Argentinian makes 20-minute appearance in Kolkata Supporters climb fence and hurl objects from stands Lionel Messi’s tour of India kicked off on a chaotic note on Saturday as fans ripped up seats and threw them on to the pitch after the Argentina and Inter Miami forward’s brief visit to the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, the ANI news agency reported. Messi is in India as part of a tour during which he is scheduled to attend concerts, youth football clinics, a padel tournament and launch charitable initiatives at events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. Continue reading...

Colm Tóibín, Robert Macfarlane, Elif Shafak, Michael Rosen and more share the novels, poetry and memoirs that make the perfect gift I love giving books as presents. I rarely give anything else. I strongly approve of the Icelandic tradition of the Jólabókaflóðið (Yule book flood), whereby books are given (and, crucially, read) on Christmas Eve. Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain is the one I’ve given more often than any other; so much so that I keep a stack of four or five to hand, ready to give at Christmas or any other time of the year. It’s a slender masterpiece – a meditation on Shepherd’s lifelong relationship with the Cairngorm mountains, which was written in the 1940s but not published until 1977. It’s “about the Cairngorms” in the sense that Mrs Dalloway is “about London”; which is to say, it is both intensely engaged with its specific setting, and gyring outwards to vaster questions of knowledge, existence and – a word Shepherd uses sparingly but tellingly – love. Continue reading...

While UAE-backed forces are accused of mass killings in Sudan, the NBA is deepening its partnership with the controversial Gulf state. This is what sportswashing looks like As paramilitary fighters from the brutal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the largest city in western Sudan – carrying out mass executions, rapes and ethnic cleansing with weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates – the NBA’s annual in-season tournament, the Emirates NBA Cup, tipped off on Halloween night, proudly sponsored by the very same Gulf state. The tournament is the most visible example of the NBA’s expanding partnership with the UAE – a partnership that includes annual preseason games in Abu Dhabi, a lucrative sponsorship deal with Emirates airlines, and plans for a new NBA Global Academy at NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus. Continue reading...

Exclusive: A trio of candidates have been interviewed by the PM, but he could still decide to directly appoint someone else Keir Starmer is poised to choose a new ambassador to Washington from a shortlist of three as relations with the US are tested over Ukraine and Donald Trump’s attacks on European leaders. The prime minister held interviews with three finalists for the role this week, the Guardian has learned, with Downing Street preparing to make an appointment before the end of the year. Continue reading...

⚽ All the latest pre-match news, previews and updates ⚽ Fixtures | Tables | Read Football Daily | And mail us The biggest story of the week was Mohamed Salah’s comments after Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Leeds and the subsequent fallout. Yesterday it was confirmed he would be back in the squad to face Brighton after he had been omitted from Tuesday’s Champions League win at Inter. The Egyptian will depart for the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday. Continue reading...

The former British Vogue editor reflects on his early years in London, the importance of celebrating diversity and why he takes comfort in the younger generation When Edward Enninful was scouted on the tube travelling through London in 1988, it changed his life. The Ghanaian teenager, newly arrived in Britain, was drawn into the capital’s creative scene of the 90s – as a model, then stylist and, by 18, the fashion director of i-D magazine. “It was the height of the YBA [Young British Artists] movement – Jay Jopling, Tracey Emin. I met Kate [Moss] at a casting,” he recalls. “Then Naomi [Campbell] for a cover, and I knew we’d be great friends. We all hung out across disciplines. Friday rolled into Saturday into Sunday. I miss that rawness.” Continue reading...

Plenty is up in the air as the Ashes tourists escape the Sunshine Coast goldfish bowl, but sharks are circling for next week’s third Test All being well, England’s cricketers should land in South Australia on Saturday. Those on the port side of the plane will have spotted the mighty Adelaide Oval during their descent. Although at 2-0 down in this Ashes series, a visual cue as to what is at stake next week is hardly needed. The mini-break spent licking wounds in Noosa generated headlines and interest but was hardly unprecedented as modern tours go. Among the reaction was Alex Carey recalling how Australia’s players scattered after the third Test on the 2023 Ashes tour and he personally visited Edinburgh. Continue reading...

