In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump robustly defended his health after the first year of his second term in office raised growing questions. Key US politics stories from 1 January 2026 Donald Trump has denied falling asleep while attending public meetings and robustly defended his health after the first year of his second term in office raised growing questions. Trump, who at 79 is the oldest person to assume the US presidency, told the Wall Street Journal “my health is perfect” and expressed frustration with scrutiny of his wellbeing. Continue reading...

Trump called the actor and his wife, Amal, ‘two of the worst political prognosticators of all time’ after they were awarded French passports George Clooney has lashed out at US president Donald Trump for criticising France’s decision to grant the Hollywood actor and his family French citizenship. The 64-year-old Oscar winner, his wife, Amal Alamuddin Clooney, and their two children became French citizens earlier this month after living on a property in southern France for years. Continue reading...

Big life questions tend to squeeze us at this time of year, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith, but a baby is a person not a symbol Read more Leading questions I’m turning 29 soon and the first of my friends is having a baby in the new year. This news has prompted a lot of self reflection. I’m pretty ambivalent about having a child myself but also feel like it’s the next milestone. I feel a great deal of pressure to decide whether or not to have a child – but this is largely self-inflicted. Unlike others I don’t have family asking this question. I know I have a few years to decide on this (and might not be lucky enough to be able to have a child in the event), so how can I reframe my thinking and be straightforwardly happy for my friend without feeling the pressure to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life? Continue reading...

Myanmar’s military rulers are holding the first elections since the 2021 coup, and life in the country’s biggest city is fraught with anxiety Yangon feels, on the surface, like a normal, bustling city. In downtown areas, commuters stream past roadside sellers and diners perch beneath parasols. Packed buses and cars chug along the roads. At sunset, young people stop to pose for photos opposite the famous Sule pagoda, as it gleams against a pink-blue sky. But almost five years on from the military seized power in a coup, ousting and imprisoning then de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, life for local people feels anything but stable. Myanmar’s military rulers are in the process of holding the first elections since before the coup, a vote that the junta has touted as a return to democracy and stability. The UN and western governments have called the process, which will be held in three phases ending on 25 January, a sham. Continue reading...

NHS to administer combined immunisation in move in line with approach in US, Canada, Australia and Germany Children in the UK are to be immunised against chickenpox at the same time as measles, mumps and rubella. The NHS across the UK’s four home nations will administer a combined vaccine to young children to protect them against all four diseases from Friday. Continue reading...

New utes, sports cars and hatchbacks will break price records at both ends as traditional brands release electric vehicles Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australians can expect to see more electric utes, sports cars and hatchbacks that break price records at both ends of the spectrum, with changes encouraging even the most reluctant brands to join the trend. But the electric vehicle market could also experience significant regulatory upheaval in 2026, with a road-user charge on the national agenda and a review of tax exemptions. Continue reading...

From pawdicures to designer rainwear, the cult of the dog is expanding with impressive speed. Why must we tolerate it? I’m becoming concerned that we as a species have gone to the dogs – quite literally. Somewhere between the rise of boutique pet grooming and private members’ clubs for canines, dogs appear to have become our preferred species for social interaction. Parks, beaches, cafes – even offices and yoga studios, which in the past were areas for human exclusivity, or at least priority – are all frequently shared zones. That means you must joyfully tolerate being sniffed or enthusiastically pranced at. Your belongings, likewise, are subject to dog paws and noses. Object, and you’ll be met with looks of discord, as though you’ve confessed to disliking sunlight or laughter. Or the pet person thinks you must be frightened and insists “He/She won’t hurt you!” Continue reading...

Former world champion beaten 5-1 by rising star Littler cheered during rout of Krzysztof Ratajski Old acquaintance forgot, and never brought to mind. A new year, a new crowd and perhaps even a clean slate for the world champion, Luke Littler, who continued his largely untroubled progress towards back-to-back titles with an embarrassingly one-sided 5-0 win over Krzysztof Ratajski in Thursday night’s first quarter-final. Perhaps, after the startling boos and jeers of Tuesday night’s game against Rob Cross, after his salty comments about the barrackers paying his prize money, a certain caution might have been expected. But despite receiving a mixed reception as he entered the stage, Littler quickly won them over in a brutal, nonchalant, princely 33-minute exhibition. The Alexandra Palace multitudes drank a cup of kindness, and by the end all seemed to have been forgiven. Continue reading...

There was an extraordinary moment just before kick-off here when Thomas Frank strode 20 yards on to the pitch and applauded all four corners of the stadium. The Tottenham head coach was applauded back by the Brentford fans because he will always be a hero to them. His work over a near seven-year period as their manager has seen to that. But what of the followers in his new gig? It is safe to say the jury remains out after this driest of January performances, one that had the supporters in the away enclosure adapting a barb they have historically reserved for their rivals, Arsenal. “Boring, boring Tottenham,” they chorused in the 85th minute. Continue reading...

