It looks a touch damp in Casablanca but is brightening up slightly. Rain has really been an issue in the opening few games. The crowd, like in Mali v Zambia, is very sparse.
Will Mohamed Salah still be a Liverpool player by the time Afcon concludes? John Duerden looks at the prospect of the Egyptian forward moving to Saudi.
Ukraine accepts principle of demilitarised zone in east, while insisting Russia make similar concessions in pulling back forces
Washington and Kyiv have edged closer to a jointly agreed formula to end the war in Ukraine amid continuing uncertainty over Moscow’s response and a number of unresolved issues.
Revealing the latest status of the peace talks, brokered by Washington, Ukraine’s president, Volodmyr Zelenskyy, appeared to have secured several important concessions from earlier versions of the now slimmed-down plan after intense talks with the US negotiating team.
From Peaky Blinders to Sherwood, Shaheen Baig has cast some of the best shows on screen. But she struck gold with Owen Cooper for Adolescence – and won an Emmy. How does she spot such game-changing talent?
At the Emmys in September, Adolescence all but swept the board. It won best limited series. It won awards for writing, for directing, for cinematography. Three of its actors – Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty and Owen Cooper – all took home awards. But Adolescence also earned another Emmy for a craft that often goes overlooked: best casting.
Shaheen Baig was the woman responsible for casting Adolescence, and her Emmy is tucked away in the top right corner of the screen as we chat about her year over Zoom. She is mortified as soon as she realises this, immediately re-angling her webcam to keep it out of sight, lest anyone mistakes it for a boast.
Members of Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms network tell Guardian they didn’t mind missing out on the Nobel peace prize because ‘we only want to help’
Doing good gets you killed in Sudan. It was why Amira did not tell her mother when she joined a volunteer group that felt like the only thing stopping her country sliding deeper into dystopia.
Each morningshe secretly crossed the shifting frontline of Sudan’s North Kordofan state. Amira was entering territory held by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), paramilitaries who have committed countless war crimes, including genocide, during the country’s cataclysmic war.
This make-ahead, easy green sauce is suitable for to almost any main dish and a great way to use up hang-about herbs
Whenever I want to cook something special, my first thought is always salsa verde, and Christmas is no exception. This vibrant sauce is so forgiving and endlessly versatile – a last-minute showstopper that can be whipped up with a few store-cupboard ingredients and some herbs. It’s normally made with parsley, garlic, capers, anchovy fillets, olive oil and vinegar, but as long as the end result is green and saucy, I’m generally more than happy. Finely chop whatever herbs you have to hand – I used rosemary, sage, lemon verbena and nasturtiumsfrom the garden.
I was a chemistry student, my days spent boiling, titrating and stirring. But after that night, I formed a double act with a friend, writing jokes and making a radio show, before heading off to Australia …
Although I loved my time at Nottingham University, I didn’t go there with much intention of doing anything with my degree in chemistry afterwards. Not only was it full-on, I wasn’t particularly good at it. In an experiment to examine the incubation of goat’s blood, I accidentally added 10 times too much hydrogen peroxide. Blood shot out of the flask and splattered all over my face like a scene from The Sopranos. I can still hear my professor’s screams.
But that’s OK, because I hadn’t really gone to university to win the Nobel prize, I’d gone to experience the culture of the mid 90s. British dance music – through acts such as Orbital, Leftfield, Underworld, Faithless and the Chemical Brothers – was exploding. Britpop was happening around me: (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory was released the week I went to uni. My entry to this smorgasbord of cool happened when, in our second year, Ant and Dec announced a live show up in town.
Negotiations expected to last four days as each side calls on the other to show sincerity in words and actions
Cambodian and Thai officials began four days of talks at a border checkpoint on Wednesday intended to negotiate an end to the deadly clashes between the two countries, Phnom Penh said.
The meeting in Thailand’s Chanthaburi province had been at risk after Phnom Penh demanded a switch to a neutral venue.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the European Union have accused Washington of “coercion and intimidation”, after the US imposed a visa ban on five prominent European figures who have been at heart of the campaign to introduce laws regulating American tech giants.
The visa bans were imposed on Tuesday on Thierry Breton, a former EU commissioner and one of the architects of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), and four anti-disinformation campaigners, including two in Germany and two in the UK.
