 best films – ranked!

The actor and comedian was Oscar-nominated for her film debut 40 years ago, then won an Academy Award just five years later. As she turns 70, we rate Goldberg’s greatest hits

Or: Winona, Overshadowed. Predominantly, that is, by Angelina Jolie, whose movie-stealing turn as one of Ryder’s fellow patients at a late-1960s US psychiatric hospital won her an Oscar. Don’t discount Goldberg’s contribution, though. Soothingly understated as Valerie, the chief nurse, she and fellow staff members, played by Vanessa Redgrave and Jeffrey Tambor, provide the emotional grounding over which their younger co-stars (also including Elisabeth Moss and Brittany Murphy) can soar.

Published: November 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

Trump is pushing 50-year mortgages. Talk about short-term thinking | Arwa Mahdawi

A proposal touting 50-year mortgages could double interest payments and worsen inequality

Would you like to buy a crumbling shack for $2m? Well then, you’re in luck, because that just about sums up the state of the housing market right now. Housing, particularly in places with a decent job market, has become increasingly unaffordable in the US. That’s partly thanks to quantitative easing during the pandemic, which supercharged housing inflation. The median American home price in January was $418,000, about a 45% increase from $289,000 five years ago, per Redfin data. Wages haven’t gone up at the same rate, and housing prices compared to income have reached an all-time high.

In post-pandemic America, there are three groups of people. First, there are those who own their home outright and those who bought a house before the pandemic, then refinanced during the historically low interest rates we saw in 2020 and 2021. Many of those homeowners are now sitting on large piles of equity.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:00 pm

‘I’m now a one-issue voter’: US shoppers fear Italian pasta tariff will cause shortage

A potential 107% tariff on Italian pasta imports could cause companies to withdraw from US market – and for US producers to raise their prices

On Monday night, Kelly planned to make dinner and spend the night inside with her family. Instead, she told her husband to put the kids to bed so she could get in the car, drive to Wegmans and “panic buy” $100 worth of Rummo pasta.

Kelly, a 42-year-old product manager who lives outside Philadelphia, has celiac disease, which means that eating gluten triggers an immune response that leads to digestive issues. She saw fellow gluten-free people on Reddit and TikTok freaking out over the fact that the US is mulling a 107% tariff on Italian pasta imports. According to the Wall Street Journal, the hike could lead to those companies withdrawing from the US market as early as January.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:00 am

Social media’s beauty filters may look harmless – but they’re quietly affecting Black youths’ mental health

For Black adolescents, a recent study found negative experiences around race in online spaces outweighed the good

People of color have long critiqued social media filters for perpetuating Eurocentric beauty standards. In one TikTok video, a young Black woman who used the app’s glow filter was vexed that her brown eyes transformed to blue. In another video, a user wrote that she liked a face-altering filter until she realized that it generated the appearance of a smaller nose. Now, new research shows that such filters, along with a collection of other race-related online experiences, can negatively affect Black adolescents’ sleep and ability to concentrate on schoolwork the following day.

A new study published in the Jama Network that looked at Black adolescents’ exposure to online racism – including traumatic videos of police violence, online racial discrimination and racial bias perpetuated by AI – can cause increased anxiety and depression. On average, Black adolescents experienced six race-related online experiences everyday – 3.2 of which were online racism, and 2.8 of which were positive.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:00 pm

The Beast in Me review – Claire Danes’s astonishing new thriller is instant top–tier TV

This taut psychological two-hander between Danes and Matthew Rhys will surely win awards. You cannot look away

It comes as a great surprise to learn that The Beast in Me is its creator, writer and executive producer Gabe Rotter’s first major work for the screen. Because it is, simply put, so very, very good. Even without two astonishing performances from the lead actors – Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys – the script, the sheer style and confidence of it all, would be things of beauty. But add what that pair are doing, and this clever, taut eight-part psychological thriller moves seamlessly into top-tier television.

Danes plays Aggie Wiggs (Rotter may still have some work to do honing his naming skills), a writer who made her name with a book about her troubled relationship with her father. She is currently stuck on her next book, about the friendship between supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her fellow judge but polar political opposite Antonin Scalia, not least because she is grieving the eight-year-old son she and her now ex-wife Shelley (Natalie Morales) lost to a drunk driver four years earlier. The driver, a young man called Teddy, who lives locally and frequent sightings of whom negate any chance of peace for Aggie, managed to delay a breathalyser test at the time and avoid being charged with the boy’s death. Aggie lives alone with her rage and grief in the large, empty house that was supposed to overflow with family.

Published: November 13, 2025, 8:01 am

Emails reveal Jeffrey Epstein and associate discussed ‘girls’ and travel

Revealed: disclosure comes at same time US justice department downplaying possibility that other men involved in Epstein’s abuse

While Donald Trump’s justice department has downplayed the possibility that other men were involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of teen girls, an email released on 12 November as part of the House oversight committee’s Epstein investigation shows an exchange between the late financier and an associate where they discuss “girls” and travel.

Analysis by the Guardian found Epstein sent an email asking “what is your schedule?” on 23 July 2010 to an associate. The latter responded the next morning saying: “the other girl name is [redacted].” The Guardian is withholding the associate’s name, as attempts to identify and contact him were unsuccessful.

Published: November 13, 2025, 9:23 pm

US justice department joins lawsuit to block California’s new electoral map

Move escalates legal battle over a redistricting effort designed to help Democrats flip House seats in 2026

The justice department on Thursday joined a lawsuit brought by California Republicans to block the state’s new congressional map, escalating a legal battle over a redistricting effort designed to give Democrats a better chance of retaking the House of Representatives next year.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, challenges the congressional map championed by Gavin Newsom, the state’s Democratic governor, in response to a Republican gerrymander in Texas, sought by Donald Trump. The justice department’s intervention in the case sets up a high-profile showdown between the Trump administration and Newsom, one of the president’s chief antagonists and a possible 2028 contender.

Published: November 14, 2025, 1:44 am

Tenured professor sues University of Kentucky for banning him from law school over comments on Israel

Exclusive: Ramsi Woodcock, who calls for an ‘end’ to Israel and military intervention against it, says the university violated his first amendment rights

A tenured law professor sued the University of Kentucky on Thursday after he was banned from teaching and from the law school for comments he made about Israel, including characterizations of the state as a “colonization project” and calls for the world to wage war against it.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court, Ramsi Woodcock, an antitrust law scholar, argued that the public university violated his first amendment and due process rights when it abruptly placed him under investigation in July, just days after he was promoted to full professor, over allegations that he violated university policy – including anti-discrimination rules that incorporate a widely disputed definition of antisemitism.

Published: November 13, 2025, 6:55 pm

BBC apologises to Trump over edited speech but rejects compensation claim

‘We strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim’, reads statement expressing ‘sincere regrets’ over Panorama episode

The BBC has apologised to Donald Trump over the editing of a Panorama documentary that led to the resignation of its director general, Tim Davie, and the BBC News chief, Deborah Turness.

However, the corporation has rejected his demands for compensation, after lawyers for Trump threatened to sue for $1bn (£760m) in damages unless the BBC issued a retraction, apologised and settled with him.

Published: November 13, 2025, 10:57 pm

Florida kills man on death row in state’s 16th execution this year

Bryan Frederick Jennings, convicted over rape and murder of young girl in 1979, given three-drug lethal injection

A man found guilty in the 1979 rape and murder of a six-year-old girl was executed in Florida on Thursday.

