From shrimp Jesus to erotic tractors: how viral AI slop took over the internet

Flood of unreality is an endpoint of algorithm-driven internet and product of an economy dependent on a few top tech firms

In the algorithm-driven economy of 2025, one man’s shrimp Jesus is another man’s side hustle.

AI slop – the low-quality, surreal content flooding social media platforms, designed to farm views – is a phenomenon, some would say the phenomenon of the 2024 and 2025 internet. Merriam-Webster’s word of the year this year is “slop”, referring exclusively to the internet variety.

Published: December 27, 2025, 5:00 pm

America in pictures – the Guardian’s best photos of 2025

The collection of top images published in 2025 offers a layered portrait of the nation

As the US confronted intensifying climate threats, widening inequality, and political and economic turmoil, the Guardian called on photojournalists across the country to document both the hardships and the resilience of their communities over the past year.

These images and stories go beyond breaking news alerts, capturing the truths and complex lives of individuals and groups. They tell the stories of caregivers, survivors of gun violence, families forced to leave their homes due to political threats, the rapid growth of datacenters, and advocates working to protect democratic processes.

Published: December 27, 2025, 3:00 pm

Inflatable frogs and ice scrapers: nine innovative ways Americans protested against Trump in 2025

Historically, when organizers have used tactical innovation, movement activity has peaked

Federal agents in military fatigues carrying assault rifles in major cities. Huge cuts to healthcare, science and the US’s largest anti-hunger program. Immigrants dragged from cars and courthouse hallways. Rising authoritarianism, corruption and anti-democratic behavior. These are just some of the reasons pushback against the Trump administration is growing with each passing day.

While traditional marches such as the massive No Kings protests are a critical part of any resistance movement, sociologist Doug McAdam has shown how tactical innovation – the introduction of creative or novel protest methods – was a key part of the success of the civil rights movement in the US. Historically, when organizers established new tactics, movement activity peaked.

Published: December 27, 2025, 2:00 pm

We combed the internet for the 25 best after-Christmas sales still available

MasterClass, Roku, Apple, Aritzia – we rounded up the best post-holiday sales for tech, fashion and more that you can snag before the end of the year

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

The eggnog’s kicked, the tree is dropping its needles and distant family members have vacated your guest bedroom. Time to recycle your gift wrap, compost your tree and donate to a cause you care about.

Then reward yourself by buying what you really wanted for Christmas.

Best after-Christmas subscriptions sale:
MasterClass

Published: December 27, 2025, 3:00 pm

The year in patriarchy: Taylor Swift, Trump 2.0 and the Epstein files | Arwa Mahdawi

The year 2025 saw a Swift engagement, a rapid rollback of rights and a slow release of the heavily redacted Epstein files

The year 2025 would have been far better if we could have sent a few billionaires and world leaders into intergalactic exile. Instead, we had to make do with Katy Perry spending 11 minutes on the edge of space as part of Blue Origin’s all-female crewed mission. Perry promised us all that, in service of women’s empowerment, the crew would “put the ‘ass’ in astronaut” and “make space and science glam”. Truly, one giant leap for womankind!

Space may have got glam, but it was another glum year for many on Earth. The war in Ukraine continued, with increasing numbers of women volunteering to fight. The civil war in Sudan raged on, with the UN urging the world not to ignore harrowing details of targeted sexual violence, torture, and abductions from the region. The slaughter in Sudan is so extreme that the blood can even be seen from space. Although I’m not sure the billionaires and celebs doing celestial joyrides in their expensive rockets are particularly bothered by that view.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist and the author of Strong Female Lead

Published: December 27, 2025, 11:00 am

‘It brings you closer to the natural world’: the rise of the Merlin birdsong identifying app

Merlin has been trained to identify the songs of more than 1,300 bird species around the world

When Natasha Walter first became curious about the birds around her, she recorded their songs on her phone and arduously tried to match each song with online recordings. After a friend recommended Merlin Bird ID, a free app, she tried it in her London garden and was delighted to discover the birds she assumed were female blackbirds – “this is how bad a birder I was” – were actually song thrushes and mistle thrushes.

“I’m obsessed with Merlin – it’s wonderful and it’s been a joy to me,” says Walter, a writer and human rights activist. “This is what AI and machine-learning have been invented for. It’s the one good thing!”

Published: December 27, 2025, 12:00 pm

Ukraine war live: Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida for peace talks after Russia intensifies strikes

Ukrainian president will meet US president at his Mar-a-Lago home later today for their first in person meeting since October

The Ukrainian military said on Sunday that it hit the Syzran oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region in an overnight drone attack.

The strike caused a fire and damages were still being assessed, Kyiv’s General Staff said.

Published: December 28, 2025, 12:39 pm

Brigitte Bardot, French screen legend, dies aged 91

Emmanuel Macron leads tributes to​ actor who became an international sex symbol ​and later embraced animal rights​ and far-right politics

• Brigitte Bardot: a life in pictures

• Peter Bradshaw on Brigitte Bardot – a zeitgeist-force and France’s most sensational export

Brigitte Bardot, the French actor and singer who became an international sex symbol before turning her back on the film industry and embracing the cause of animal rights activism, has died aged 91.

Among those paying tribute on Sunday was the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who wrote on social media that Bardot had “embodied a life of freedom” and “universal brilliance”. France was mourning “a legend of the century”, he said.

Published: December 28, 2025, 11:50 am

More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study finds

Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media – and generating about $117m a year, data shows

More than 20% of the videos that YouTube’s algorithm shows to new users are “AI slop” – low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found.

The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world’s most popular YouTube channels – the top 100 in every country – and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop.

Published: December 27, 2025, 5:00 pm

How Las Vegas police ended up with a fleet of free Tesla Cybertrucks

Mysterious donors gave a fleet of 10 of the vehicles – which have had a number of recalls – to the police earlier this year

The Las Vegas police department rolled out a new fleet of tactical vehicles to city streets last month: all Tesla Cybertrucks. The steel cars, wrapped in black-and-white vinyl, come decked out with warning lights and flashing sirens on the roof. They seem to be heftier, more angular versions of a traditional police car. Las Vegas is the first city in the US to grant its officers access to a battalion of the futuristic trucks, which have become synonymous with the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world.

“They represent something far bigger than just a police car,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a recent press conference showcasing the vehicles. “They represent innovation.”