For us, what makes the Christmas period so special is how the nature of our celebrations and observances can be profoundly personal and widely shared at the same time. And nothing symbolises this better than the food and drink that fill our tables. In today’s newsletter we explore Christmas food traditions across the diaspora and how they represent our familial identities and wider communal histories.
There isn’t a single route to crafting a Nigerian Christmas table. Traditions vary from family to family, but there are a few staples that you will find at any large, celebratory gathering, regardless of the time of year: mountains of plantain; coleslaw smothered in salad cream or mayonnaise; an array of starters (spring rolls, chicken wings, savoury donut-style puff puff balls, samosas) endearingly known collectively as “small chops”; two types of rice: fried, and the regional favourite jollof. In our home, we have inherited the coloniser’s turkey, but most people choose chicken or beef, either roasted or prepared in a stew.
Francisco Gaspar-Andrés died in El Paso hospital after being detained at Fort Bliss – his wife was deported to Guatemala without a chance to see him
A Guatemalan man has become the first person to die in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Fort Bliss army base in Texas. His wife of 25 years was deported from the same camp without a chance to see her dying husband.
Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, 48, died on 3 December at a hospital in El Paso, as Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates were ramping up demands that the camp be closed down amid allegations of inhumane conditions there. The DHS has said such allegations are “categorically false”.
The great Santa deception arguably breaches the ninth commandment (‘Thou shalt not bear false witness’). I think God would cut us some slack
When I was first ordained, an older priest gave me three commandments for a successful ministry: one, try not to upset the flower ladies; two, don’t preach pacifism on Remembrance Sunday; and, three – and most important – never tell children that Santa isn’t real.
If only someone had had that talk with RevDr Paul Chamberlain, who last Christmas reduced a classroom full of year 6 children to tears by telling them the truth: “It’s your mum and dad.” (I hope that doesn’t come as a shock to any of you.)
Ravi Holy is rector of the United Wye Benefice in Canterbury, Kent, and a standup comedian
Egypt forward could change face of a league so far mostly reliant on ageing stars and alter perception of football in the Arab world
Mohamed Salah has made an impact in Morocco with an injury-time winner to spare Egypt’s blushes in their Africa Cup of Nations opener against Zimbabwe but his future intervention in Saudi Arabia could be more meaningful. A Saudi Pro League (SPL) that had been moving away from signing big-name veterans is tempted by a player who will be 34 just as this season ends.
Although players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have been successes on and off the pitch, albeit incredibly expensive ones, the powers that be don’t want the SPL to be regarded as a retirement league in the sun for stars whose powers are waning. But Salah is different, the attraction intensified by the fact that he is the biggest-name player in the Arab world.
Report recommends adoption of US-style punishment and rewards for most dangerous inmates
A long-awaited report that examined how the Manchester Arena plotter was able to carry out an alleged violent attack on prison officers has recommended a new punishment and rewards system for the most dangerous inmates, similar to that used in a US Supermax jail.
David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, is facing demands to publish the report, which looks into why Hashem Abedi, who was jailed for life for helping his brother carry out the 2017 bombing, was able to target staff at HMP Frankland with boiling oil and homemade weapons in a planned ambush.
While it struggles to hold up land advance, Kyiv eyes economic and political fronts to turn around fortunes
A depleted – but far from defeated Ukraine – looks to 2026 with few good military options, even though a critical €90bn (£79bn) loan from the EU has been agreed. The financing will help Kyiv to continue defending at its current intensity until late 2027, but it will not lead to a transformation of its battlefield prospects.
On land, the pattern of the last two years should, in the first instance, continue. Russia has held the initiative since 2024, but only gaining territory incrementally, largely because it constantly throws people into the “meat grinder” of the frontline. During 2025, Russian advances amounted to 176 sq miles a month to the end of November, but at an estimated cost of 382,000 killed and wounded.
US lifestyle entrepreneur joins Snoop Dogg and Luka Modric by making minority investment in the Welsh club
The American lifestyle personality Martha Stewart has become the latest celebrity to become a co-owner of Swansea City football club.