Bryan Frederick Jennings was pronounced dead at 6.20pm local time after being administered a three-drug lethal injection. Jennings was sentenced to death for the killing of Rebecca Kunash, whom he drowned in a canal, according to reports.

Published: November 14, 2025, 1:56 am

Tesla recalls 10,500 Powerwall 2 battery systems in US over fire risk

Firm had received 22 reports of overheating, raising risk of serious injury or death, though none have been reported

Tesla announced on Thursday it is recalling about 10,500 units of its Powerwall 2 home battery power systems in the US for fire and burn hazards after receiving 22 reports of overheating.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said the recall covers systems that “may fail and overheat”, raising the risk of serious injury or death, though no injuries have been reported.

Published: November 14, 2025, 12:37 am

The great escape: seal flees killer whales by jumping on to photographer’s boat

Charvet Drucker captures dramatic video and photos of seal being hunted by orcas in Salish Sea, north-west of Seattle

A wildlife photographer on a whale-watching trip in waters off Seattle captured dramatic video and photos of a pod of killer whales hunting a seal that survived only by clambering on to the stern of her boat.

Charvet Drucker was on a rented 20ft (6 metre) boat near her home on an island in the Salish Sea about 40 miles north-west of Seattle when she spotted a pod of at least eight killer whales, also known as orcas.

Published: November 14, 2025, 2:34 am

Democrat Eric Swalwell faces federal criminal inquiry for alleged mortgage fraud

Latest target of Trump’s retribution campaign says ‘only thing I am surprised about is that it took him this long’

The Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell is the latest target of Trump’s retribution campaign against his critics, the congressman confirmed on Thursday.

NBC News reports that Swalwell is facing a federal criminal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud, just as three other Democratic officials have faced in recent months. The outlet says the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a letter to the attorney general claiming Swalwell may have committed mortgage and tax fraud.

Published: November 13, 2025, 10:05 pm

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin launches rocket carrying twin Nasa spacecraft to Mars

A huge New Glenn rocket successfully took off to place two spacecraft in orbit for a later boost to the red planet

Blue Origin successfully launched its huge New Glenn rocket on Thursday with a pair of Nasa spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’s company and Nasa are counting on to ferry people and supplies to the moon.

The 321ft (98-meter) New Glenn blasted into the afternoon sky from the Cape Canaveral space force station, sending Nasa’s twin Mars orbiters on a long journey to the red planet. Liftoff was stalled for four days by inclement local weather as well as solar storms strong enough to paint the skies with auroras as far south as Florida.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:54 pm

Trump news at a glance: president faces potentially damaging congressional vote over releasing Epstein files

Attempts to persuade two female members of Congress to withdraw backing for petition appear to have failed – key US politics stories from Thursday 13 November at a glance

Donald Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files after attempts to press two female members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.

The reported refusal of Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative from Colorado, and Nancy Mace, from South Carolina, to remove their names from a discharge petition to force a vote leaves Trump exposed on an issue that carries the possibility of turning segments of his Maga base against him.

Published: November 14, 2025, 2:01 am

Trump Organization sought to bring in nearly 200 workers on visas in 2025

President’s family business requested at least 184 foreign workers for Mar-a-Lago, Virginia winery and two golf clubs

Donald Trump’s family business increased the pace at which it hired foreign workers on temporary visas this year, even as his administration was placing obstacles in the way of other businesses that wanted to do the same, a report published Thursday claimed.

According to Forbes, which analyzed data from the US Department of Labor, the Trump Organization sought to bring in at least 184 foreign workers in 2025 for temporary positions at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, two golf clubs and his Virginia winery.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:50 pm

Donald Trump pardons UK billionaire and former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis

Lewis was fined $5m and given three years probation by New York judge over ‘brazen’ insider trading scheme

Joe Lewis, the British billionaire and former owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC, has been pardoned by Donald Trump over a 2024 conviction for his part in a “brazen” insider trading scheme.

Lewis, 88, was fined $5m (£3.8m) and given three years probation by a New York judge last year but was spared jail time after pleading guilty to involvement in a plan that prosecutors said was designed to enrich his friends, lovers and employees.

Published: November 13, 2025, 10:39 pm

Lies, damned lies and AI: the newest way to influence elections may be here to stay

The use of AI-generated campaign videos – labeled or unlabeled – is likely to permeate future US elections

The New York City mayoral election may be remembered for the remarkable win of a young democratic socialist, but it was also marked by something that is likely to permeate future elections: the use of AI-generated campaign videos.

Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Zohran Mamdani in last week’s election, took particular interest in sharing deepfake videos of his opponent, including one that sparked accusations of racism, in what is a developing area of electioneering.

Published: November 13, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘MigraWatch’ trainings to ‘Whistlemania’ events: Chicagoans fight back against ICE raids

Residents are organizing in response to raids across the city amid Trump’s wide-ranging ‘Operation Midway Blitz’

Anaís Robles didn’t expect to get teargassed. The co-owner of Colibrí Cafe, the coffee shop that opened this year in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood, saw commotion outside in mid-October and ran to see what happened.

Robles saw federal agents donning masks and decided to step back, she was half a block away when the teargas canisters hit. “People were just in the streets, so to clear out the area, they teargas all of us, and like, multiple teargas [canisters],” she said.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:00 am

This Palestinian human rights group was sanctioned by Trump. Its chief wishes US allies would take a stand

Shawan Jabarin says US colleagues and funders have distanced themselves from West Bank-based Al-Haq over the sanctions

Al-Haq, a leading Palestinian human rights organization based in the West Bank, is not new to adversity. But since the group was sanctioned by the Trump administration in September, its world has shrunk.

Today, staff work without pay because their banks closed their accounts. US-based funders have pulled away. YouTube has pulled hundreds of the group’s videos documenting Israeli forces’ human rights abuses against Palestinians. Perhaps most upsetting, US-based groups that had long collaborated have gone quiet, fearful that communications with Al-Haq may draw the attention of an administration that has made clear they are a target.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:00 pm

‘We were forced to burn bodies’: will survivors of the Tadamon massacres see justice?

During the conflict, the Damascus suburb became a killing field. But some of Assad’s henchmen are still around – and even working with the new government

Abu Mohammed still remembers the smell. It usually came at dawn, as the mosques sounded the first call to prayer. By the time he sat down for breakfast, it would fill the air around his home in Tadamon, a working-class district in the south-east of Damascus. The smell was hard to define. Whenever he noticed it, Abu Mohammed felt on edge. He had his suspicions about what it might be, but like so many Syrians who lived under the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, he knew to keep such thoughts to himself.

Abu Mohammed, a retired engineer who asked to be identified only by his nickname, first noticed the smell in the winter of 2012, nearly two years after the start of the uprising against Assad. At the time, he was living in a modest flat in the heart of Tadamon with his wife and their five children. The house stood just off a busy road named Daboul Street. Before the fighting started, Abu Mohammed enjoyed sitting on his balcony after work, sipping his tea as he watched the yellow minicabs and honking motorbikes compete for space in the streets below.