Published: December 27, 2025, 1:00 pm

The little-known program contributing to a decline in overdose deaths in the US

Crisis intervention training helps police recognize substance use disorders and connect people with treatment

Overdoses have been declining nationally since the fall of 2023, and public health experts have been unable to agree as to why. The decline has been uneven across states, and West Virginia, long known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis, is also among the states that have most reduced overdose fatalities, as noted in a recent Guardian analysis.

One little explored factor is the increased adoption of crisis intervention training (CIT) for law enforcement. Early research that compares jurisdictions that have CIT programs to those that do not show that this intervention is associated with a decline in overdose fatalities.

Published: December 28, 2025, 12:00 pm

Trump urges Republicans to ditch filibuster rule in US Senate

Rule allows minority party to block legislation, but GOP is reluctant to scrap it as they could lose majority

Donald Trump has floated the idea of ending the filibuster – a procedural technique in Congress that allows a minority of senators to block legislation from passing – which would make pushing through his political agenda in 2026 much easier.

In an interview with Politico, the president urged Republicans in the Senate to scrap the filibuster, saying it had become an obstacle to effective governing and removing it would prevent another government shutdown and pave the way for his party to push through its legislative priorities.

Published: December 27, 2025, 3:00 pm

Winter weather disrupts air traffic in New Jersey and New York

Nearly 15,000 flights canceled or delayed as both states declare weather emergencies after snowstorm

A mix of snow and ice bore down on the US north-east early on Saturday, disrupting post-holiday weekend airline traffic and prompting officials in New York and New Jersey to issue weather emergency declarations even as the storm ebbed by mid-morning.

More than 14,400 domestic US flights on Saturday were canceled or delayed as of mid-morning, with the majority in the New York area, including at John F Kennedy international airport, LaGuardia airport and Newark Liberty international airport, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

Published: December 27, 2025, 3:46 pm

Southern California cleans up after the wettest recent Christmas season

More than 17in of rain fell in Ventura county, with trees felled and hundreds of car crashes throughout the region

Southern Californians are facing an epic clean-up operation after the region’s wettest Christmas holiday in recent history turned areas of the state into a panorama of mud and debris.

A year ago, record wildfires scorched the dry neighborhoods of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. But now, in what scientists call “hydroclimate whiplash”, the picture is reversed after an atmospheric river off the Pacific Ocean brought the elemental opposites of wind and rain.

Published: December 27, 2025, 6:15 pm

Bayeux tapestry to be insured for £800m for British Museum exhibition

The 70-metre-long cloth about the Norman invasion has not been seen in England since it was created in 11th century

The Bayeux tapestry will be insured for an estimated £800m when it returns to the UK in 2026 for the first time in more than 900 years.

The Treasury will insure the 70-metre embroidered cloth, which depicts the 1066 Norman invasion and Battle of Hastings, for damage or loss during its transfer from France and while it is on display at the British Museum from September.

Published: December 27, 2025, 9:05 pm

The 2025 US economy – in charts: rising prices, hiring slowdown, rollercoaster growth

Looking at the government’s own report cards, how did the US fare under the first year of Trumponomics 2.0?

The US economy is thriving, according to Donald Trump: jobs are surging, prices are falling, wages are soaring. The government’s own official statistics paint a more complicated picture of 2025.

“The Trump Economic Golden Age is FULL steam ahead,” the president claimed on social media, after growth data for the third quarter of the year – covering July, August and September – was unexpectedly strong.

Published: December 28, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘We became famous, but at what cost?’: after the horrors of Cecot, the search for a normal life

After months of torture in the Salvadorian prison, the men deported from the US reunite with families in Venezuela

In preparation for the new year, Andry Hernández Romero, his best friend and his family are building an año viejo: a human-sized doll made of scrap wood and rags, styled with old clothes and stuffed with fireworks.

On New Year’s Eve, when the clock strikes midnight, they’ll set it ablaze.

Published: December 28, 2025, 12:00 pm

Trump news at a glance: Republican turns ‘lowlife’ taunt back on president to raise campaign funds

Thomas Massie, who co-authored Epstein files act, says president attacked him for keeping commitment to ‘help victims’. Key US politics stories from 27 December at a glance

The Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie – who was singled out by Donald Trump on Christmas as a “lowlife” after co-authoring a law requiring the federal government to release all of its Jeffrey Epstein files – says the president attacked him for keeping a commitment to “help victims”.

The congressman then successfully sought donations for his run in the 2026 midterm elections against an opponent that Trump has endorsed.

Published: December 28, 2025, 2:46 am

Brigitte Bardot: the zeitgeist-force who was France’s most sensational export | Peter Bradshaw

Bardot titillated the world for five decades, but the controversy and voyeurism surrounding her shouldn’t overshadow an intriguing film career

• Brigitte Bardot dies aged 91

• A life in pictures

Bardot … there was a time when it couldn’t be pronounced without a knowing pout on the second syllable. French headline-writers loved calling the world’s most desirable film star by her initials: “BB”, that is: bébé, a bit of weirdly infantilised tabloid pillow-talk. When Brigitte Bardot retired from the movies in the mid-70s, taking up the cause of animal rights and a ban on the import of baby seals, the French press took to calling her BB-phoque, a homophone of the French for “baby seal” with a nasty hint of an Anglo pun. But France’s love affair with Bardot was to curdle, despite her fierce patriotism and admiration for Charles de Gaulle (the feeling was reciprocated). As her animal rights campaigning morphed in the 21st century into an attack on halal meat, and then into shrill attacks on the alleged “Islamicisation” of France, her relations with the modern world curdled even more.

In the 1950s, before the sexual revolution, before the New Wave, before feminism, there was Bardot: she was sex, she was youth, and, more to the point, Bardot was modernity. She was the unacknowledged zeitgeist force that stirred cinema’s young lions such as François Truffaut against the old order. Bardot was the country’s most sensational cultural export; she was in effect the French Beatles, a liberated, deliciously shameless screen siren who made male American moviegoers gulp and goggle with desire in that puritan land where sex on screen was still not commonplace, and in which sexiness had to be presented in a demure solvent of comedy. Bardot may not have had the comedy skills of a Marilyn Monroe, but she had ingenuous charm and real charisma, a gentleness and sweetness, largely overlooked in the avalanche of prurience and sexist condescension.