Toby Morton now owns trumpkennedycenter.org, which advertises new year performance by the ‘Epstein dancers’ Donald Trump may be remaking the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts into a pool of his self-reflection, but a writer for South Park, the TV series that better reflects the obsessions and tendencies of the administration than any political pundit, has purchased the rights to trumpkennedycenter.org. Toby Morton, a TV writer and producer who has worked on the long-running and joyfully offensive sitcom, said he purchased the domain in August after predicting the president would change the name from the Kennedy Center to the Trump Kennedy Center after he installed himself as chair and stocked the board with loyalists. Continue reading...

The racy espionage blockbuster caused a global frenzy a decade ago – and set an unbelievably high bar. As Tom Hiddleston’s M16 agent Jonathan Pine returns to take down a new supervillain, he just about pulls it off Finesse was the selling point of The Night Manager when it debuted in 2016. It was a class above other spy thrillers, setting itself among moneyed elites – rotten ones, but elites nonetheless – and furnishing itself with luxury locations. In Tom Hiddleston it had a lead with a reputation that signalled that the often tacky espionage genre was looking to improve itself. Based on a book by John le Carré and airing on the BBC in the dying days of the era when that carried heavyweight global cachet, its pedigree was impeccable. A large part of the rarefied atmosphere the series created, though, was in being one and done: it swept in, won a ton of awards, then swooshed away, leaving behind a delicate waft of something impossibly exclusive. Lesser shows would have hastily cashed in with an inferior second season, but The Night Manager could not be so vulgar. Continue reading...

Something had to give and it was not Sunderland’s unbeaten home Premier League record. Instead Manchester City’s winning streak came to a juddering halt as Pep Guardiola’s side spurned a chance to move within two points of Arsenal at the top of the table. Hats – or should that be chapeaus – off to Régis Le Bris and his clever and courageous Sunderland team for not merely frustrating City but offering Gianluigi Donnarumma scope to remind everyone precisely why he is a world-class goalkeeper. Continue reading...

Batter has been thrown in at the deep end at No 3 and if the selectors have faith in a young player they should be doing everything to help them succeed There used to be a saying in county cricket: a quick game’s a good game. You’d hear it from the old pros who sensed a poor wicket or a downpour, because it meant they would get more time off. Well, England and Australia have certainly adhered to that saying. There’s another one you hear a lot in cricket these days: there’s a ball with your name on it. It frees batters up, takes the pressure off, and allows them to run down the wicket, to play scoops and ramps, in the belief that they have to be proactive because there’s a good ball round the corner. Modern batters don’t want to trust their defence and, if the world’s best players have that mindset – you hear it a lot from this England setup – you’re going to get a lot of unnecessary dismissals, leading to accelerated matches. That’s what we saw in the fourth Test, exacerbated by an unsatisfactory pitch. Continue reading...

‘We don’t need middle management,’ yell the new batch of traitors. With just one audacious tweak, the hit show promises to become even more satisfying – and full of bombshells New year, new killing spree. This is the third time the BBC has dropped a new season of The Traitors on or close to 1 January, enshrining a great new British tradition of easing into the new year with a month-long “psychological game of deception” – and, after a slow-burn start to the first season back in 2022, audiences have now learned to bay for fresh blood at Claudia Winkleman’s bell. This fourth “civilian” season comes just a month after The Celebrity Traitors finale, which drew a record 15m viewers, sent some of its contestants’ profiles skyrocketing (and called others into question – Nick, what happened?) and is still generating headlines from the retrospective play-by-play. Continue reading...

Signatories to open letter include former Reserve Bank of Australia governors Philip Lowe and Glenn Stevens and billionaire James Packer Australian business leaders and public figures have joined forces to call for a Commonwealth royal commission into antisemitism, radicalism and the events leading up to December 14 Bondi beach terrorist attack. At least 120 leaders have signed the open letter, including former Reserve Bank of Australia governors Philip Lowe and Glenn Stevens, billionaire James Packer, former Telstra chief executive David Thodey, as well as sporting figures, politicians, and university chancellors. Continue reading...

Mayor says ‘I will govern as a democratic socialist’ at inauguration ceremony featuring AOC and Bernie Sanders Zohran Mamdani on Thursday vowed to “reinvent” New York City in a speech on his first day as mayor, promising “a new era” for America’s largest city and an ambitious start to his term of office. The 34-year-old political star and democratic socialist, who a year ago was a virtually unknown state assemblyman, is the city’s first Muslim mayor, first of south Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. He is also the first to be sworn in using the Qur’an. Continue reading...

It’s a strange quirk of this fixture that the away side hasn’t lost for the last 10 Premier League matches, and substitute Tom Cairney’s late equaliser ensured that the streak goes on. Only a brilliant save in injury-time from Dean Henderson and a glaring miss from former Crystal Palace player Joachim Andersen denied Fulham all three points after they had fallen behind to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first goal from open play since 1 November. But Oliver Glasner will still be bitterly disappointed that his side couldn’t end a sequence of six games without a victory in all competitions after running out of steam again in their 31st match of the season. Continue reading...