Published: November 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

Some days I am so homesick it hurts. What should I do? | Leading questions

You’re desperate to go home, but there’s also a huge risk of idealising it, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Start looking at the hard details outside the fantasy

• Read more Leading questions

After living overseas for many years, suffering a severe illness and nearly dying, I am desperate to return home to be nearer my family and friends. However, I have a good life where I am living with my husband (we don’t have children): we both have good jobs (I managed to change profession after my illness and landed a really good new role), and a lovely house in a good area.

I feel quite lonely here because despite my husband and colleagues I have few friends. I also keep getting sick as my immune system has been damaged and I have a couple of autoimmune issues. I’m desperate to go home and imagine an idyllic life living in a beautiful little house seeing my family and friends. Ideally not having to work much but spending more time with my parents in their retirement years.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:28 pm

Robyn: Dopamine review – complex emotions, instant euphoria: no wonder pop’s A-list love her

(Young)
After 2018’s mellow Honey, the beloved Swede’s heady comeback pairs production worthy of Daft Punk and Moroder with deep romantic realism

At the end of last year, during her triumphant gig at the O2, Charli xcx brought Robyn out onstage. In a sense, it was just the latest in a series of guest appearances on the Brat tour: a string of collaborators from the album and its ensuing remixes – Lorde, Billie Eilish, Troye Sivan and Addison Rae among them – had turned up at different shows to perform their parts live. But as well as contributing her verse to their remix of 360, Robyn also took centre stage, performing her peerless 2010 single Dancing on My Own. Released when at least some of Charli xcx’s audience were still in nappies, it didn’t sound remotely like a throwback even in the context of a gig based around one of 2024’s most acclaimed and agenda-setting pop albums: the star of the show’s willingness to cede the spotlight to her felt like evidence of Robyn’s influence over contemporary pop.

You can see why the Swedish singer-songwriter carries so much clout among pop stars of the mid-2020s. When she opened an album with a track called Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do, she wasn’t joking: after launching as a 90s teen-pop star produced by Max Martin, she rejected the usual strictures placed on female pop – walking away from not one but two major label deals due to lack of artistic control – and seemed intent on following a more idiosyncratic, complex, messy path. She never saw being in the centre of mainstream pop as antithetical to making music with depth, or that touched on contentious issues. Despite the worldwide success of her debut, Robyn Is Here, her second album, My Truth, went unreleased outside Sweden because her US-based label baulked at Giving You Back, a song about an abortion she’d had in 1998: when asked to remove the song, Robyn refused.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:44 pm

How the US is still removing Indigenous children from their families at alarming rates – video

For centuries, the US government tried to erase Indigenous identity, with boarding schools, adoptions and a chilling mission: “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”

In 1978, a law was passed to protect Native American families. But it didn’t fix the system. Today, Native children are still being removed at shocking rates. In South Dakota, they’re 13% of the child population but 74% of the children in the foster system.

Neelam Tailor investigates why, and how a system built on separation is still failing Indigenous families

Published: November 13, 2025, 2:23 pm

‘Diabolical move’: Miranda Priestly’s red shoes get Instagram fashion no-no

Closeup of studded stilettos in trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 causes fashion debate on social media

Posting the first trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 on Instagram on her birthday this week, the film’s star Anne Hathaway captioned the video with “it’s everybody’s birthday”, prompting copious comments featuring emojis of flames, hearts and – of course – the red shoe now associated with the film’s poster.

But with the trailer circulating on social media, it’s the shoes that have become the focus of fashion debate – and not in a good way.

Published: November 13, 2025, 6:15 pm

It soothes my bitter heart to know that no matter how much money Elon Musk has, he will never, ever be funny | Rebecca Shaw

What the Tesla tycoon wants his billions can’t buy: being able to get a true laugh

As I’ve written before, the world is being burned down around us by some of the biggest losers in history. It is painful to watch. In difficult times like these, it is important to try to find silver linings.

For me, the brightest of these linings shines from Elon Musk, who is one of the worst contributors to today’s “world vibe”. He has an unbelievable amount of money, and therefore power. He has the president’s bandaged ear. He bought Twitter, made it horrible and now spends a concerning amount of time on there, like a guy who brought alcohol for the party so you have to let him hang out.

Then they said, look, wait a second. We both just ate a pile of shit and we don’t have any more extra money. We both just gave the $100 back to me and we both ate a pile of shit. This doesn’t make any sense. And they said, no, no, but think of the economy, because that’s $200 in the economy, basically, eating shit would count as a job.

Published: November 13, 2025, 2:00 pm

Ultra-rich media owners are tightening their grip on democracy. It’s time to wrest our power back | Robert Reich

The Guardian has no billionaire or corporate owner: funded by readers, our fierce independence is guaranteed

• If you are able, please make a contribution to our year-end appeal

The richest man on Earth owns X.

The family of the second-richest man owns Paramount, which owns CBS, and could soon own Warner Bros, which owns CNN.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:00 am

Republicans are scrambling to reclaim affordability. Good luck with that | Judith Levine

Two problems stand in the way of the party’s efforts: their policies and their president

Try as they might to present Zohran Mamdani as the exemplar of their opponents’ radical-left lunacy, the platform the New York mayor-elect and other Democrats won on was affordability – the same platform on which Trump ran, and has spectacularly failed to deliver.

So in their panic, Republicans are scrambling to reclaim affordability.

Judith Levine is a Brooklyn-based journalist, essayist and author of five books. Her Substack is Today in Fascism

Published: November 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

Food insecurity leaves long-term scars. The Snap cuts are no exception | Priya Fielding-Singh

Even after Snap benefits return, damage will have been done: scarcity leaves trauma in its wake

When I was 13, a pair of foster siblings, Carla and Rodrigo, came to live with my family. For the two of them, the move brought a period of much-needed stability – and, for the very first time, reliable access to food.

Yet scarcity had already left its mark.

Priya Fielding-Singh is the director of policy and programs at the Global Food Institute at the George Washington University and the author of How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America

This article was updated on 13 November 2025 to reflect the end of the US government shutdown.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:58 pm

How should we tackle Reform and the rise of the far right? Our Gen Z panel has some ideas

The answer to extremism lies in real alternatives that improve peoples’ lives – not in tired platitudes or managed decline

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:00 am

The Guardian view on Trump and Epstein: the truth about Maga and its conspiracy theories | Editorial

The disclosure of emails from the paedophile financier has fuelled calls for the full release of FBI files on his case

It is 20 years since Florida police first investigated the financier Jeffrey Epstein for the sexual abuse of underage girls; six years since he killed himself in prison following his arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges; and more than a year since Donald Trump said that he would have “no problem” with releasing the FBI files on the offender.

As the Democratic politician Ro Khanna noted, releasing the files “was core to Trump’s promise … It was his central theme that the American corrupt elite had betrayed forgotten Americans”. The question is not only what Epstein’s associates did, but also what they knew and what they did not do. It is not only about their own behaviour, but about any knowledge or suspicion of his crimes, and willingness to overlook them.

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: November 13, 2025, 6:50 pm

Dodgers’ Ohtani into rare air with third straight MVP award and fourth overall

• Ohtani wins fourth MVP, all unanimous

• Schwarber, Soto round out NL finalists

• Yanks’ Judge edges Raleigh for AL MVP

Two-way star Shohei Ohtani won his fourth MVP award in a unanimous vote for the National League honor on Thursday and Aaron Judge earned the American League accolade for the third time.