Published: December 28, 2025, 9:57 am

Soak it up: everything science taught us about health and wellness in 2025

Do hot baths improve endurance? Will creatine bolster your brain power? Does pickle juice prevent cramp? Here’s what we learned about living well this year

The best advice for living a healthy, well-adjusted life – eat your vegetables, get a good night’s sleep, politely decline when the Jägerbombs appear – never really changes. Other nuggets, such as how much protein you should be eating or how to maximise workouts, seem to change every year. But as we wonder whether we should really give sauerkraut another go, science marches on, making tiny strides towards improving our understanding of what’s helpful. Here’s what you might have missed in the research this year, from the best reason to eat beetroot, to how to ruin your five-a-side performance before the game even starts. There’s still time to break out the pickle juice shots before 2026 …

Published: December 28, 2025, 6:00 am

Could AI relationships actually be good for us?

From companionship to psychotherapy, technology could meet unmet needs – but it needs to be handled responsibly

There is much anxiety these days about the dangers of human-AI relationships. Reports of suicide and self-harm attributable to interactions with chatbots have understandably made headlines. The phrase “AI psychosis” has been used to describe the plight of people experiencing delusions, paranoia or dissociation after talking to large language models (LLMs). Our collective anxiety has been compounded by studies showing that young people are increasingly embracing the idea of AI relationships; half of teens chat with an AI companion at least a few times a month, with one in three finding conversations with AI “to be as satisfying or more satisfying than those with real‑life friends”.

But we need to pump the brakes on the panic. The dangers are real, but so too are the potential benefits. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that – depending on what future scientific research reveals – AI relationships could actually be a boon for humanity.

Published: December 28, 2025, 12:00 pm

Dining across the divide: ‘There’s nothing more irritating than being told you’re an idiot by a teenager’

Two film producers discuss second homes, the use of the word ‘woke’, and the importance of the BBC. Could they find any common ground?

Alex, 28, London

Occupation Assistant producer for documentaries

Published: December 28, 2025, 12:00 pm

‘Of course he abused pupils’: ex-Dulwich teacher speaks out about Farage racism claims

Exclusive: Chloë Deakin tells how she wrote to Dulwich college master to argue against Farage’s nomination as prefect

It was 1981 and Nigel Farage was turning 17. He was already a figure of some controversy, as would become a lifelong habit, among the younger pupils and staff at Dulwich college in south-east London.

“I remember it was either in a particular English lesson or a particular form period that his name came up,” said Chloë Deakin, then a young English teacher, of a discussion with a class of 11- and 12-year-olds. “There was something about bullying, and he was being referred to, quite specifically, as a bully. And I thought: ‘Who is this boy?’”

Published: December 28, 2025, 6:00 am

‘Ghost resorts’: as hundreds of ski slopes lie abandoned, will nature reclaim the Alps?

With the snow line edging higher, 186 French ski resorts have shut, while global heating threatens dozens more

When Céüze 2000 ski resort closed at the end of the season in 2018, the workers assumed they would be back the following winter. Maps of the pistes were left stacked beside a stapler; the staff rota pinned to the wall.

Six years on, a yellowing newspaper dated 8 March 2018 sits folded on its side, as if someone has just flicked through it during a quiet spell. A half-drunk bottle of water remains on the table.

Published: December 27, 2025, 6:48 am

Through the lens of history, Trump's legacy will be more of a blotch than a Maga masterpiece | Simon Tisdall

Take this hopeful thought into 2026: the tyrants we endure always falter, and their ‘seismic’ upheavals are usually false dawns

For those who lived through the cold war, the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, was an unforgettable moment. The sinister watch towers with their searchlights and armed guards, the minefields in no-man’s land, the notorious Checkpoint Charlie border post, and the Wall itself – all were swept aside in an extraordinary, popular lunge for freedom.

Less than a month later, on 3 December 1989, at a summit in Malta, US president George HW Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that after more than 40 years, the cold war was over. All agreed it was a historic turning point.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: December 28, 2025, 10:00 am

Trump is shamelessly covering America in his name | Mohamad Bazzi

Using the presidency as a branding opportunity, Trump is slapping his name on buildings, monuments and projects

In 2011, Donald Trump published a book with the self-help guru Robert Kiyosaki titled Midas Touch. It’s a typical self-empowerment manual in which the pair expound on the secrets of entrepreneurial success while drawing on their personal experiences. At one point, they write: “Building a brand may be more important than building a business.”

That was certainly Trump’s approach to business: he was the New York real estate tycoon who turned his fame into a brand that symbolized luxury and savvy strategy – even if his companies filed for bankruptcy six times. Trump spent decades trying to use his name to turn a profit: he owned an airline and a university, and slapped his moniker on vodka, steaks, neckties, board games and even bottled water. Leveraging the fame he gained from the Apprentice TV show, he expanded to licensing Trump-branded global real estate projects built by other developers. In many of these ventures, Trump collected licensing fees, rather than investing his own money, ensuring that he profited even if the businesses collapsed.

Published: December 27, 2025, 4:00 pm

In the battle against antisemitism we must accept that Zionism means different things to different people | David Slucki

Among Jews the meaning of the term has evolved – but there is still no consensus. And when people talk past one another there are real-world consequences

The 14 December Bondi Beach attack targeting Jews at a Hanukah celebration has brought the issue of antisemitism into sharp national focus. In response, the New South Wales government announced measures to further curb hate speech and symbols, and, more controversially, new protest powers. This event and the government’s response have once again raised questions about the relationship between Jews, Israel, Zionism and anti-Zionism.

Zionism is a Jewish national movement that sought to create a Jewish state, then to secure and sustain it. But “Zionism” is also a contested label: for many Jews it signifies safety, continuity and belonging; for Palestinians – and for many others – it denotes dispossession and ongoing domination. It’s clear that for different people, the word Zionism means very different things, which leads to people talking past one another – with real-world consequences.

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:00 pm

A conversation between Joe Rogan and Mel Gibson summed up 2025 for me – and not in a good way | George Monbiot

From merrily dismissing climate science, to promoting irresponsible health claims, the podcast was an unintentional warning for our times

Looking back on this crazy year, one event, right at the start, seems to me to encapsulate the whole. In January, recording his podcast in a studio in Austin, Texas, the host, Joe Rogan, and the actor Mel Gibson merrily dissed climate science. At the same time, about 1,200 miles away in California, Gibson’s $14m home was being incinerated in the Palisades wildfire. In this and other respects, their discussion could be seen as prefiguring the entire 12 months.