Reds are still winless in the league and Gareth Taylor must turn results around starting at West Ham on Sunday No wins, no clean sheets and – on Thursday night – no shots on target. It has been a horrible first half of the WSL season for Liverpool and, while the gaze of the world’s football media has been drawn towards the future of “the Egyptian King”, Mo Salah, on Merseyside, the women’s team look increasingly in danger of slipping down the pyramid. It is by no means a hopeless situation for Gareth Taylor, whose bottom-of-the-table side face second-bottom West Ham on Sunday. But after Thursday’s 3-0 defeat at Aston Villa, it was clear on social media that portions of the fanbase are losing patience, with some supporters calling for the manager to go after only 10 league games. This time last year, under Matt Beard, Liverpool were seventh; 24 months ago, fifth. Continue reading...

A tour of local ‘wins’ shows how the charity Citizens UK is working with residents to build a better, fairer society Donate to the Guardian charity appeal 2025 here Communities are our defence against hatred. Now, more than ever, we must invest in hope Dashing through the snow with Father Chris … It does not get any more seasonal, even if it feels like there might be a final syllable missing. To be honest we are not really dashing, it’s more a leisurely walk-and-talk, around North Shields. And the snow, the remnants of an early Tyneside flurry, is patchy and dirty rather than deep and crisp and even. Father Chris is real though – Father Chris Hughes, Catholic priest; the diocese is a strategic partner for the local chapter of Citizens UK, one of five charities supported by this year’s Guardian charity appeal, under the theme of “hope”. The appeal supports grassroots voluntary groups that nurture community pride and positive change, providing an antidote to division and hate. Continue reading...

It’s pure joy to see the beloved comedy’s crew get back together. It feels like a family reunion – but one where everyone is hugely charming Peep Show is not really a TV show. It’s closer to an identity now, embedded in the collective British DNA. A decade after the show finished, many of us still call each other “Clean Shirt”, notice logos in foam or quip about crack being “very moreish”. The only show more emblematic of the UK’s national psyche is The Great British Bake Off. Therefore rejoice, for the hottest collab of the holiday is here! I’m calling this the real reason for the season. The true raisin for the praisin’, perhaps. They’re so much part of our lives, it’s hard to see these bakers as actors. It feels more natural to say that this Christmas the Bake Off tent will host a reunion of Mark, Sophie, Big Suze, Super Hans and Dobby. Together again, like family, your family. It’s glorious to see them – older, some bearded, not one of them less charming. No proceeds from this are going to charity because there aren’t any. This is happening purely for joy. Continue reading...

My reduced vision badly affected my ability to appreciate films and art, but the stripped-back staging and immediacy of the play gave me back my sense of self I began to notice my sight deteriorating in my 40s, but not just in the way that you expect it to with age. I had night blindness and blind spots in my field of view. At 44, I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye condition that causes the retina cells to die. I had always been a very visually oriented person: I was a practising architect, and someone who loved to read, draw, go to the cinema and visit art exhibitions. So when black text disappeared on a glaring white page, films became impossible to follow and artworks only took shape once explained to me, I questioned who I would be without my vision. Around the age of 50, I had a particularly stressful year: I got divorced; dissolved my business; started a new job; moved house; and my dad died. As my life fell off a cliff, so did my eyesight, so that by 2015 my field of vision had decreased to only 5-10 degrees (a healthy average person’s is about 200 degrees). I was registered blind, but for a long time I lived in denial, not telling anyone how much vision I had lost. At work, feeling vulnerable and like I could lose my job, I presented as fully sighted, a daily performance that became exhausting. I was in survival mode, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, hoping I wouldn’t get found out. I refused to see myself as disabled, and resisted using a white stick, but once I eventually did, I found people saw my disability before they saw me. I felt a total loss of identity. And I stopped doing the cultural things that once brought me joy. Continue reading...

Free2Move, Enterprise Car Club and Co Wheels among those eyeing growth, as well as peer-to-peer firm Hiyacar Business live – latest updates Several car-sharing companies are considering launching or expanding in London, with the imminent closure of Zipcar’s UK operation leaving a large gap in the market in one of Europe’s biggest cities. Free2Move, owned by the carmaker Stellantis, said it was “closely monitoring the London market”, and “actively assessing” options for its services. It already operates fleets in cities including Berlin, Paris, Rome and Washington DC. Continue reading...