Ohtani won a MVP for the third straight year, his second in the NL with the Los Angeles Dodgers after two in the AL with the Los Angeles Angels. All four have been unanimous.

Published: November 14, 2025, 1:09 am

World Cup 2026 qualifying roundup: Ronaldo sent off in Portugal defeat by Republic of Ireland

• Troy Parrott double enough for famous win

• France beat Ukraine 4-0 to book spot for 2026

Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off as Troy Parrott fired the Republic of Ireland to a sensational 2-0 victory against Portugal to set up a qualifying showdown with Hungary.

The 40-year-old Portugal captain was dismissed for elbowing defender Dara O’Shea off the ball with a little more than 30 minutes remaining at the Aviva Stadium, but Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men were already well on their way to a win over the side ranked fifth in the world.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:03 pm

Donald Trump’s granddaughter Kai in last after 83 in shaky LPGA debut

• Trump opens LPGA career with 13-over 83

• Day’s biggest gallery trails debutante

• Sorenstam defends controversial invite

Kai Trump, the US president’s granddaughter and the eldest child of Donald Trump Jr, opened her LPGA career with a 13-over-par 83 on Thursday at The Annika, a debut round that left her at the bottom of the leaderboard and underscored the chasm between elite junior golf and a field stacked with the sport’s top professionals.

The 18-year-old amateur, playing on a much-discussed sponsor’s exemption, began her round on the back nine alongside former major champion Hinako Shibuno and Germany’s Olivia Cowan. She received warm applause when her name was announced on the par-4 10th tee and again after she drove it safely into the fairway, one of the few calm moments in a jittery start.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:42 pm

MLS announces calendar change, will play fall-to-spring from 2027 onward

• League will also move to a single-table format

• Season will start in July and end in May

The MLS board of governors have voted to change the league’s schedule to more closely align with the European calendar, with seasons beginning in the late summer and ending in the spring.

The league announced the change after a board meeting in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday. The league will begin its season in mid-July, take a winter break starting in mid-December, then restart games in the first or third week of February (avoiding Super Bowl week).

Published: November 13, 2025, 9:29 pm

‘Extraordinary’ Nikola Jokić scores 55 points as latest dominant season continues

• Nuggets star is averaging triple-double this season

• Serbian star had lost previous 50-point games

Nikola Jokić scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win. Until now.

Jokić tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, and the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 on Wednesday night for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point games.

Published: November 13, 2025, 12:57 pm

MLS drops ‘Season Pass’ paywall, with all games available on Apple TV

• Streaming service charged an additional fee

• League is in Year 3 of 10-year $2.5bn media rights deal

Apple TV subscribers will be able to watch all Major League Soccer matches without an additional subscription beginning next year.

During the first three years of MLS’ 10-year, $2.5bn agreement with Apple, a stand-alone Season Pass subscription was needed to access all matches. During this season, more than 200 matches were simulcast on both MLS Season Pass and Apple TV, including the league’s “Sunday Night Soccer” package. Dropping the separate subscription was announced Thursday at an owners’ meeting.

Published: November 13, 2025, 10:03 pm

Alexander-Arnold is marginalised in Madrid but may not need a cult of Trent | Jonathan Liew

On the bench in Madrid and out of the England squad, the full-back has no one to fight his corner – so will have to do it himself

“He chose to start from zero. To keep showing up, day by day. It was about respect, courage and a genuine desire to belong. What I saw was a person growing beyond himself. In football, words can build trust, connection, identity. That is what true professionalism really looks like.” Well, at least someone is pleased with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s progress at Real Madrid. Unfortunately, it happens to be Sara Duque, his language teacher.

When Alexander-Arnold filmed a video in hesitant but really very good Spanish for Duque’s Instagram page, it’s fair to say it wasn’t received entirely in the spirit of pride and achievement it was intended. Very quickly, internet auditors started to do the maths. Alexander-Arnold claimed to have been learning Spanish for five months, which meant he must have started in May, when – gasp – he was still under contract at Liverpool. Rat, scum, traitor, etc. Perhaps, judging by how well he spoke at his unveiling in June, he had been under Duque’s tutelage even earlier. All of which brought to mind the old Frank Skinner joke (although others have claimed it) about John Lennon airport. A fitting tribute, seeing as it was the first place he went after making a bit of cash.

Published: November 13, 2025, 8:00 am

The other clásico: Barcelona and Real Madrid’s rivalry thrives on the basketball court too

The showdown channels centuries of Spanish tension and pride – and may soon collide with the NBA’s ambitions to expand into Europe

Scores of fans filed past the silhouettes of cranes and construction work surrounding Barcelona’s Camp Nou last Friday night. But they weren’t there for the world famous soccer stadium. Instead, the sea of Barça jerseys was heading for the club’s basketball arena, the Palau Blaugrana. There was an expectant but apprehensive buzz in the air – the night marked a big occasion: Real Madrid were in town.

It’s widely accepted that the biggest rivalry in basketball is between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics; between them they have won almost half of all championships in NBA history. The Lakers-Celtics showdowns of the 1980s went beyond basketball and embodied different Americas: West Coast glitz versus East Coast grit; flashy fastbreak basketball versus fundamentals; and, frankly, though perhaps sometimes oversimplistically, Black versus white.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:00 am

‘The pain remains’: France remembers victims of 2015 Paris attacks

Bells ring out across French capital marking 10th anniversary of country’s deadliest peacetime attack

• Paris attacks anniversary – in pictures

France has paid tribute to the 130 people killed 10 years ago by Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers who targeted a stadium, bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall in the country’s deadliest peacetime attack.

“The pain remains,” Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media on Thursday as he visited each of the sites that were attacked. Bells rang out across the city as a remembrance ceremony began at a memorial garden in central Paris attended by relatives and survivors.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:30 pm

US designates four European anti-fascist groups as terrorist threats

State department claims groups in Germany, Italy and Greece ‘conspiring to undermine foundations of western civilization’

The US state department has announced that it will designate four European self-described anti-fascist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organisations, as the Trump administration broadens its campaign against what it portrays as an international wave of leftist violence.

In a public statement on Thursday, the state department said it would designate Antifa Ost in Germany, the Italy-based International Revolutionary Front, and two organisations in Greece – Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defense – as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists … conspiring to undermine the foundations of Western Civilization through their brutal attacks”.

Published: November 13, 2025, 8:30 pm

New AI tool could cut wasted efforts to transplant organs by 60%

Machine learning model predicts whether donor is likely to die within the timeframe that liver remains viable

Doctors have developed an AI tool that could reduce wasted efforts to transplant organs by 60%.

Thousands of patients worldwide are waiting for a potentially life-saving donor, and more candidates are stuck on waiting lists than there are available organs.

Published: November 13, 2025, 11:30 pm

AI slop tops Billboard and Spotify charts as synthetic music spreads

Hits include country songs and a Dutch anti-refugee anthem, both entirely made without human composition

Three songs generated by artificial intelligence topped music charts this week, reaching the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts.

Walk My Walk and Livin’ on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” songs in the US, which documents the “most viral tracks right now” on a daily basis, according to the streaming service. A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, an anti-migrant anthem by JW “Broken Veteran” that protests against the creation of new asylum centers, took the top position in Spotify’s global version of the viral chart around the same time. Breaking Rust also appeared in the top five on the global chart.