The loss of his house hadn’t been confirmed at the time of the interview, but Gibson said his son had just sent him “a video of my neighbourhood, and it’s in flames. It looks like an inferno.” According to World Weather Attribution, January’s fires in California were made significantly more likely by climate breakdown. Factors such as the extreme lack of rainfall and stronger winds made such fires both more likely to happen and more intense than they would have been without human-caused global heating.

Published: December 27, 2025, 8:00 am

The hill I will die on: Faux Cyrillic is a load of old crдp | Viv Groskop

To the designers of film posters, I suppose it looks cleverly exotic – but there are 250 million readers of Cyrillic globally, and its misuse grinds our gears

One of the worst bugbears to possess is one that is shared by hardly anyone else. It’s lonely being the only person who cares about something. It’s even lonelier when the thing you care about makes you want to stamp your feet, tear your hair out and run naked into the streets while making the face of Edvard Munch’s The Scream. And so it is for me whenever I see a film poster, headline, book cover or screen caption featuring the incorrect use of the Cyrillic alphabet.

You might think this is a niche preoccupation. But you would be surprised how many times the name of “STДLIN” pops up in poster designs, supposedly representing “STALIN”. This phenomenon annoys me most when the entity depicted is not fictional. If you write the (nonexistent-in-any-language) word “STДLIN” instead of “STALIN” you are writing “STDLIN”. Which would be fine if you were attempting some kind of wordplay comparing the impact of the one-time Soviet leader to a sexually transmitted disease. But clever wordplay is not the intention of these designs. The intention of the incorrect use of the Cyrillic alphabet is to indicate one thing and one thing alone: “This is about something that is happening east of Warsaw! It is probably connected to the former Soviet Union! It should give you a frisson of creepy exoticism!”

Viv Groskop is a comedian and author of One Ukrainian Summer

Published: December 28, 2025, 6:00 am

Ravens stay alive behind Henry’s four scores while Texans clinch playoff berth

• Derrick Henry rushes for 216 yards, four TDs for Ravens

• Texans clinch third straight playoff berth with win in LA

• Chargers loss hands AFC West title to idle Broncos

Derrick Henry rushed for a season-high 216 yards and matched a career high with four touchdown runs as the Baltimore Ravens kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating the Green Bay Packers 41-24 on Saturday night.

Henry had three touchdown runs in the first half and then scored again on a 25-yard run with 1:56 left in the game. His seventh career 200-yard rushing performance moved him ahead of Adrian Peterson and OJ Simpson for the most in NFL history.

Published: December 28, 2025, 1:03 am

Ollie Watkins’ double off the bench gives Aston Villa comeback victory at Chelsea

Unai Emery had to tear up the plan. Aston Villa had started this game in a compact 4-2-2-2 formation but they were desperate for much of the first hour. Their passing was lethargic, they had no width, they were 1-0 down to a dominant Chelsea and it seemed the story was going to centre on Emery’s decision not to start Ollie Watkins up front.

Yet few managers are as effective as Emery when it comes to altering the flow with a few smart tweaks. The Spaniard never stops plotting, never stops hunting for weaknesses in his opponents, and perhaps it was not a surprise when Villa’s tactical mastermind found a way to ensure that the travelling fans were belting out songs about winning the league at full time.

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:42 pm

The ascendant San Antonio Spurs are the gift the NBA needed

By puncturing Oklahoma City’s aura of inevitability, Victor Wembanyama and co have restored suspense, drama and joy to a season that was in danger of becoming dull

I’ve seen enough: Give the San Antonio Spurs the keys to Santa Claus’ workshop. Put Stephon Castle in charge of toy assembly. Let De’Aaron Fox toss presents into chimneys, from whatever range he’d like. Devin Vassell can customize the Christmas cookies. Harrison Barnes has the army of elves covered. And, of course, Santa Claus’s sleigh must immediately be resized for a taller, thinner pilot so that the towering Victor Wembanyama can drive it comfortably. The sensational Spurs have felled the Oklahoma City Thunder three times in two weeks, and in doing so revitalized this NBA season. I now have more faith in the Spurs’ ability to grant joy to the masses than any holiday legends of old.

It looked dire for a while there. The Thunder might have won the Larry O’Brien trophy in June, but began this season in even more ominous form. They reeled off 24 wins in their first 25 games (the lone loss was a fluky 20-point comeback). In most of them, Jalen Williams, their second-best player, was on the sidelines recovering from wrist surgery. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, their best, seldom had to play in fourth quarters. The Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings by 31. The Los Angeles Lakers, who some expected to be a plausible rival, lost by 29; their basketball savant Luka Doncic looked like he was playing against ten men. The Phoenix Suns’ valiant first earned them a close loss, by just four points. When they met again 12 days later, the Thunder won by 49. This game knocked all the remaining leaves off the trees and started winter 10 days ahead of schedule. Oklahoma City looked capable of shredding anything in its path, even the 2016 Golden State Warriors’ legendary regular season record of 73-9.

Published: December 27, 2025, 1:43 pm

Monolithic belief of Guardiolismo has fractured in new era for tactics | Jonathan Wilson

The old ways are over and nobody is entirely sure what is to follow but football revolutions once experienced are never forgotten

If you want a picture of the future, imagine Michael Kayode winding up to take a long throw – forever. Or at least that was how it seemed in October. Already, though, the picture has begun to change. This was the year of the backlash, and then a bit of a backlash to the backlash.

For almost two decades football had accepted the guardiolista consensus. Football was about possession, about the press, but most of all about position, about the careful manipulation of space. Much-improved pitches meant first touches could be taken for granted: players receiving the ball didn’t have to focus on getting it under control but could instead be parsing their options. The game had become chess with a ball, a matter of strategy more than physicality.

Published: December 27, 2025, 8:00 pm

Naoya Inoue sees off Picasso to set up Tokyo super-fight with Junto Nakatani

• ‘Monster’ dominates Picasso to defend undisputed title

• Unanimous decision in Riyadh keeps Inoue unbeaten

• Nakatani victory fuels chatter of Tokyo super-fight

Naoya Inoue moved a step closer to the biggest bout in Japanese boxing history after outclassing Alan Picasso by unanimous decision in Riyadh on Saturday, retaining his undisputed super-bantamweight titles and clearing the runway for a long-anticipated showdown with countryman Junto Nakatani.

Inoue, widely regarded as one of the finest pound-for-pound fighters in the world alongside Oleksandr Usyk and the recently retired Terence Crawford, was in control from the opening bell at the Mohammed Abdo Arena, neutralizing the previously unbeaten Mexican challenger with precision, speed and sustained pressure over 12 rounds. The judges scored the contest 120-108, 119-109 and 117-111 in favor of the 32-year-old champion.

