Women gather outside factories hoping for work as the economy struggles under US export taxes Every morning at 7am, women gather outside clothing factories in Maseru, the capital of the southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, hoping to be offered work. However, since Donald Trump imposed swingeing global tariffs in April 2025, those opportunities have been fewer and farther between. Moleboheng Matsepe lost her full-time job sewing sports leggings for the California brand Fabletics in 2023. She was initially able to pick up three-month contracts, but has not had any work since September. Continue reading...

As his 30th birthday loomed in Greece, Steve MinOn sent a letter to his parents in Australia. Then he waited. Read more summer essentials While day-drinking ouzo in a spiderwebbed taverna on the Greek island of Paros, I decided to write a coming-out letter to my parents. I sealed it in a surface mail envelope, moistened a ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ (Hellenic Republic) stamp with my aniseed tongue and posted it. It was the 1990s and I had only just relocated from Australia to London with Nick, my boyfriend at the time, and Julie, a good mate. We had gone across to Greece for a holiday, island-hopping, catching ferries on a whim, knowing nothing about the places we were visiting except that backpacking there was cheap. Continue reading...

They don’t have to be expensive, they go with everything and they boost confidence – if you get the styling right The eternal appeal of the white shirt is not just that it goes with anything, although it does. And not only that it can take you anywhere, although it can. It is not even that it never goes out of style, or that good quality versions are accessible at real-world prices, although those are true also. A white shirt is self-confidence. It stands for it, and it brings it, and that’s the real secret. It is a superhero cloak that bestows you with this formidable power. Self-confidence is not as snazzy as the ability to fly or live for ever, but arguably it’s more practical. I don’t know why or how it works, but it doesn’t matter, because if you feel confident then you are confident. Faking it and making it are one and the same here. Continue reading...

Updated government assessment says measures will now entail ‘no more than a modest increase’ for employers Labour watering down its sweeping overhaul of workers’ rights is expected to slash the cost of the plan for UK businesses by billions of pounds, the government’s own analysis shows. According to an updated Whitehall impact assessment published on Wednesday, concessions by ministers could reduce the cost of the employment rights bill for businesses to about £1bn. Continue reading...

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

Reform UK leader says accusations about his behaviour at Dulwich college were politically motivated Nigel Farage has called allegations of racist and antisemitic bullying during his time at Dulwich College “completely made up fantasy”, saying his accusers are “people with very obvious political motivation”. More than 30 people have spoken to the Guardian as part of an investigation based on multiple accounts of racism, including Peter Ettedgui, 61, an Emmy- and Bafta-winning director, who recalled Farage repeatedly growling “Hitler was right” or “Gas them” at him when they were at school. Continue reading...

Support for US action in the region seems to have laid the ground for regime change in Venezuela • Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello and Happy New Year. We have started 2026 with a geopolitical shock as the Trump administration ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and imprisoned him on US soil. As many western governments struggle to respond to this violation of international law, for Caribbean countries, this is not an awkward diplomatic spot but a real moment of political fear, uncertainty, and regional fracture. One remarkable aspect of the Venezuela raid is how Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has openly aligned with Donald Trump. Dr Jacqueline Laguardia Martinez, a senior lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at The University of the West Indies, told me that Trinidad and Tobago – one of the founding members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a regional grouping of 15 member countries – has “openly endorsed US actions under the pretext of combating transnational crime”. One way that has happened is through military cooperation. On 28 November, a radar appeared in a coastal neighbourhood of Tobago, described by the New York Times as “a state-of-the-art mobile long-range sensor known as G/ATOR, or Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, that is owned by the US Marines and is worth tens of millions of dollars.” Along with the sophisticated equipment, US military jets and troops arrived on the island, which is only 7 miles from Venezuela. Continue reading...

Harte, who was been Aurora orchestra’s chief executive since 2009, replaces Kathryn McDowell The London Symphony Orchestra has announced that John Harte will be the orchestra’s next managing director, replacing Dame Kathryn McDowell, who steps down after 20 years in the role at the end of the summer. Harte has been chief executive of Aurora Orchestra since 2009, where, alongside principal conductor Nicholas Collon and creative director Jane Mitchell, he has built the group from a startup into one of the most successful and innovative new British arts organisations in recent decades. Prior to his role with Aurora, Harte worked for the British choral label Collegium and completed a doctorate in Middle Eastern history at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Continue reading...

UK and France ready to send peacekeeping troops PM tells House of Commons UK politics live – latest updates MPs will have a debate and vote before any UK troops are deployed on peacekeeping duties in Ukraine, Keir Starmer has announced at prime ministers questions. Speaking after Britain and France said they would be willing to send troops if there is a peace deal, after discussions at a wider summit in Paris, Starmer was pressured by Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, as to why he was not making a full Commons statement. Continue reading...