Two unbeaten records continued at Anfield but only one team could take satisfaction from that. Leeds succeeded in stifling and frustrating Liverpool as the first goalless draw of Arne Slot’s reign underlined the limitations that linger behind the Premier League champions’ recent recovery. A drab scoreless draw, the first in 84 Liverpool games under Slot, owed much to the defensive dominance of the excellent Jaka Bijol and Pascal Struijk but also the home side’s inability to break down a compact Leeds unit. Liverpool were reduced to hopeful half chances and there was a smattering of boos around Anfield as the final whistle sounded on a laboured performance. Continue reading...

Manager toed the line at Stamford Bridge with one eye on the Manchester City job, frustrating fans and his employers It was late on New Year’s Eve when Chelsea’s patience ran out. They knew that Enzo Maresca was attempting to engineer an exit from the club and now they were ready to call his bluff. Midnight was approaching and the fireworks at Stamford Bridge were about to erupt. A baffling story soon had a familiar, predictable ending. Maresca, who is not the first manager to run out of friends at Chelsea, had taken the provocations too far. There was surprise when he told staff that he did not want to conduct his post-match press conference after the disappointing 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday night. The official explanation was that Maresca was too unwell to talk in public, despite having just spent the evening coaching on the Stamford Bridge touchline, but the friction was palpable and it was never going to sit well with the Chelsea hierarchy when it took less than 24 hours for reports to emerge that the sickness line was a red herring and their head coach had actually decided not to meet the media because he needed time to consider his options. It was further confirmation that this was someone who wanted to be sacked. Maresca dared Chelsea to act and will have been the least surprised person in the world to find himself unemployed less than a day into 2026. Continue reading...

Mischievous and glorious, David Attenborough brings his lifelong sense of wonder to the city’s wildlife, from foxes to peregrine falcons, in this exquisite and endlessly moving special The journey begins in a row of allotments lodged deep between two north London streets. It’s 8.30pm and David Attenborough – 99 years young, in customary short-sleeved blue shirt and chinos – is on the hunt for Tottenham’s most elusive resident. He gets settled on a camping chair. Waits. Emits a tiny rhapsodic gasp as the creature in question appears. It’s a … fox. “It’s still a huge thrill to see one suddenly emerging from the bushes,” he whispers to camera of a sight so bog-standard most Londoners wouldn’t bother looking up from their phones. “A totally wild creature!” Attenborough holds out a hand. Murmurs a delighted “hello”. The fox comes within a few inches of the greatest natural historian and broadcaster this country has ever produced, then slinks off into the night. What an encounter! And if you think that’s exhilarating wait until you see his reaction to a pigeon getting on the tube. Continue reading...

Blaze that swept through crowded New Year’s Eve bar in Crans-Montana also injured 115 people Swiss resort fire: latest updates Le Constellation bar fire in Switzerland: what we know so far Switzerland will hold five days of mourning after an “unprecedented” fire tore through a crowded bar, killing about 40 people and injuring 115 who were celebrating at a New Year’s Eve party in the Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana. The country’s president, Guy Parmelin, described the blaze as one of the most traumatic events in Switzerland’s history. “It was a drama of an unknown scale,” he said, paying tribute to the many “young lives that were lost and interrupted”. Continue reading...

9,500-year-old pyre uncovered in Malawi offers rare insight into rituals of ancient African hunter-gatherer groups A cremation pyre built about 9,500 years ago has been discovered in Africa, offering a fresh glimpse into the complexity of ancient hunter-gatherer communities. Researchers say the pyre, discovered in a rock shelter at the foot of Mount Hora in northern Malawi, is thought to be the oldest in the world to contain adult remains, the oldest confirmed intentional cremation in Africa, and the first pyre to be associated with African hunter-gatherers. Continue reading...

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail John The glitch in the space-time continuum that is this season’s fixture list means they met just weeks ago. That was the day of the rabona. Here’s the table, as it stands. Sunderland have had such a good season. City are in the hunt but their points total is significantly lower than in their imperial periods. Continue reading...

New year party at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana turned into tragedy as flames shot across the ceiling Switzerland resort fire – latest updates The new year had passed its first hour and the party in Le Constellation was in full swing with revellers dancing to thumping hip-hop. Dawn was far off and the teenagers and twentysomethings were in no hurry to leave the bar. It was, after all, New Year’s Day. Outside, darkness draped Crans-Montana, a ski resort in the Swiss Alps with a reputation for poshness and luxury. Le Constellation, however, had few pretensions: a cavernous venue with TV screens on the top floor to watch sport, and a basement with low lighting, loud music and a dancefloor. Continue reading...

Philogene and Akpom goals secure 2-1 win over Oxford Charlton hold Coventry 1-1; Derby upset Middlesbrough Ipswich climbed into the automatic promotion places in the Championship following a 2-1 victory over struggling Oxford. Their success came via first-half goals from leading scorer Jaden Philogene and Chuba Akpom, while Will Lankshear replied for the visitors. Ipswich moved a point above Middlesbrough after they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Derby, while Oxford remain three points from safety. This report will update Continue reading...