Drivers also told to take caution after complaints rise about long-stay meet-and-greet services Terence Baxter* had booked a meet-and-greet service to park his Volkswagen at Heathrow airport while he and his wife went on holiday. The couple handed over the keys at the drop-off site and were driven to the terminal – and that was the last they saw of their car. On their return they were informed by the company it had been stolen. Their case comes as airports and police forces are warning travellers to be wary of “unofficial” operators advertising cheap long-stay parking after a rise in complaints. Continue reading...

From demon, equal and encyclopedia to The Tour of Life and Before the Dawn, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 Inflation adjusted, what is the highest-grossing film of all time? 2 What was revamped in 1279, 1560, 1696, 1816 and 1971? 3 Dorothy Parker “fwowed up” in a 1928 review of which children’s classic? 4 Native to South America, what is the world’s largest bird of prey? 5 Which fabric is protected by the orb certification mark? 6 The Almanach de Gotha is a directory of what? 7 Which amusement park was opened in Vienna in 1766? 8 What British term for rare US R&B 45s was coined by Dave Godin? What links: 9 Năstase; Connors twice; Tanner; McEnroe twice? 10 Menevia, c600; County Down, c460; Lydda, c303; Patras, c60? 11 Choral by Beethoven; The Great by Schubert; From the New World by Dvořák? 12 Reverend Joy Carroll Wallis; hotelier Donald Sinclair; US military surgeon Richard Hornberger? 13 Demon; equal; encyclopedia; eon; fairy; medieval; primeval? 14 The Tour of Life in 1979 and Before the Dawn in 2014? 15 Charles X’s sword; Corot’s The Road from Sèvres; Empress Eugénie’s tiara; Mona Lisa? Continue reading...

Release of 43-second video comes as senior church figures speak out against dangers of Christian nationalism The Church of England has released a video in response to a Christmas carols event on Saturday being organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson amid calls from a growing number of senior church figures to challenge Christian nationalism. In the 43-second video, Christmas Isn’t Cancelled, posted on the church’s YouTube channel, more than 20 people from the archbishop of York to schoolchildren speak about the “joy, love and hope” of Christmas. The message is “a simple reminder that Christmas belongs to all of us, and everyone is welcome to celebrate”, the C of E said. Continue reading...

Palestinians who have worked the ‘breadbasket’ area for generations face being replaced by Israeli settlers The death knell for the Palestinian village of Atouf, on the western slopes of the Jordan valley, arrived in the form of a trail of paper, a series of eviction notices taped to homes, greenhouses and wells, marking a straight line across the open fields. The notices, which appeared overnight, informed the local farmers that their land would be confiscated and that they had seven days from the date of their delivery, 4 December, to vacate their properties. A military road and accompanying barrier was to be built by Israel right through the area. Continue reading...

The smash hit sci-fi nostalgia-fest reaches the end game on Boxing Day – so brace yourself for blockbuster whoppers. Plus: Ethan Hawke is a dirt-digging ‘truthstorian’ in a quirky drama full of heart – and more Emily in Paris! The concluding episodes of the Duffer brothers’ smash-hit coming-of-age, sci-fi nostalgia-fest (maybe the secret of the show’s success is how many genres it manages to incorporate?) will be dropping all over the festive season – and they are blockbuster whoppers. Devotees will be up bright and early on Boxing Day for episodes five to seven (the finale airs on New Year’s Day). Events are dominated by Will’s new powers, which present a massive threat to Vecna. But why is Vecna so wary of the cave in which Max is hiding? As the finale looms, the past and present are set to fall into place – and the now visibly twentysomething cast will be able to move on with their lives. Netflix, from Boxing Day Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: It was ​12 months of megamergers, manufactured musicians and thrillers stretched thinner than a streamer’s budget​. Join me for some cathartic moaning • Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here It’s time for a big old moan. Next week’s newsletter will be a roundup of our favourite culture of the year, a bit of an annual Guide tradition by now, and something that’s great fun to put together. But do you know what’s even more fun? Complaining about things. So, this week’s Guide is devoted to cultural gripes, big and small, of 2025. Here’s what had us seething this year. Continue reading...