Administration has alleged fraud in decision to halt grants from California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday that it is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud. The US Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, will require the states to provide extra documentation to access the funds. The child care and development fund subsidizes day care for low-income households, enabling parents to work or go to school. Temporary assistance for needy families provides cash assistance and job training so parents in poverty can afford diapers and clothes and earn paychecks. The social services block grant, a much smaller fund, supports several different social service programs. Continue reading...

Liverpool manager says team struggling to create ‘My teams always try to play attacking football’ Arne Slot has said it hurts his principles as an attacking coach to hear his Liverpool team described as boring but he could not entirely disagree on current form. Liverpool have stabilised after a damaging sequence of nine defeats in 12 matches, the club’s worst return in 71 years, with a nine-game unbeaten run but are struggling to produce convincing performances. Successive draws against Fulham and Leeds have prompted further criticism of Slot’s style and resulted in the champions falling 14 points behind the leaders, Arsenal, who they face at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday. Continue reading...

Service attended by singers, animal rights activists, and public figures including Marine Le Pen Brigitte Bardot, the film star turned animal rights activist, will be laid to rest in her home town of Saint-Tropez on Wednesday during a funeral attended by her favourite politician, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Bardot died at her La Madrague villa on 28 December aged 91. Her funeral is being held at the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church and broadcast on large screens across the town. Continue reading...

The Venezuela incursion is in line with this logic, made even plainer as the US eyes Greenland When a bleary-eyed Trump explained the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro this past Saturday, he invoked the Monroe doctrine: while the US president sounded like he was reading about it for the first time, historians of course recognized the idea of Washington as a kind of guardian of the western hemisphere. Together with the national security strategy published in December, the move on Venezuela can be understood as advancing a vision for carving up the world into what the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt called “great spaces”, with each effectively supervised by a great power (meaning, in today’s world, Washington, Moscow and Beijing). But more is happening than a return to such de facto imperialism: Trump’s promise to “run the country” for the sake of US oil companies signals the internationalization of one aspect of his regime – what has rightly been called the logic of the mafia state. That logic is even more obvious in his stated desire to grab Greenland. The theory of the mafia state was first elaborated by the Hungarian sociologist Bálint Magyar in 2016. Such a state is less about corruption where envelopes change hands under the table. Instead, public procurement is rigged; large companies are brought under the control of regime-friendly oligarchs, who in turn acquire media to provide favorable coverage to the ruler. The beneficiaries are what Magyar calls the “extended political family” (which can include the ruler’s natural family). As with the mafia, unconditional loyalty is the price for being part of the system. Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University Continue reading...

An easy and ingenious way to use up odd bits and pieces of root veg The dry-salting fermentation method used to make sauerkraut works brilliantly on almost any firm vegetable, so you can happily explore beyond the traditional cabbage. I had a couple of carrots and a piece of squash that needed saving, so I turned them into a golden kraut with ginger, turmeric and a little orange zest for brightness. Use whatever you have to hand and let the ingredients lead your creativity. Continue reading...

In Vallejo, California, ‘trad sons’ report feeling trapped by family obligations, slim job prospects and the fear of violence – leaving little room for romance Are boys becoming men later? In recent decades, the markers of adulthood have shifted for young American men: they are almost twice as likely to be single, less likely to go to college and more likely to be unemployed. Most significantly for their parents, they are also less likely to have fled the nest, with the term “trad son” springing into social media lexicon in recent months. In the 1970s, only 8% of Americans aged 25 to 34 were living with their parents, but by 2023, that figure had jumped to 18%, with men more likely to live at home than women, according to a Pew survey. But not everywhere in the US has the same rates of adults living in their familial home. The living arrangement is least common in the midwest and most common in the north-east. Topping the list was Vallejo, where 33% of young adults live with their parents. How were they making it work? Continue reading...

Detainees under scheme to return people entering UK on small boats told their plane tickets had been cancelled The first flight of 2026 to return asylum seekers who came to the UK on small boats to France has been cancelled, the Guardian understands. Detainees earmarked for the UK government’s “one in, one out” scheme who had tickets for a flight on Wednesday morning to Paris were told their tickets had been cancelled. Continue reading...

Board unwilling to accept hostile takeover despite $40bn guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has again told its shareholders to reject an “inadequate” $108.4bn (£80bn) hostile takeover bid by Paramount Skydance amid an extraordinary corporate battle to control the media conglomerate. Paramount, controlled by the billionaire Ellison family, had sought to combat WBD’s criticism of its offer and claims it had “consistently misled” investors by saying it had a “full backstop” – a safety net to ensure it has sufficient funds – from the Ellisons. Continue reading...