Published: November 13, 2025, 9:58 pm

Chicago daycare worker freed after judge rules ICE arrest unlawful

Diana Santillana Galeano’s detention sparked outrage after agents dragged her from a daycare

A Chicago daycare worker whose arrest by federal agents last week sparked widespread outrage has been released from custody.

On Thursday, Diana Santillana Galeano’s attorney said she was released from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Clay county, Indiana, on Wednesday night. Her release followed a federal judge’s ruling earlier in the day that her arrest was “unlawful” as she had not had a preliminary bond hearing.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:50 pm

US markets struggle amid tech sell-off and economic uncertainty

Wall Street endured its worst day in a month on Thursday as fears that tech companies are now overvalued loom large

Wall Street came under pressure on Thursday, enduring its worst day in a month as a sell-off of technology stocks intensified.

After an extraordinary rally around hopes for artificial intelligence that propelled global stock markets to record highs, fears that tech firms are now overvalued loom large.

Published: November 13, 2025, 9:43 pm

Canada says Russia and China are ramping up spy efforts in Arctic region

Canada’s spy agency says it has observed intelligence threats targeting country’s government and private sector

Canada’s domestic spy agency says Russia and China have a “significant intelligence interest” in Canada’s Arctic, and are targeting both the country’s government and its private sector.

In his annual speech on threats facing Canada, Dan Rogers, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), flagged mounting concerns over hostile nations growing increasingly emboldened in the Arctic.

Published: November 13, 2025, 8:21 pm

Wuthering Heights: bold new trailer for Emerald Fennell’s epic adaptation

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi lead the Saltburn writer-director’s Charli xcx-soundtracked take on Emily Brontë’s novel, referred to as ‘the greatest love story of all time’

Emerald Fennell’s vision for Wuthering Heights is coming into focus.

The first full-length trailer for the Saltburn writer-director’s already controversial adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel sketches out an epic love story – “the greatest love story of all time”, according to a title card – beyond the erotic visuals of the first trailer.

Published: November 13, 2025, 6:33 pm

Major US broadcasters sit out Cop30 climate talks: ‘They’re missing a lot’

Figures show none of US ‘big four’ – CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – appear to have sent teams to cover summit in Belém

Thousands of media professionals are at the United Nations climate talks in Brazil. Almost none of them appear to be from the four major US broadcasters.

Nearly 4,000 members of the media registered to attend the global climate conference, known as Cop30, according to a preliminary list released by the United Nations climate body on Tuesday. But none of the “big four” US broadcasters – CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – appear to currently have teams present at the talks.

Published: November 13, 2025, 4:00 pm

Row over definition of ‘gender’ hangs over Cop30 plans to support women

Advocates say conservative states’ push to define gender as ‘biological sex’ would backslide on decade-old language within the UN

A row over the definition of the term “gender” threatens to bog down pivotal talks at the Cop30 climate summit.

Before the UN talks in Brazil, hardline conservative states have pushed to define gender as “biological sex” over their concerns trans and non-binary people could be included in a major plan to ensure climate action addresses gender inequality and empowers women.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:19 pm

Fears for elephant seals as bird flu kills half of population in South Atlantic

Study estimates 53,000 females have died on South Georgia since 2023, with ‘dramatic impact’ on future of the species

Bird flu has wiped out half of South Georgia’s breeding elephant seals, according to a study that warns of “serious implications” for the future of the species.

The remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean is home to the world’s largest southern elephant seal population. Researchers estimate 53,000 females died after bird flu hit in 2023.

Published: November 13, 2025, 4:00 pm

‘The car belongs in Berlin’: city backpedaling on bike-friendly policies, critics say

Car-critical measures have been slashed since the conservative CDU came into power in 2023, triggering protests and dividing communities

In the rubble left by the second world war, Berlin seized a zero-hour opportunity to remake itself with a brave new vision of mobility, its citizens zooming down broad avenues and autobahns in roaring German-engineered cars.

Tramlines, particularly in the capitalist west of the divided city, were ripped out to make way for motorists, and bicycles were muscled out of the main traffic arteries. The autogerechte Stadt (car-friendly city) was born.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:01 pm

Forty-two days: how the US shutdown unfolded in key moments

Week by week, key moments from the 43-day shutdown that disrupted flights, food benefits and federal work

When Senate Democrats decided in September to use the government funding bill to put up a fight over expiring healthcare subsides, it set the stage for a 43-day federal government shutdown marked by turmoil for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, a battle over food benefits, thousands of cancelled flights, and a rare Democratic stand against Donald Trump’s second-term agenda that progressives had been demanding since the election.

Each week brought new disruptions and frustrations, until a group of seven moderate Democrats and one independent struck a deal to reopen the government in exchange for a promised – but not guaranteed – vote on the healthcare subsidies by mid-December.

Published: November 13, 2025, 5:28 pm

Oklahoma inmate’s life spared moments before scheduled lethal injection

Republican Kevin Stitt commutes Tremane Wood’s death sentence to life in prison for 2002 murder of Ronnie Wipf

• After a controversial trial, an Oklahoma man makes a final plea to avoid execution

Tremane Wood, the 46-year-old death row inmate who faced execution on Thursday in Oklahoma, has had his life spared just minutes before he was set to receive a lethal injection.

Kevin Stitt, the state’s Republican governor, accepted the Oklahoma pardon and parole board’s recommendation that Wood’s sentence be commuted to life in prison without parole. It is just the second time during Stitt’s nearly seven years as governor that he has granted clemency.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:33 pm

James Comey and Letitia James to challenge validity of Trump-era charges

Former FBI director and New York attorney general say the prosecutor in their cases was unlawfully appointed

James Comey, the former FBI director, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, will ask a federal judge on Thursday to drop the criminal charges against them, arguing that Donald Trump’s hand-picked US attorney, who obtained the indictments against them, was unlawfully appointed.

The hearing at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia in front of Judge Cameron Currie will mark the first time a judge will consider one of several efforts James and Comey have made to dismiss the indictments before trials.

Published: November 13, 2025, 2:17 pm

Hundreds evacuated and dozens hospitalized after an ammonia gas leak in Oklahoma

People in immediate area were in respiratory distress after a tanker truck spewed a plume of anhydrous ammonia gas

Hundreds of people were evacuated from a city in Oklahoma and others were told to shelter in place after a tanker truck that was leaking in a hotel parking lot spewed a plume of anhydrous ammonia gas, authorities said Thursday.

The gas release happened shortly before 10pm on Wednesday. People in the immediate area were in respiratory distress and at least 36 people were taken to a local hospital, city officials said at a news conference.

Published: November 13, 2025, 2:10 pm

Serbia secretly agreed deal with Jared Kushner firm to develop protected Belgrade site

Government established joint venture with Trump’s son-in-law in February 2024 to build hotel, apartments and museum complex

The Serbian government has established a joint venture with a property development company owned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to develop a hotel complex in Belgrade, giving Serbia until next May to demolish the existing buildings, according to leaked documents.

An independent Serbian news magazine, Radar, published what appears to be a 2024 investment agreement giving Kushner’s firm Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC a 77.5% stake in the joint venture, and the Serbian government a 22.5% stake.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:09 pm

Ultra-processed foods may help explain rising bowel cancer in under-50s, study suggests

Research among women finds those who eat more UPFs have greater risk of early onset of polyp that can lead to cancer

Women under 50 who have a diet high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) stand a greater risk of having abnormal growths in their bowel that can lead to cancer, research suggests.