Published: December 27, 2025, 3:16 pm

New Battle of the Sexes is cynical bid for attention and own goal for Sabalenka

World No 1’s clash with Nick Kyrgios is on track to being one of the most inane tennis events ever conceived

This has been the year of Aryna Sabalenka for so many reasons. In 2025, she has reached three of the four grand slam finals, winning her fourth major title at the US Open and further positioning herself as a generational great. From her humble origins as a volatile, one-note ball-basher, the 27-year-old has admirably evolved into an increasingly complete player. Sabalenka is the best player in the world for a second year in succession.

The fleeting tennis off-season is usually an opportunity for players and spectators alike to reflect on such great feats before the new season is upon them. This year, however, the December discourse has been derailed by the fast-approaching train wreck Sabalenka stands at the heart of.

Published: December 27, 2025, 8:00 am

Ødegaard’s strike and Raya’s wonder save help steer Arsenal past Brighton

A few minutes before half-time in a contest that largely swung one way but briefly veered the other, Brighton threatened what was then a rare foray into Arsenal territory.

For a short moment the visitors seemed certain to muster their first shot of an afternoon that had hitherto been miserable. But, no sooner had Maxim De Cuyper received the ball on the counterattack, the Belgian was flattened by a crunching Declan Rice tackle that killed any threat. De Cuyper slumped; Rice, towering over him, roared – arguably this season’s standout Premier League midfielder making light of playing right-back for the first time in his Arsenal career.

Published: December 27, 2025, 5:11 pm

Clergy abuse survivors frustrated by New Orleans archdiocese’s protracted bankruptcy

Long-winded legal wrangling and recalcitrant Catholic church leadership thwarted hopes for timely settlement

An image of his great-grandmother stayed with James Adams for years and strengthened his faith: she was withered, nearly blind, touching his cheeks when they sat together, as if the feel of his face gave her sight. A working woman whose husband, a police officer, killed himself, she raised four children; her faith was a rock against life’s travails. She died at 98, when Adams was 28, about to marry.

Many years later, in 2020, Adams, a New Orleans banker, was president of the Catholic Community Foundation, the archdiocese’s fundraising arm, when Archbishop Gregory Aymond ousted him – as he’s recounted from a witness stand in court and in multiple media interviews. Overnight, Adams became a church enemy because of what a priest did to him as a boy. His story mirrors the legal saga that has tarnished Aymond’s career.

Published: December 27, 2025, 2:00 pm

Myanmar elections: voting begins under junta stranglehold with Aung San Suu Kyi banned

War with opposition groups means large areas are excluded from poll, while recent law prohibits criticising a process regarded internationally as a sham

Polling stations have opened in some areas of conflict-racked Myanmar for an election that has been widely condemned as a sham designed to legitimise the military junta’s rule.

The most popular party is banned from running in the election, and large areas of the country will be completely excluded because they are under the control of anti-junta groups or racked by fierce fighting.

Published: December 28, 2025, 1:19 am

Kennedy Center president demands $1m from musician who canceled Christmas Eve show

Drummer Chuck Redd decided to cancel his yearly Jazz Jam after Donald Trump added his name to the venue

The president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1m in damages and fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment – explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure – is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with the Associated Press.

Published: December 27, 2025, 1:45 pm

Snow-covered Mount Etna erupts spewing lava and ash – video

Italy's most active volcano erupted on Saturday, prompting scientists to issue a red Volcano Observatory notice for aviation, signalling a potential risk for aircraft. Despite the alert, authorities said flights continued operating normally at Catania-Fontanarossa airport, adding that no disruption was expected unless ashfall increased

Published: December 28, 2025, 10:43 am

California woman delivers healthy baby after ‘essentially unheard of’ ectopic pregnancy

Suze Lopez found out she was pregnant only days before giving birth, due to fetus hiding behind 22lb ovarian cyst

A California family is celebrating their first holiday following the delivery of their latest child, a baby that had been growing outside of the mother’s womb.

Suze Lopez, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse in Bakersfield, California, delivered baby Ryu via surgery in August, so the newborn is celebrating his first Christmas. He had been an ectopic pregnancy – when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the uterus – and was hidden behind a large ovarian cyst.

Published: December 27, 2025, 2:00 pm

FBI to move out of brutalist J Edgar Hoover building in Washington DC

Iconic building, called ‘greatest monstrosity ever constructed’ by Hoover himself, to be closed down

The FBI director, Kash Patel, said the law enforcement agency’s sprawling but ageing J Edgar Hoover building in Washington DC will be closed down and the agency will move into existing offices elsewhere.

Some FBI workers will report to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in the US capital to occupy the former offices of the US Agency for International Development, which was dismantled by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Published: December 27, 2025, 2:21 pm

‘Times have changed’: Germany’s military seeks recruits as it confronts new era

As young men face new rules forcing them to indicate their readiness to serve, the Bundeswehr drums up support at a trade show

Sitting in the cramped interior of a Panzerhaubitze 2000 armoured vehicle, Tom, 20, hangs on every word coming from Achim, an officer with the German military, as he breathlessly talks students through the workings of “the most modern tank in the world”.

“What damage would you expect its ammunition to inflict?” Tom asks.

Published: December 28, 2025, 7:00 am

Republican behind Epstein files act responds to Trump ‘lowlife’ taunt

Kentucky’s Thomas Massie used the president’s insult to raise funds to run against a Trump-endorsed candidate

A Kentucky congressman singled out by Donald Trump on Christmas as a “lowlife” after co-authoring a law requiring the federal government to release all of its Jeffrey Epstein files says the president attacked him for keeping a commitment to “help victims”.

Thomas Massie then successfully sought donations for his run for another term in the 2026 midterm elections against an opponent that Trump – his fellow Republican – has already endorsed.

Published: December 27, 2025, 9:00 am

‘When you plant something, it dies’: Brazil’s first arid zone is a stark warning for the whole country

The Caatinga in the north-east has been transformed by the heating climate in just a generation and could become the country’s first desert

Every Tuesday at dawn, Raildon Suplício Maia goes to the market in Macururé, in Brazil’s Bahia state, to sell goats. He haggles with buyers to get a good price for the animals, which are reared in the open and roam freely.