40-year-old was flown to Austin after accident Shipley played three seasons in NFL Former Texas star and NFL receiver Jordan Shipley is being treated in hospital after suffering severe burns in an accident on his ranch near his hometown of Burnet, Texas. According to a statement from his family, Shipley was operating a machine when it caught fire. Although the 40-year-old was able to free himself from the machine “it was not before sustaining severe burns on his body in the process,” read the statement. “He was able to get to one of his workers on the ranch, who drove him to a local hospital. He was then care-flighted to Austin, where he remains in critical but stable condition.” According to On Texas Football, Shipley received third-degree burns to more than 20% of his body. Shipley earned Associated Press All-America honors with the Longhorns in 2009. He had 248 career catches in college for 3,191 yards and 33 touchdowns. He also ran track for Texas, representing the college in the 100m and 200m. Shipley was drafted in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft by Cincinnati and had 79 receptions for 858 yards and four touchdowns over three seasons with the Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He officially retired from the NFL in 2014. Continue reading...

Leader of resurgent WSL side on what he demands of players, his relationship with the hierarchy and the change that has surprised him Tottenham have as many points in the Women’s Super League this term, at the halfway stage, as they accumulated in the entirety of last season. That sentence will offer some satisfaction to their supporters but the head coach, Martin Ho, demonstrates how serious his intentions are when he says: “We’re not even 15% of the way to where I want us to be.” Ho, appointed in July, uses a specific word four times across the course of the conversation: “Standards.” The former Manchester United assistant coach inherited a team that had finished second from bottom and has Spurs two points off a European place, but he wants them to challenge themselves further. Continue reading...

French, German and Polish foreign ministers to meet amid escalating threats to seize part of Danish kingdom Europe live – latest updates France has said it is working with allies on how to react if the US were to invade Greenland, amid mounting tension over Donald Trump’s escalating threats to take over the Arctic territory. The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the subject would be discussed at a meeting with the German and Polish foreign ministers on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Output shrank for 12th month in a row in December, while housebuilding in deepest slump since 2020 Business live – latest updates Britain’s construction sector has recorded its worst run since the financial crisis almost two decades ago, with housebuilding mired in the deepest slump since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020. UK construction output shrank for the 12th month in a row in December, the longest unbroken run of declines since the global financial crash of 2007-09, although there were signs of optimism among companies, according to a monthly industry survey. Continue reading...

Abbey theatre, Dublin Barbara Bergin’s tale follows four families through strikes in the slums, the Easter Rising, the early years of independence and the HIV-Aids crisis of the 1980s In Barbara Bergin’s epic “losers’ history” of Dublin, street names tell their own story. Tosser’s Pot leads to Cutpurse, then from Pokes Alley to Kiphouse Row. For the residents of the inner-city tenement building where the action opens in 1880, choices are starkly circumscribed and lives are cut short by poverty, disease or violence. Covering 100 years of life in this house, the narrative traces four families, their lives intertwined through generations, with trauma recurring – to women in particular – echoing the spirit of Seán O’Casey. The historical backdrop is outlined in broad brush: from strikes in the slums to revolution and war, through the early years of the independent state, to the heroin and HIV-Aids crises of the 1980s. At Abbey theatre, Dublin, until 31 January Continue reading...

Democrats should go on the offense against Republicans, but they should also lay out a vision for renewing the promise of a middle-class life By January 2029, Donald Trump will be capping off a nearly 14-year stretch at the helm of American politics. While he will no longer serve as president of the United States, his shadow over the future of American politics will continue to loom large across both sides of the aisle. Following Trump’s popular-vote victory in the 2024 election, the Democratic party has been forced to wrestle with what went wrong and how they can regain the support of an American majority to win back the White House. To win back Americans’ trust, Democrats have to prioritize affordability, broaden their cultural appeal, and reconnect with disaffected voters beyond their base. Trump’s political success has long been defined by his willingness to take on elite institutions and buck convention, putting distance between himself and weaknesses in the Republican brand while simultaneously undermining advantages in the Democratic brand. He’s ignored the wrath of editorial boards and economists while offering policy ideas and messaging that speaks to what voters think. Colin Seeberger is a senior adviser for communications at the Center for American Progress Continue reading...

The cost of medication was too high for thousands of CF sufferers around the world. Now a Bangladeshi company is making a generic version that will change lives Seven-year-old Grant Leitch had an important question for his mother. He asked if his little brother, Brett, who has cystic fibrosis (CF), was going to die. The South African family, like tens of thousands around the world, have been priced out of access to modern cystic fibrosis therapies, and if Grant had asked at the start of 2025, he might have received a less optimistic answer. Continue reading...

Richard Adam and Zafar Khan knew about serious problems but failed to alert the market, UK regulator finds Business live – latest updates The UK’s financial regulator has fined two former executives at the government contractor Carillion for misleading investors before the construction company’s collapse eight years ago. Richard Adam and Zafar Khan knew about serious problems in the business but failed to alert investors, the board or the audit committee, the Financial Conduct Authority found. Continue reading...