Ultra-processed foods are typically defined as industrially produced products that are often ready-to-eat, contain little in the way of whole foods, fibre and vitamins, and are typically high in saturated fat, sugar, salt and food additives.

Published: November 13, 2025, 4:00 pm

People held in ‘decrepit’ California ICE facility sue over ‘inhumane’ conditions

Lawsuit against US government alleges ‘life-threatening’ medical neglect and says residents frequently go hungry

Seven people detained at California’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center have sued the US government, alleging they have been denied essential medications, frequently go hungry and are housed in a “decrepit” facility.

The federal class-action complaint filed against ICE on Wednesday challenges the “inhumane conditions” at the California City detention center, which opened in late August inside a shuttered state prison. The suit alleges “life-threatening” medical neglect, with the plaintiffs saying they have been denied cancer treatment, basic disability accommodations and regular insulin for diabetes.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:35 pm

Germany decides against conscription to replenish post-cold war military

Voluntary model with incentives will instead aim to attract young people into forces in face of growing Russian threat

The German government has decided against a new system of compulsory military service after a bitter debate, opting for a voluntary model instead.

Under the plan intended to revamp the country’s depleted military, young German men will have to indicate their readiness to serve and undergo a medical from next year. There will be financial and other incentives to encourage voluntary recruitment, but if that fails to find the numbers a compulsory nationwide call-up will be reconsidered. This would take further legislation, however.

Published: November 13, 2025, 5:09 pm

Did Hitler really have a ‘micropenis’? The dubious documentary analysing the dictator’s DNA

Was the wartime chant about his solitary testicle correct? Did he have Jewish ancestry? New documentary Hitler’s DNA is trying to answer these, and more contentious, questions – but should it have gone there at all?

If a TV programme sets about sequencing the genome of Adolf Hitler – the person in modern history who comes closest to a universally agreed-upon personification of evil – there are at the very least two questions you want the producers to ask themselves. First: is it possible? And second, the Jurassic Park question: just because scientists can, should they?

Channel 4’s two-part documentary Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator is not the first time the self-consciously edgy British broadcaster has gone there. In 2014’s Dead Famous DNA, it inadvertently answered both these questions in the negative. Having first cast aside ethical integrity by paying Holocaust denier David Irving £3,000 for a lock of hair purporting to belong to Adolf Hitler, the programme’s makers then discovered it not to be Hitler’s and thus useless for DNA sequencing.

Published: November 13, 2025, 9:33 am

Come See Me in the Good Light review – frank, funny and inspiring documentary tackles cancer

The Sundance award-winner, now landing on Apple TV+, is a remarkably unvarnished look at a couple dealing with a devastating diagnosis

It is impossible to talk about cancer without invoking another Big C: cliche. Illness and pain, “journeys” and “battles”, finding appreciation for life while reckoning with death – these are the building blocks of cancer stories, at once uniquely devastating and devastatingly common. The poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley, romantic partners for over a decade, took divergent approaches to the Big C. As a writer and editor, Falley strived to “eradicate” cliche; Gibson, as Falley put it, would instead “double down”.

Diagnosed with incurable ovarian cancer in their late 40s, Gibson, the poet laureate of Colorado thus chose to double down on mantras we often aspire to embody but forget to practice: live fully, laugh more, love harder. Savor it all. “This is the beginning of a nightmare, I thought … my worst fear come true,” they say early in the exquisite new documentary Come See Me in the Good Light. “But stay with me … because my story is about happiness being easier to find once we realize we do not have forever to find it.”

Published: November 13, 2025, 5:16 pm

Donald Trump and JD Vance have graphic sex (in South Park)

There’s an investigation into a child sex trafficking ring, plus the US president and his deputy engage in some of the most disturbing scenes the show has ever put on screen. It’s quite the episode

This week’s episode of South Park opens with Santa Claus peeing in the face of a fourth-grade girl. It turns out to be an AI-generated video created by Butters as revenge against his former crush, Red, who cruelly manipulated him in a recent episode by pretending to like him in exchange for a rare Labubu doll. After learning of the video, Red decides to fight fire with fire, making her own AI footage of Butters molesting beloved Studio Ghibli character Totoro.

This kicks off a war of attrition among South Park Elementary’s student body, who use the Sora 2 OpenAI video generator – a real-life tool that allows users to create customised videos – to churn out videos of one another engaging in all manner of sexual and scatological behaviour with the likes of Popeye, Bluey and Droopy Dog (who poos in Kyle’s mouth). The adults of South Park can’t distinguish between AI and reality, so the town’s hapless police force think they have stumbled on a vast child sexual abuse ring.

Published: November 13, 2025, 12:15 pm

Keeper review – romance goes to hell in effectively eerie horror

Longlegs director Osgood Perkins takes us on a dark journey to the woods in a creepy and visually inventive nightmare with a killer lead performance

For the past few years, horror cinema has sometimes felt as fraught with toxic romance as a particularly cursed dating app. From manipulated meet-cutes (Fresh; Companion) to long-term codependence (Together) to the occasional success story (Heart Eyes), it’s clear that romantic relationships are mostly blood-stained hell, and a couple going to a secluded location together is a fresh level of it.

So it’s not surprising when Liz (Tatiana Maslany) starts to feel uneasy on her weekend away with Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) early on in the new and much-concealed horror movie Keeper. Liz and Malcolm have been together for about a year, which we gather early on has marked the time Liz has bolted from past relationships. Still, she seems optimistic about this one. She thinks she knows Malcolm pretty well, and their early scenes together are neither as dotted with red flags nor as suspiciously idyllic as other recent characters in the doomed-couple genre. Liz has a wary, deadpan sense of humor, and Malcolm has a slightly slurred-together accent as he explains some oddities about his family-owned cabin in the woods (like the fact that he has a creepy cousin who lives nearby). But their awkwardness levels are complementary. They seem comfortable together.

Published: November 13, 2025, 2:00 pm

Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution review – spectacular if baffling anime is out to thrill and bewilder

Remix of old and new material from TV series includes tremendous battle sequences but there’s an awful lot of lore for new viewers to catch up with

Here’s an unusual proposition: a film that opens with a kind of super-edit, cutting together chunks culled from many hours’ worth of plot and spectacle from the Jujutsu Kaisen TV series, which is then followed by some all-new episodes of the TV series; playing together in full as a movie, in the cinema. Is it a movie borrowing bits from a TV show? A TV show dressed up as a movie? Does it matter? It certainly doesn’t, if all you need is spectacular and imaginatively staged battle sequences – though for non-initiates, it’s difficult to see it adding up to much more than that.

One thing that would be very helpful – and is regrettably lacking – is a Star Wars-style scroll plainly laying out the backstory in simple terms for unfamiliar viewers. Sure, the TV show compilation does a bit of that, but it also feels like trying to download a thousand years of lore into your head, while simultaneously having your mind boggled by wild visions of conflict in the underworld. A bit more context for the long-running struggle between good and evil, involving sorcerers and “curses” (which seems to mean something closer to “demon” here), would be of great help to the normies over here.