Goats are the main – and sometimes only – source of income for the people of Macururé, a small town in the Brazilian sertão. This rural hinterland in the country’s north-east is known for its dry climate and harsh conditions.

Raildon Suplicio Maia, a goat farmer from Macururé sells his animals at the market. Grazing has disappeared and he now spends any profit on feed

Published: December 28, 2025, 12:00 pm

Cyclones, floods and wildfires among 2025’s costliest climate-related disasters

Christian Aid annual report’s top 10 disasters amounted to more than $120bn in insured losses

Cyclones and floods in south-east Asia this autumn killed more than 1,750 people and caused more than $25bn (£19bn) in damage, while the death toll from California wildfires topped 400 people, with $60bn in damage, according to research on the costliest climate-related disasters of the year.

China’s devastating floods, in which thousands of people were displaced, were the third most expensive, causing about $12bn in damage, with at least 30 lives lost.

Published: December 27, 2025, 12:01 am

Ukraine war briefing: Nabu and Sapo raid Kyiv parliament in new corruption inquiry

Russia not strong enough to take Donetsk and then keep fighting, says ISW; Zelenskyy heads to Florida for talks with Trump. What we know on day 1,404

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies Nabu and Sapo raided national parliament offices in Kyiv on Saturday as investigators alleged some MPs were implicated in a new graft probe. A statement from Nabu, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, accused State Security Department guards of “resisting Nabu officers during investigative actions in committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine”. The anti-corruption agency did not reveal details of the investigation, but said suspects took bribes for votes.

Ukraine’s State Security Department said the anti-corruption detectives were stopped at first by security but later allowed in. An earlier corruption investigation has led to the resignation of the chief of staff to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It involved an alleged $100m kickback scheme in the battered energy sector, allegedly masterminded by a personal friend of the president.

Zelenskyy said he would hold talks with European leaders after meeting Donald Trump on Sunday. The Ukrainian president said he had spoken with a group of Ukraine’s partners to coordinate priorities on the diplomatic track. “Tomorrow, after the meeting with President Trump, we will continue the discussion.” The Ukrainian leader has headed to Florida for the Trump meeting. Zelenskyy stopped in Canada, where he met the prime minister, Mark Carney, who announced an additional $2.5bn (£1.85bn) of economic aid for Ukraine.

Ahead of the Florida meeting, and amid pressure from the Trump administration for Ukraine to concede territory for peace, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that Russia is demanding such concessions because it “does not have sufficient manpower or materiel” to take the rest of the Donetsk region while continuing its war in other parts of Ukraine. “The Kremlin is therefore making demands in negotiations that Ukraine cede the unoccupied parts of Donetsk oblast,” the ISW assessed, “… possibly to put Russia in a more advantageous position to re-invade in the future to pursue Putin’s longer-term strategic goal of controlling all of Ukraine.”

The Kremlin’s commanders are sending false reports up the chain of command, contributing to Ukrainian gains on the battlefield, according to complaints from Russian milbloggers as reported by the ISW, which said: “Ukrainian forces continue to make tactical gains in Kupiansk, and Russian milbloggers are increasingly acknowledging Ukrainian successes. The scale of Russian milblogger complaints about Kupiansk … demonstrates the scale and egregiousness of the Russian military command’s lies about Kupiansk.”

The analysis came as Russia claimed to have captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine: Myrnohrad and Huliaipole, near Pokrovsk which Russia claims also to have captured but is still contested. Ukraine’s military general staff said in response that the situation in Huliaipole was “complex” and in Myrnohrad “dire” but they remained defended. “Enemy units, as before, are failing to implement their plans to seize the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad agglomeration, so they are resorting to disinformation.”

A third of Kyiv lost heating in a Russian drone and missile barrage on the Ukrainian capital that cut off power supplies, leaving hundreds of thousands of people facing freezing temperatures. The overnight strikes into Saturday lasted 10 hours and killed at least one person while wounding two dozen others.

Published: December 28, 2025, 2:38 am

Central African Republic goes to polls as president seeks third term

Opposition hopes to tap into frustrations of people living in country where conflict remains a daily reality

Central African Republic goes to the polls on Sunday with the president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, seeking a third term.

As many as 2.3 million registered voters will cast ballots for what observers are calling a quadruple election: votes for the presidency and parliament as well as local and municipal offices.

Published: December 28, 2025, 5:00 am

Kosovo goes to the polls in snap election in bid to end political crisis

PM Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination party may struggle to win majority after rival parties refused alliance

Voters in Kosovo are casting ballots in an early parliamentary election in the hope of breaking a political deadlock that has gripped the small Balkan nation for much of this year.

The snap vote was scheduled after the prime minister Albin Kurti’s governing Vetëvendosje, or Self-Determination, party failed to form a government despite winning the most votes in a 9 February election.

Published: December 28, 2025, 9:15 am

Bulgaria prepares to join eurozone amid fears of Russian-backed disinformation

Balkan country will become 21st country to adopt EU currency, with policymakers hoping move will boost economy

Bulgaria is preparing to adopt the euro in January amid fresh domestic political turbulence and fears that Russia-aligned disinformation is deepening distrust of the new currency.

The Balkan country of 6.5 million people will become the 21st country to join the eurozone on 1 January, as policymakers in Brussels and Sofia hope it will boost the economy of the EU’s poorest nation and cement its pro-western trajectory.

Published: December 28, 2025, 6:00 am

‘Almost collapsed’: behind the Korean film crisis and why K-pop isn’t immune

Both industries dominate the world but now face fundamental transformation and uncertainty at home

South Korea’s entertainment dominance appears unshakeable. From BTS conquering global charts to Parasite sweeping the Oscars in 2020 and Korean dramas topping Netflix, Korean popular culture has never been more visible. Exports driven by the country’s arts hit a record $15.18bn (£11bn) in 2024, cementing the country’s reputation as a cultural superpower.

But inside South Korea, the two industries that helped build the Korean Wave – cinema and K-pop – are now experiencing fundamental transformations, with their survival strategies potentially undermining the creative foundations of their success.

Published: December 28, 2025, 8:00 am

‘I once Bogarted a joint from a Beatle’: Stewart Copeland of the Police

The drummer and composer on cringeworthy celebrity encounters, why David Bowie is overrated, and being screamed at by Sting in front of 80,000 Italians

Your 2025 album, Wild Concerto, stars birds and animals as soloists; what animal do you think best represents you, and why?