Amber, George, Balvinder and Karen battle it out for a chance at the glitterball trophy. Plus: get in the spirit with some festive bangers. Here’s what to watch this evening 6.35pm, BBC One Continue reading...

The goofy star of Mary Poppins becomes a centenarian on Saturday. And what a precocious performer he has proved, sustaining scrappy mischief through seven decades of mainstream entertainment All Hollywood stars grow old and die except perhaps one - Dick Van Dyke - who turns 100 today. The real world Peter Pan who used to trip over the ottoman on The Dick Van Dyke Show is still standing. The man who impersonated a wind-up toy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang hasn’t wound down just yet. He has outlived mentors, co-stars, romantic partners and several studios. He’s even outlived the jokes about his performance in Mary Poppins. These days his mangled cockney accent is regarded with more fondness than contempt. It’s seen as one of the great charms of the 1964 classic, along with the carousel chase or the cartoon dancing penguins. Charm is the magic ingredient of every popular entertainer and few have possessed it in such abundance as Van Dyke, the impoverished son of a travelling cookie salesman who dropped out of high school and educated himself at the movies. “His job in this life is to make a happier world,” his Broadway co-star Chita Rivera once said - and this may explain his stubborn refusal to quit, not while times are tough and he feels that audiences still need cheering up. Continue reading...

Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut stars the 96-year-old June Squibb, while Netflix’s lovable tweefest sees its heroine move to Rome Eleanor the Great Out now June Squibb stars in Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, which premiered at Cannes and tells the tale of the eponymous Eleanor, a senior citizen recently relocated to New York, who strikes up a friendship with a 19-year old – and then stumbles her way into pretending to be a Holocaust survivor. Lurker Out now A hit at Sundance, this is the story of a lowly retail employee who happens to strike up a friendship with a rising pop star, becoming the Boswell to his Johnson, if Boswell was part of a pop star’s entourage. But the path of friendship with a famous person never did run smooth, and the uneven power dynamic soon prompts some desperate manoeuvring in this psychological thriller. Ella McCay Out now Emma Mackey stars in the latest from James L Brooks (his first since 2010), a political comedy about an idealistic thirtysomething working in government and preparing to step into the shoes of her mentor, Governor Bill (Albert Brooks). Jamie Lee Curtis co-stars as Ella’s aunt. Continue reading...

The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable Ten years on from the historic Paris climate summit, which ended with the world’s first and only global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it is easy to dwell on its failures. But the successes go less remarked. Renewable energy smashed records last year, growing by 15% and accounting for more than 90% of all new power generation capacity. Investment in clean energy topped $2tn, outstripping that into fossil fuels by two to one. Continue reading...

As Paramount, with close ties to the Trump administration, entered the bidding, experts predict any merger will ‘raise red flags’ among regulators Over the first 10 months of his second presidency, Donald Trump has not hidden his desire to control the US media industry – from encouraging TV networks to fire journalists, comedians and critics he dislikes to pushing regulators to revoke broadcast licences. Now he seems determined to set the terms for one of the biggest media deals in history. It’s a deal that could have repercussions not just in the US, but across the world, with not just the future of Hollywood at stake but also the landscape of news. Continue reading...

Rita, 35, a travel agent, meets Tom, 40, a social media manager What were you hoping for? To have a refreshing new experience. I was curious to see who the Guardian would match me with. Continue reading...

Hobnobs, ricotta, chocolate and amaretto – what’s not to like? I believe in divine communion, especially when it comes to food; an alliance of ingredients that come together as though they were meant to feed spirit and body. It might be too lofty to say that this semifreddo is divine, but the combination of Hobnobs, ricotta, chocolate and amaretto really does it for me. That said, there are many alliances that can be formed in the Christmas store-cupboard, so use this as a base for any biscuits, dried fruit and chocolate to which you feel most spiritually aligned. Continue reading...