Published: November 13, 2025, 1:00 pm

Schubert 4 Hands album review – affectionately searching accounts from two pianists in emotional synergy

Bertrand Chamayou, Leif Ove Andsnes
(Erato)
Leif Ove Andsnes and Bertrand Chamayou find lyrical intimacy and finely tuned emotional balance in Schubert’s late masterpieces for four hands

Schubert’s late works for piano four hands have attracted some starry pairings over the years, from Benjamin Britten and Sviatoslav Richter to Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia. Pulling them off requires an affinity for the composer’s distinctively private soundworld and a willingness to share a single instrument, often requiring a different way of thinking about the mechanics of making music.

Leif Ove Andsnes and Bertrand Chamayou are thoughtful musicians, and it’s immediately apparent from these affectionately searching accounts that they possess an emotional synergy. The great F minor Fantasia finds the Norwegian spinning seamless lyrical lines over the Frenchman’s cushioned bass. Dynamics are impeccably sculpted; the central Largo is weighty with perfectly balanced trills throughout. They can be playful, too, though their instincts turn inwards, probing the music’s spirit. The return of the poignant main theme is a heart-stopper.

Published: November 13, 2025, 6:24 pm

Feminist History for Every Day of the Year by Kate Mosse review – the women who helped change the world

The bestselling author champions female trailblazers in an enjoyable anthology for all ages

Women make up roughly 50% of the population but only feature in about 0.5% of recorded history. In Feminist History for Every Day of the Year, Kate Mosse, the bestselling author of Labyrinth, celebrates can-do women and gives history’s trailblazers their due. Aimed at teenage readers but just as enjoyable for adults, this anthology comprises bite-sized stories of female achievement and the centuries-old fight for equality. As Mosse notes in the introduction, it is about women “who refused to accept the limitations put on them, who campaigned and marched, battled and challenged the status quo to change the world for the better”.

The book features a mixture of famous and lesser-known figures: artists, writers, scientists, academics, sportswomen, educators and politicians. There’s primatologist Dian Fossey; avant garde painter Amrita Sher-Gil; Britain’s first black headteacher Beryl Gilroy; Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai; Ethiopian politician and humanitarian Senedu Gebru; racehorse trainer Florence Nagle; computer programmers Ada Lovelace and Dorothy Vaughan; and actor and music hall star Josephine Baker, who was also a pilot and agent in the French resistance during the second world war. Not all the assembled achievers are straightforwardly heroic – Marie Stopes may have founded Britain’s first ever birth control clinic in 1921, but she also believed in eugenics.

Available via Pan Macmillan, 10hr 16min

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:00 pm

Celeste: Woman of Faces review – from chanson to prewar jazz, this timeless song cycle defies the easy sell

(Polydor)
It’s a difficult second album for the chart-topping singer, in more ways than one – but her sombre songcraft ends up being spectacular

In theory, the making of Celeste’s second album should have been plain sailing. Boosted by a win in the BBC Sound of 2020 poll, and her single A Little Love appearing on the John Lewis Christmas ad the same year, her debut album Not Your Muse entered the charts at No 1, spawned two big hits – Stop This Flame and Strange – and ultimately went gold. That’s the perfect starting place from which to make a second album: success, acclaim and attention, but not on the kind of overwhelming scale that seems ultimately paralysing, where it’s impossible to work out how you can follow it up.

And yet, the making of Woman of Faces has clearly been attended by some difficulty. Celeste has talked openly about butting heads with its producer, Jeff Bhasker, whose hugely impressive CV includes work with Harry Styles, Taylor Swift and Kanye West: she commissioned string arrangements from British composer and conductor Robert Ames, but Bhasker “didn’t let me use [them]”. Last month, she was on Instagram, protesting that her label was showing “very little support of the album I have made” and had threatened to drop her entirely if she “didn’t put two particular songs” on its track list. This accusation caused a certain degree of eyebrow-raising, not least because Celeste is signed to the same label that singer Raye complained about in 2021, insisting they had refused to allow her to release a debut album: Raye subsequently left the label, released the album herself to vast success and noted that record companies might be better served allowing artists to “always create with a sense of purpose, rather than the means to sell”.

Published: November 13, 2025, 2:00 pm

Portishead’s Geoff Barrow: ‘I can’t think of any worse music to make love to than ours’

As he moves into film production with the thriller Game, the musician – also known for Beak> – answers your questions on Myspace rappers, Bristol greats and whether Portishead will ever make new music

What made you decide to make a film, Game, and can you tell us a little bit about it? Zoe2025
As I’ve grown older, I’ve found myself having more film ideas than musical ones. Having an independent label, Invada Records, I wondered if I could actually make a film. I was at school with [co-writer and actor] Marc Bessant, I’ve worked with [director] John Minton for 20 years and I met [co-writer] Rob Williams – a scriptwriter for Judge Dredd and stuff – when he moved to Portishead [Somerset]. The idea of someone trapped in an upside down car comes from JG Ballard’s Concrete Island. Initially it was gonna be a horror film where the character was attacked by rabid dogs, but instead we set it during the end of rave culture. I immediately thought of Jason Williamson from Sleaford Mods for the role of a poacher and it turned out that his dad had rabbited. He’s brilliant in it.

How easy was it to recreate the sense of the 90s rave scene on film? k4ren123
There are only a couple of sequences, but we wanted to capture the way the rave scene went from free festivals to something more corporate where the drugs were really organised. All my mates in Portishead [the town] were ravers. I wasn’t. I went to a couple, but for the film I looked at lots of old footage and bought most of the clothes for the film on eBay. Nineties rave wasn’t fluorescent outfits. They were ordinary kids in street gear, so I’d think: what kind of trainers were they wearing?

Published: November 13, 2025, 12:04 pm

Murder in the Cathedral by Kerry Greenwood review – an imperfect end to an extraordinary era

The 23rd and final Phryne Fisher mystery will be treasured by fans of the long-running series, but a single fumbled sentence derails this otherwise enjoyable book

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What a bittersweet pleasure it is to return to the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher and 1930s Bendigo in the 23rd novel in Kerry Greenwood’s historical mystery series – and the final instalment, after Greenwood’s death in March.

The amateur detective Phryne Fisher is back to solve a tricky ecclesiastical mystery in her characteristically glamorous style. She is summoned to Bendigo to watch her old friend Lionel become the colony’s new bishop. But country towns “incubate secrets like greenhouse tomatoes” and Phryne can sense trouble.

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Published: November 13, 2025, 2:00 pm

The Silver Book by Olivia Laing review – a thin line of beauty

The world of 1970s Italian cinema is the glossy backdrop for an elegantly wrought but shallow novel

“Ugliness,” noted Pier Paolo Pasolini, “is never completely depressing or repulsive. It contains within it an allegory of hunger and pain, its history is our history, the history of Fascism … It is tragic, but immediate, and for this reason, full of life.” For Pasolini, ugliness was its own kind of truth, such that Rome could lay no claim to being the most beautiful city in the world “if it were not, at the same time, the ugliest”. For some, though, that truth risked becoming “unseeable”. The gaze of the touristic voyeur, said Pasolini, skimmed over slums for the poor “filled with illness, violence, crime, and prostitution”, “convinced of the extraneousness and untimeliness of this sub-proletarian, underdeveloped world”.

Olivia Laing’s second novel, The Silver Book, is a work preoccupied with beauty. Set in the world of Italian cinema in 1974, the book overflows with extravagant film sets, feasts, dazzling costumes. Even Pasolini himself, cruising around in his Alfa Romeo, oozes charisma and allure. But as Pasolini made clear, beauty without its opposite can only ever be incomplete.

