Arson attack that left parts of German capital in darkness for days stirs outrage over infrastructure insecurity Europe live – latest updates When Silke Peters bought a crank radio and a camping stove just after the start of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine, her husband thought she was “a little crazy”. “He put me down, only half-jokingly, as a prepper,” she says, referring to the kind of person who stockpiles in case of catastrophe. For almost four years, the items gathered dust in the cellar of the Peters’ two-room flat in Zehlendorf, a well-to-do district of Berlin. But in recent days the wind-up radio – with its inbuilt torch and charge point – has come into its own during Germany’s longest power cut since the second world war. Continue reading...

The Voice of Hind Rajab has stunned audiences with its use of the real-life audio of a girl’s call for help after her family’s car was attacked by an Israeli tank in Gaza. Its director explains why she had to tell Hind’s tragic story When Kaouther Ben Hania heard Hind Rajab’s voice for the first time, she was in Los Angeles airport scrolling through social media. The five-year-old’s cry for help cut through the clamour around her. This was in February 2024 and Hind had already been dead for at least a week, left to bleed out among the corpses of six of her relatives after their car was targeted by an Israeli tank, leaving it with 335 bullet holes, according to the Forensic Architecture research group. More than 20,000 Palestinian children were killed in two years of Israeli bombardment of Gaza, according to UN estimates. Another 82 have been killed since 10 October when a ceasefire was declared and then routinely breached. The pictures of the dead have often been published online, including those of Hind, showing her dressed in pink with a floral tiara, or smiling in an oversized academic cap and gown, but her voice also remains to haunt the world after her death. Continue reading...

In a bad season for big-money transfers in the Premier League, maverick Frenchman has been a notable exception By WhoScored “There are moments I just want to shout at him and there are moments I want to kiss him.” Such is Pep Guardiola’s relationship with Rayan Cherki: part exasperation, part adoration.​ Guardiola is football’s master of fine-tuning. He has polished footballers until their natural instincts have become dictated by a system of control, structure and repetition above individual sparks of brilliance. Cherki, however, feels different – a sharp, unpredictable edge that Guardiola has left intact. The 22-year-old, who arrived from Lyon in the summer for £34m​, is already testing Guardiola’s philosophy of shaping players rather than accommodating them. His approach to Cherki feels very different to previous big signings. When Jack Grealish arrived from Aston Villa for £100m in 2022, he was one of English football’s most audacious, improvisational talents – a player unafraid of expression. Continue reading...

It’s either a simple yet effective way to appreciate the passage of time – or a reminder to do your own thing without pausing for explanation Name: 365 buttons. Age: New. This is a 2026 thing. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Move follows outcry over use of Grok to digitally remove clothing from images of women and children UK politics live – latest updates The influential Commons women and equalities committee has decided to stop using X after the social media site’s AI tool began generating thousands of digitally-altered images of women and children with their clothes digitally removed. The move by the cross-party committee to mothball its official X account places renewed pressure on ministers to take decisive action after the site was flooded with images including sexualised and unclothed pictures of children, generated by its AI tool, Grok. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! While precisely nobody else thought to say so at the time, when those West Ham fans who were howling for the head of Tin Pot-winning saviour David Moyes two years ago, Football Daily wondered if – whisper it – they should be careful what they wished for. While the turgid meat-and-potatoes fare served up by Moyes’s Irons was undeniably unpleasant on the eye, arguably the sole benefit of the club’s relocation to the London Stadium was that those fans were now seated in a different postcode from the pitch, meaning they couldn’t actually see what was happening anyway. The year 2026 isn’t even a week old and already it has torpedoed the Premier League ambitions of Ruben Amorim and Enzo Maresca. And, as if his first name wasn’t a big enough clue, Nancy joined the long list of things in Glasgow that are taken away after being deep fried at Celtic. On top of that, poor Gianni Infantino will have to create a new Fifa award celebrating armed exploration for South American oil. Roll on February” – Mark McFadden. Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. I’m probably missing some clever point about football financing here, but why on earth would Chelsea give Liam Rosenior a contract to 2032? Including interim managers/coaches/whatever else they insist on calling themselves (because, let’s face it, who knows who’s actually interim, and who isn’t, any more), Chelsea have had eight different managers in the previous seven years. Surely they are just setting themselves up for a massive payout when they change managers again in (statistically) no more than 12 months’ time?” – Phil Taverner. No idea how many (mainly Scottish) pedants will point out that Noble Francis’s claim – that Celtic ‘don’t have to play Hearts again [this season], obviously’ (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) – is false. Because, in fact, Celtic have to play Hearts again in the league at least once (scheduled for 25 January). In addition, since both Hearts and Celtic are almost certain to be in the top half of the Premiership after the split at 33 games, then probably Celtic still have to play Hearts again twice in the current league season. Also, they could end up playing each other at some point in the Scottish Cup” – Dylan Drummond (and 1,056 other mainly Scottish pedants). This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...

Innovation means every player being digitally scanned Infantino: Move will ensure more accurate decisions Every player at this summer’s World Cup will have their own physically accurate “AI avatar” that will be used in taking VAR decisions. The innovation, which will involve every player being digitally scanned and leaves the possibility of size mattering in future offside calls, was part of a package of technological measures announced by Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, as he made a keynote appearance at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. Continue reading...