The wolves of the Arctic Circle! Actually, no, no, no – the hyenas of the Skeleton Coast. Hyenas are very cool animals: they’re butt ugly, but they have extremely complex society, they’re very complex vocally, and they’re very strange animals. I don’t know whether I identify with them personally or not. OK, fuck that: let’s go back to the wolf, much more heroic.

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:00 pm

The best films of 2025 … you may not have seen

From an old-fashioned western to a charming baseball comedy, Guardian writers pick their favourite lesser-known films of the year

• The pick of 2025’s film, music, art, TV, stage and games, chosen by Guardian critics and writers

There’s something almost self-fulfilling about Endless Cookie being an overlooked gem. The crudely animated Canadian documentary, directed by two half-brothers occupying separate worlds between Toronto and Shamattawa First Nation, lives in and finds its voice in the ellipses between typical narrative beats. A fart, a toilet flush, mumbling asides and the squabble of children sharing the same room as Seth Scriver (who is white) he interviews his Indigenous brother Pete are among the overlooked moments that are usually left on a cutting-room floor. But they resonate in Endless Cookie, like life refusing to be silenced in a surrealist self-portraiture that delights in colouring outside the lines. Institutional violence and neglect, intergenerational trauma and over-policing in Indigenous communities are all visible, but often kept at bay. Endless Cookie instead finds its strength and joys in the ebb and flow of community, the humour of its digressions and the dreams these characters latch on to and empower amid the harsh realities surrounding them. These are the things we often miss; the reasons to seek out Endless Cookie. Radheyan Simonpillai

Published: December 28, 2025, 11:04 am

From Central Cee to Adolescence: in 2025 British culture had a global moment – but can it last?

Despite funding cuts and shuttered venues, homegrown music, TV, film and, yes, memes have dominated the global zeitgeist over the past 12 years. Now this culture must be future-proofed from the forces of globalisation

On the face of it, British culture looks doomed. Our music industry is now borderline untenable, with grassroots venues shuttering at speed (125 in 2023 alone) and artists unable to afford to play the few that are left; touring has become a loss leader that even established acts must subsidise with other work. Meanwhile, streaming has gutted the value of recorded music, leading to industry contraction at the highest level: earlier this year the UK divisions of Warners and Atlantic – two of our biggest record labels – were effectively subsumed into the US business.

In comedy, the Edinburgh fringe – the crucible of modern British standup, sketch and sitcom – is in existential crisis thanks to a dearth of sponsorship and prohibitively high costs for performers. Our film industry is at this point almost totally reliant on (dwindling) US funds; while Britain remains a popular filming destination due to tax breaks and appealing locations, the vast majority of the productions made here ultimately generate American profits.

Published: December 27, 2025, 12:00 pm

The best songs of 2025 … you may not have heard

From a folk murder ballad to an impassioned call for peace, Guardian writers pick their favourite lesser-heard tracks of the year

• The pick of 2025’s film, music, art, TV, stage and games, chosen by Guardian critics and writers

There is a sense of deep knowing and calm to Not Offended, the lone song released this year by the Danish-Montenegrin musician (also an earlier graduate of the Copenhagen music school currently producing every interesting alternative pop star). To warmly droning organ that hangs like the last streak of sunlight above a darkening horizon, Milovic assures someone that they haven’t offended her – but her steady Teutonic tenderness, reminiscent of Molly Nilsson or Sophia Kennedy, suggests that their actions weren’t provocative so much as evasive. Strings flutter tentatively as she addresses this person who can’t look life in the eye right now. “I see you clearly,” Milovic sings, as the drums kick in and the strings become full-blooded: a reminder of the ease that letting go can offer. Laura Snapes

Published: December 27, 2025, 11:02 am

‘Hardcore had a level of violence I was really interested in’: the thrash solos and beatdowns of False Reality

The band may be relatively new but its members have spent years steeped in the scene, giving them edge and an ear for tracks that rip through a room

From London, UK
Recommended if you like Metallica, Terror, Trapped Under Ice
Up next Performing at Collision festival, Bedford, 11 April

One of the surprise success stories of the last year has been the resurgence of hardcore. From the ascent of the young, Grammy-nominated bands Turnstile and Knocked Loose to the comeback of Deftones and their fresh grip on gen Z, as well as the growth of the UK festival Outbreak, heavy guitar music is enjoying a renaissance. After releasing their debut album, Faded Intentions, in November, False Reality might seem like a new name to watch in this world – but they have deep roots.

Published: December 28, 2025, 8:00 am

The books to look out for in 2026

New books by Liza Minelli, David Sedaris, Maggie O’Farrell and Yann Martel are among the literary highlights of the year ahead

2026 is already promising plenty of unmissable releases: there are new novels by George Saunders, Ali Smith and Douglas Stuart, memoirs from Gisèle Pelicot, Lena Dunham and Mark Haddon, and plenty of inventive debuts to look forward to. Here, browse all the biggest titles set to hit shelves in the coming months across fiction and nonfiction, selected by the Guardian’s books desk.

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:00 am

My cultural awakening: a Turner painting helped me come to terms with my cancer diagnosis

Fear and feelings of intense vulnerability caused me to retreat into my shell, until I saw myself in an unlikely feature in one of the British master’s prints

My thyroid cancer arrived by accident, in the way life-changing things sometimes do. In May of this year, I went for an upright MRI for a minor injury on my arm, and the scan happened to catch the mass in my neck. By the following month, I had a diagnosis. People kept telling me it was “the good cancer”, the kind that can be taken out neatly and has a high survival rate. But I’m 54, and my dad died of cancer in his 50s, so that shadow came down on me hard.

My eldest son was doing A-levels at the time, so we didn’t tell him at first. I felt as if I’d stepped across some irreversible Rubicon that you hear about happening to other people, but never imagine will actually come for you.

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:00 am

No gels, no foams: Catalonia turns to grannies to teach traditional cooking

Region famed for molecular gastronomy begins video project to collect and share rustic recipes

Catalonia’s avant garde chefs have made a name for themselves with their revolutionary techniques and molecular gastronomy, yet they are fond of saying they are merely paying homage to the simple dishes served at their grandmother’s table.

Maybe so, but now the grannies have been given a chance to show off the real thing under a Catalan government initiative called Gastrosàvies.