Published: November 13, 2025, 9:00 am

King Sorrow by Joe Hill review – dragon-fired horror epic is a tour de force

This sprawling tale of college kids who summon evil with lifelong consequences is a fantastic read

Six oddball but doughty kids fall into the path of a vast and terrible supernatural evil which has come into our world from the outer limits of darkness. They must spend their lifetimes battling it, facing horror after horror in the process.

This is the plot, roughly, of Stephen King’s novel It (his best; no arguments). It is also the plot, roughly, of King’s son Joe Hill’s new horror doorstopper, in which six friends summon the ancient, infinitely malicious dragon King Sorrow from the Long Dark to help them defeat some baddies. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual backfires.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:00 am

Colbert on Trump and Epstein: ‘They were best pals and underage girls was Epstein’s whole thing’

Late-night hosts spoke about damning new details revealed about the president’s close ties with the sex offender

Late-night hosts covered this week’s latest bombshell Epstein and Trump revelations and spoke about the president’s latest interview with Laura Ingraham.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:49 pm

‘We had to dumb ourselves down to fit in’: Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford on finally making the first album they wrote as teens

Written in 1974, the Bowie-influenced songs on Trixies are set in a fictional south London nightclub, but were shelved when punk took the band in a new direction. Now, after Squeeze’s 50th anniversary, they’re seeing the light of day

In September 1974, when they were hopeful teenage unknowns in Deptford, Squeeze created a concept album, Trixies, set in a fictional south London nightclub. Believing they had come up with a substantial work, they recorded the 10 tracks on a borrowed Revox tape machine and expected the world to fall at their feet. But nothing happened. “All our friends liked it,” says singer and lead guitarist Glenn Tilbrook, who turned 17 just before the recording. “But that was the only feedback we had.”

The album was shelved, but less than five years later, the band began a run of classic hits, including Cool for Cats and Up the Junction, which had songwriting duo Tilbrook and fellow guitarist and vocalist Chris Difford hailed as heirs to Lennon and McCartney. Now, after recently celebrating 50 years as one of British pop’s best-loved bands, the pair have finally done their teenage vision justice. A fully rerecorded Trixies will be released next March. Taster track, Trixies Pt 1, arrives this week and suggests that all the Squeeze hallmarks of melody, romance and storytelling were there from the beginning, even if few people heard them.

Published: November 13, 2025, 4:00 pm

Swear, self-promote and pretend you’re on a first date: a celebrities’ guide to Letterboxd’s Four Favourites

From Kristen Stewart to Willem Dafoe, everyone is telling the site their top four movies – but here are unwritten rules that will make sure you stand out

Once a humble app feature, Letterboxd’s Four Favourites has mutated into our era’s cinematic confession booth. Users choose (and can endlessly reshuffle) their top four films on their profile, while clips of celebrities and civilians alike performing the same ritual play out to Letterboxd’s 2.4 million Instagram followers.

It’s now a social-media genre of its own: the red carpet backdrop, the jaunty music, the snappy edits, the cheerful pings as posters slide into place. Each clip is a perfect little slice of fame, fandom and carefully choreographed spontaneity. And yet, beneath the surface chaos, there are rules. Unwritten (until now), but as binding as an Oscars embargo. So if you ever find yourself ambushed by the Letterboxd camera, here’s how to put in a convincing performance.

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:00 am

The supercar that shook the world: Enzo Ferrari’s life in the fast lane – in pictures

The cars, the races, the wins and the fans: Taschen’s new Ferrari book – full of unseen photographs, sketches and documents – celebrates a high-speed icon

Published: November 13, 2025, 7:00 am

‘You get more attention than you would choose’: how an unusual name can shape your life – for better or worse

From Peach to Riot to Aquaman, anything goes now when it comes to kids’ names. There are even companies to help you pick one …

“I’m lucky I’m not a lawyer or an accountant or something professional,” says Peach Martine, a 23-year-old musician whose Instagram feed is a kaleidoscope of colourful faux fur and leopard-print outfits. “People sometimes have trouble taking my name seriously.” First, there are the jokey comments (“Is your sister named Papaya?”) and then the assumption that she must be “a bit silly”. And don’t get her started on going to Starbucks. “They always put Paige on the cup!”

Martine wouldn’t dream of changing her first name though. She likes the fact that she has an unusual name. As a singer, she says, it has helped her to be more recognisable. If she had children, she would consider naming them something unique too.

Published: November 13, 2025, 10:00 am

You be the judge: should my boyfriend leave home comforts behind when we travel abroad?

Jenna says Dave is not embracing the ‘living abroad’ spirit while living in Barcelona, while Dave wants to feel at home. Which one of them is being a pain in Spain?
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Dave needs to embrace new experiences, instead of always clinging on to what he knows

We are abroad for six months a year, so I like to take familiar things. Jenna’s just being a snob

Published: November 13, 2025, 8:00 am

Cooking classes are the experiential gift you need

Plus: kitchen essentials from around the world.

• This piece was originally published in the Filter US newsletter on buying fewer, better things. Sign up here to get early access to it

Each week we cut through the noise to bring you smart, practical recommendations on how to live better – from what is worth buying to the tools, habits and ideas that actually last.

As an admittedly competitive gift giver, I’m always on the hunt for presents that will impress the recipient, and won’t end up in a donation bin in a matter of months. An experiential gift like cooking lessons fits that bill perfectly, but how do you go about shopping for an experience?

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:15 pm

‘Fashion has the power to create jobs, preserve culture and transform lives’: is Lagos the world’s most exciting fashion week?

Since its inception 15 years ago, the Nigerian event has established itself on the international fashion calendar. Platforming sustainability and social issues, and showcasing local talent, it’s doing things a little differently

Inside a marquee in the grounds of Lagos’s five-star Federal Palace hotel and casino, models wearing sharply tailored suits and flowing woven pieces in earthy tones walk down the catwalk to the beats of Yoruba talking drums, an ancestral instrument that can mimic the sound of speech. The show, presenting the latest collection from the brand Emmy Kasbit – known for transforming handwoven Akwete fabric into modern silhouettes – marked the official start of 2025’s Lagos fashion week, which took place in the former Nigerian capital last month.

From a dedicated catwalk space featuring more than 70 designers, to the American singer Ciara closing one of the shows wearing a gele – a traditional Nigerian head wrap – the showcase, which takes place every October, has come a long way from its early days of power cuts and a lack of interest from industry gatekeepers.

Published: November 13, 2025, 6:00 am

Democrats sift through shutdown’s ashes after resistance finally breached

After 42-day standoff, government is back open – and minority party won no concessions from party in power

More than 42 days ago, beleaguered congressional Democrats employed a tactic they were not known for using – refusing to fund the government unless their demands, in this case, an extension of tax credits that lowered costs for Affordable Care Act health plans, were met.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening, and the federal government is back open, the Democrats’ resistance breached by the combined forces of Congress’s Republican majorities and a splinter group of Democratic senators who provided just enough votes to get a funding bill past the chamber’s filibuster.

Published: November 13, 2025, 3:58 am

Princess Royal, a giant egg and Asian hornets: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Published: November 13, 2025, 1:55 pm