‘I have outtakes of them all standing up – there’s no safety equipment and they’re not hanging on to anything. They just said to me, “Hurry up, Beez!”’ At the age of 12 I was working for the Clash, handing out flyers. I looked older than I was and got to see all the punk bands before getting into reggae sound systems. Multicultural Bristol was a great place to grow up, and by the time I was 14 or 15 I’d be going out late most nights and coming home mid-morning. Having failed the entrance exam to be a gas fitter, I enrolled on an audio-visual course – one of Thatcher’s new National Training Initiatives. I specialised in photography and started documenting all those nights out – my friends and the scenes I was already part of – offering an insider’s perspective. Photography also gave me an opportunity to explore new environments. If there’s something you’re not sure about, a camera is a good way to have a look at it, be part of it, and then learn from it. Continue reading...

Washington signals interior minister must back acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, or face Nicolás Maduro’s fate The Trump administration has reportedly put Venezuela’s hardline interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, on notice that he could be next to fall if he does not support the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who has been in power since the dictator, Nicolás Maduro, was seized on Saturday. Reuters reported that US officials are “especially concerned” that Cabello – long seen by many as the regime’s real number two – could sabotage Washington’s plan to keep key figures from Maduro’s inner circle in place in the name of stability while pursuing a transition – and unrestricted access to Venezuela’s oil. Continue reading...

Miles Cross sentenced to 14 years in prison for selling the substance anonymously via online forum to four people A man who sold a deadly chemical online to help people kill themselves has been jailed in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the UK. Miles Cross, 33, pleaded guilty to four counts of intentionally doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide and was sentenced at Mold crown court on Wednesday to 14 years in prison. Continue reading...

Crews Hill near Enfield in north London could become a victim of Labour’s ambitious housebuilding goal UK construction hit by worst run since global financial crisis On the fringes of north London is an area of garden centres, green spaces and winding country lanes that feel a world away from the capital’s urban sprawl. Tucked just inside the M25, Crews Hill near Enfield has been home to a cluster of horticultural businesses for decades, leading to it being nicknamed the “golden mile”. Continue reading...

By the expansionist logic of the president and his advisers, the US is entitled to annex just about anywhere ‘We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Donald Trump told the Atlantic on 5 January, with the hand-wavy follow-up, “We need it for defence.” His adviser Stephen Miller was more aggressive still in an interview with CNN, saying: “The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? … The US is the power of Nato … obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.” His wife, Katie Miller, posted an image on X of a map of the country papered over with the US flag, with the caption “soon”. It’s hard to orientate sensibly towards things that happen on X these days: if she had posted a Grok-generated image of Greenland in a bikini, would that be more or less concerning? Still, we’re right to be concerned. There is no comfort to be had from old-era ideas such as: “Maybe they’re just sabre-rattling about Greenland to distract from the matter of Venezuela”, or “surely the foundational principles of Nato, a defensive alliance, will prevent the US from any act of aggression towards its own allies?” Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Stranger Things’ climactic showdown is the latest pop culture spectacle to feel like its been ported straight from a console. The industries’ reciprocally influential relationship can be to everyone’s gain • Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here It had begun to feel like an endurance test by the end, but nonetheless, like the sucker I am, I watched the Stranger Things finale last week. And spoiler warning: I’m going to talk about it in general terms in this newsletter. Because approximately 80% of the final season comprised twentysomething “teenagers” explaining things to each other while using random 1980s objects to illustrate convoluted plans and plot points, my expectations were not high. After an interminable hour, finally, something fun happens, as the not-kids arm themselves with machine guns and molotovs and face off against a monstrously gigantic demon-crab. Aha, I thought – the final boss battle! The fight was like something out of Monster Hunter, all scale and spectacle with a touch of desperation. For a very long time, video games sought to imitate cinema. Now cinema (and TV) often feels like a video game. The structure of Stranger Things’ final season reminded me a lot of Resident Evil: long periods of walking slowly through corridors, with characters exchanging plot information aloud on their way to the action, and occasional explosions of gunfire, screeching monsters or car chases. Those long periods of relative inaction are much more tolerable when you’ve got a controller in your hands. I am all for TV and film embracing the excitement, spectacle and dynamism of video games, but do they have to embrace the unnecessary side-quests and open-world bloat, too? Continue reading...

British cyclist calls time aged 33 after a 13-year career ‘Now feels the right moment,’ says Giro d’Italia winner Simon Yates, one of Britain’s most storied riders and the winner of last year’s Giro d’Italia, has stunned cycling by announcing his retirement at 33. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider announced on Wednesday that he is quitting with “deep pride and a sense of peace” after a 13-year career that gleaned two grand tours, 10 elite stages and 36 professional races. Continue reading...

Video game spinoff was the highest-grossing film of the year at £56.88m as the sector continued its recovery after Covid The UK and Irish box office has recorded its best annual performance since the Covid pandemic, with A Minecraft Movie ending 2025 as the highest-grossing film of the year. Figures released by box-office analysts Comscore show that box office revenue in the UK and Ireland totalled £1.07bn, an increase of 1% on 2024’s total of £1.06bn. At the same time there was a slight decrease in the amount of films released: 1,092 in 2025, compared with 1,124 in 2024. Continue reading...

Actor thinks derisive response to her description of divorcing Chris Martin led to her being dropped from film The actor Gwyneth Paltrow has said she was fired from a film due to media interest in her divorce from Chris Martin in 2014. Speaking on Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang, Paltrow blamed negative headlines surrounding the separation – which the couple called “conscious uncoupling” in their announcement – for her losing a role she had been scheduled to play soon afterwards. Continue reading...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...