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:00 am

Tim Dowling: my 2025 in numbers: not a year to forget, but one of forgetting

From the books I’ve read (and forgotten) this year to the number of times my jokes bombed on stage

As the end of the year looms up like the handle of a rake I’ve just stepped on, I recall the preceding 12 months as a period characterised by a steep erosion of trust and a sinking feeling that nothing is to be taken at face value. We subsist on a steady diet of lies, distortion and AI slop. Everything is getting stupider, including me.

That’s why, when it comes to examining the year, I choose to reckon with nothing but cold, hard numbers. Here, then, is how things stand for me, statistically, at the close of 2025.

Published: December 27, 2025, 6:00 am

This is how we do it: ‘As we’re newlyweds there’s a pressure to always be at it. We’ve even had sex in a train toilet’’

Maddy feels insecure if Luke isn’t in the mood, while he worries that he doesn’t measure up to her exes. But ultimately, their marriage has given the couple new freedom

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

I would tell him about my hook-ups, including a threesome I’d had

Published: December 28, 2025, 11:00 am

The moment I knew: my grandmother told me I’d know my life partner instantly. She was right

First it was Sean’s voice that resonated with Philip Channells. After an evening together, their connection was transcendent

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

In 2005 I was 35 years old and working in dance in London. I was broadening my horizons and it was so exciting for me; I’d grown up in Coffs Harbour, where all I knew as a kid was bananas, football, motorbikes and the surf club.

I was crashing on a friend’s couch and dating casually. I wasn’t looking for love – because who could ever compromise? Certainly not me.

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:00 pm

My daughter is leaving for university. How can I support her – and cope with the loss?

It might seem like all gains for her and all losses for you, but it’s really the start of an exciting new chapter in your relationship

I am a single mum to an 18-year-old daughter. It has always been just us two, and we have a very open, supportive, healthy relationship.

She is going away to university in the new year and has recently developed a new friendship group I know less well than her old friends. They all seem friendly, look out for each other, and don’t let anyone go home on their own, etc. At first, I found her being out late with her friends particularly worrying. It took me a few days to get used to this new part of life, but we talked and I got across to her that it’s purely me worrying about her safety – I think she felt I was annoyed with her. I just worry, though I really appreciate that she keeps me informed of where she is, and I know many 18-year-olds wouldn’t be so open.

Published: December 28, 2025, 6:00 am

Dressing the part: the TV characters who nailed small-screen style this year

From Jackson Lamb’s mac in Slow Horses to the queen-bee wardrobe of Wild Cherry, Guardian writers choose the outfits that shaped storylines and revealed personalities in 2025

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Never mind the catwalk shows, the viral glossy advertising campaigns and the endless red carpets. This year, TV was where the best fashion was at. Here, nine Guardian writers pick their favourite looks from the shows that had us hooked over the past 12 months.

***

Published: December 27, 2025, 8:00 am

Which Gascon brandy is France’s oldest? The Saturday quiz

From Benefits Supervisor Sleeping and Hideous Kinky to the “modern Prometheus”, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which US president vomited on the Japanese prime minister?
2 Which literary character was the “modern Prometheus”?
3 What global event began in 2004 as the Bushy Park time trial?
4 Which consecutive digits made up this year’s most perplexing meme?
5 Which medieval coin was worth four pence?
6 What Gascon brandy is France’s oldest?
7 Which wild west gunfighter was a dentist?
8 Which element was used in rat poison and pre-X-ray “meals”?
What links:
9 Appia; Aurelia; Cassia; Flaminia; Salaria; Tiburtina?
10 Jerry and Mike; Carole and Gerry; Burt and Hal; Brian, Lamont and Eddie?
11 Of a large city (magenta); 1977 (grey); 1819-1901 (light blue); 360 degrees (yellow)?
12 Balearic; Cory’s; great; Manx; sooty?
13 Rania; Noor (Lisa); Muna (Toni); Dina; Zein?
14 Yerevan; Minsk; Beijing; Copenhagen; Cairo; Paris; Berlin?
15 Totem and Taboo; War and Children; Benefits Supervisor Sleeping; Hideous Kinky; 1970 jumper?

Published: December 27, 2025, 7:00 am

Ten things I love (and hate) about restaurants in winter

Topjaw’s Jesse Burgess is known for asking chefs and celebrities their favourite places to eat and drink. Time to turn the tables …

As the wildly popular social media platform celebrates its 10th year, we ask the Topjaw frontman what he loves – and hates – about eating out during the festive season.

Published: December 28, 2025, 9:00 am

‘Ferryman of the souls’: the man who helps Taiwan’s dead return home to China

Liu De-wen operates at a sensitive space in Taiwan’s history, as Beijing demands reunification with the island

In the leafy back blocks of a military cemetery in northern Taiwan, Liu De-wen strides through a room holding rows and rows of shelves. He stops and stoops to the lowest row, opening a small, ornate gold door. He pulls out an urn, bundles it into his lap, and hugs it.

“Grandpa Lin, follow me closely,” Liu says. “I am bringing you back home to Fujian as you wished. Stay close.”

Published: December 28, 2025, 4:00 am

Dragged down by an unpopular president, Republicans are bracing for a midterm trouncing

As Americans tire of Donald Trump, a Democratic midterm ‘tsunami’ could sweep the GOP out of power

It was a wake-up call for America. In January, Donald Trump took the oath of office, declared himself “saved by God to make America great again” and issued a barrage of executive orders. In the ensuing months the US president and his allies moved at breakneck speed and seemed indomitable.

But as 2025 draws to a close with Trump struggling to stay awake at meetings, the prevailing image is of a driver asleep at the wheel. Opinion polls suggest that Americans are turning against him. Republicans are heading for the exit ahead of congressional contests next November that look bleak for the president’s party.

Published: December 27, 2025, 6:00 am

‘The foggy, golden sunrise makes for incredible images’: Sachin Ghai’s best phone picture

The Punjabi photographer was delighted with this stunning shot of birds being fed on the Yamuna River in Delhi

Sachin Ghai describes Yamuna Ghat in Delhi, India, as his idea of a photographer’s paradise. “In winter, thousands of migratory birds circle the wooden row boats on the river,” he says. “During foggy, golden sunrises it makes for incredible images.”

For Ghai, travel photography is a passion, so he had orchestrated a short trip from his home in Nabha, Punjab. First, he had visited Agra, to capture the Taj Mahal. The next morning, he awoke before dawn to visit the Yamuna River. Despite being one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world, locals can be seen fishing while visitors take boat rides from the ghat, the name for the flight of stairs that leads to the water.

Published: December 27, 2025, 11:00 am