Stewart will join the rapper Snoop Dogg and the footballer Luka Modric as a minority owner of the Welsh club, which plays in the second tier of England’s football pyramid. The announcement was made in a post on the club’s website by two of its owners, Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen. The post did not disclose the size of the investment.
Five-time major champion looks poised to become a fascinating test case for golf’s future after exiting Saudi-funded breakaway tour
It was portrayed as amicable when it felt so inevitable. News that Brooks Koepka will step away from LIV Golf in 2026 comes as no shock. This never felt a particularly sensible alliance; an individual who craves glory at the top level and a disruption regime that has grasped for relevance with only varying degrees of success.
Koepka has looked unhappy in his professional domain for some time. He has all but admitted he would never have joined LIV but for fears over a potentially career-threatening injury. Golf’s ultimate alpha male was the captain of LIV’s Smash GC team. The whole thing always seemed preposterous.
The Spin’s annual selection marks a history-making World Cup triumph for India, and work to do for England
India’s mission to build a global women’s cricket dynasty advanced apace in 2025. Few will forget the sight of Harmanpreet Kaur’s team converging joyously on the field at the DY Patil Stadium to celebrate a fairytale World Cup win that was five decades in the making.
That final was the highlight of a year that included only one Test match – the Ashes affair at Melbourne at the end of January. As ever, therefore, the Spin’s team of the year is cross-format, though we gave substantial weight to performances at crunch moments in the aforementioned World Cup.
One study shows that time spent on social media peaked in 2022 and has gone into decline since then, according to an analysis conducted for the Financial Times by digital audience insights company GWI.
Two of the couple’s children have said they are planning a memorial service for their parents, as further details are released about their cause of death earlier this month
New details have emerged about the deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, whose bodies were discovered on Sunday 14 December in their home in Brentwood, Los Angeles.
Their death certificates have been released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, obtained by TMZ and reported by multiple US outlets. They record that Rob Reiner’s body was found at 15.45, and Singer Reiner’s at 15.46. The cause of death for both is given as “multiple sharp force injuries” with the circumstances described as “homicide” and “with knife, by another”.
From Sinners to F1 to Highest 2 Lowest, Guardian writers pick the scenes that stuck with them the most this year
Spoilers ahead
Disclosure: I covered auto racing for years and still follow Formula One skeptically. I definitely went into F1: The Movie knowing what I was in for, an answer to the hypothetical: what if the bougiest sport on God’s green earth was turned into a western? But you can’t help going along for the ride once Brad Pitt starts filling the frame with his blue-eyed winks, wry smiles and Butch Cassidy swagger. I should’ve been more indignant about this martinet sport making a literal hero out of the biggest rogue on the grid. But I left disbelief in parc fermé as Pitt’s Sonny Hayes bumped and nicked his way to the season finale at Abu Dhabi to much consternation before his wingman (Damson Idris) takes up the ticky tactics at Yas Marina circuit and winds up sacrificing himself and producer Lewis Hamilton (not again!) to help Sonny win his first race and thwart a hostile takeover of their fragile team. And when the lights went up at my desolate midday screening, it was just me still on the edge of my seat and my disbelief still firmly off track. Andrew Lawrence
Can Bill Nighy solve your life problems? Why are comedians moonlighting as detectives? And what happens when an AI steals your heart? This year’s most addictive podcasts …
Americans are not paying high prices because of other western countries. Pharmaceutical companies are to blame
When Donald Trump spoke about drug prices on 19 December, he struck a familiar note. Americans, he said, were paying far too much for medicines – and it was everyone else’s fault.
There would be no talk of reining in private insurers or pharmaceutical profits. Instead, Trump blamed foreign governments for getting a better deal. Countries like France, Germany and Japan, he argued, were piggybacking on the United States by keeping their drug prices low.
BP has agreed to sell a majority stake in its $10bn (£7.4bn) lubricants business Castrol to the US investment company Stonepeak, as the new chair, Albert Manifold, rapidly reshapes the under-pressure oil and gas company.
Stonepeak will acquire a 65% stake in Castrol, in a deal that values the division at $10.1bn including its debt. The deal, in which BP will retain a 35% stake in the business through a joint venture, is expected to close at the end of next year, the company said on Wednesday.
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