Resisted at first, the replacement for the subway token became an indelible symbol of the city

First, New Yorkers saw the elimination of subway token, which lasted for half a century. Now, its successor – the swipeable MetroCard, which lasted barely more than three decades – has seen its demise.

At midnight on 1 January, the flexible credit card-sized pass used by millions of New Yorkers to get through subway turnstiles is being terminated from sale just as a new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, takes office.

• Holders come from two goals down to win 3-2

• Burkina Faso beat Sudan as both sides progress

Côte d’Ivoire came from two goals down to beat already eliminated Gabon 3-2 in Group F at the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday as the teenager Bazoumana Touré’s headed winner in added time in Marrakech handed them top spot in the pool.

The Ivorians finished on seven points from their three games, ahead of Cameroon on goal difference after the latter beat third-placed Mozambique.

US markets buoyed by sustained rise in tech stocks as investors largely shrug off concerns over Trump tariffs

Wall Street finished 2025 near record highs on Wednesday, as ballooning tech valuations and hopes of lower interest rates helped stock markets defy a year of economic uncertainty.

The benchmark S&P 500 rose 16.4% over the course of the year, closing at 6,845.50 on New Year’s Eve in New York, as investors largely shrugged off geopolitical uncertainty and the frenzy around artificial intelligence continued.

• ‘Worst 48 hours’ comment and league form are problems

• Palmer substitution and Bournemouth result were booed

Enzo Maresca will be in danger of losing his job as Chelsea’s head coach if he cannot improve results before the end of January. The Italian, who was booed by home supporters during the disappointing 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, is under mounting pressure after a poor run of form, and a series of self-inflicted wounds have raised doubts over his position.

Chelsea have one win from their past seven league games and although Maresca is set to be in charge for Sunday’s trip to Manchester City his position is increasingly uncertain. Concern over the 45-year-old’s decisions during games and away from the pitch have grown in recent weeks and there can be no guarantee that Maresca will survive beyond the end of January if he proves incapable of reversing the slump.

I’ve spent six years writing about environmental justice. The uncomfortable truth is that we’re not all in it together – but people power is reshaping the fight

It’s been another year of climate chaos and inadequate political action. And it’s hard not to feel despondent and powerless.

I joined the Guardian full time in 2019, as the paper’s first environmental justice correspondent, and have reported from across the US and the region over the past six years. It’s been painful to see so many families – and entire communities – devastated by fires, floods, extreme heat, sea level rise and food shortages. But what’s given me hope during these six years of reporting as both an environmental and climate justice reporter are the people fighting to save our planet from catastrophe – in their communities, on the streets and in courtrooms across the world.

We asked experts in fields from homes to health to horticulture for advice on tasks we can simply stop doing and problems to take off our worry plates

More summer essentials

The dawn of a new year brings visions of an idealised version of yourself. Fresh-faced, we eagerly pile our to-do lists with things we’ve been putting off and ambitions to aim for. But the energy that comes after a few days off quickly disappears as we settle back into the daily grind of school runs and inbox maintenance.

So instead of adding to your to-do list, why not resolve to take something off it?

⚽ Afcon updates from the 7pm GMT kick-off in Marrakech
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4 mins: Emmanuel Agbadou gets back to clear the danger from a Gabon long ball upfield.

2 mins: Cote d’Ivoire have started on the front foot, zipping the ball around nicely before a deep cross is punched clear by Bekale.

• Barmore accused in alleged August incident

• Patriots say they informed NFL at the time

• Arraignment scheduled for early February

New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore is facing a misdemeanor domestic assault charge stemming from an alleged incident on 8 August in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

Barmore, 26, was in a relationship with the alleged victim, according to court documents cited Wednesday by Boston television station WCVB.

• Costs for Strand Larsen high, with Wolves wanting £40m

• Gil Vicente’s Pablo has nine goals in Portuguese top flight

West Ham are in advanced talks over a deal for the Gil Vicente forward Pablo after having second thoughts about bidding for the Wolves striker Jørgen Strand Larsen.

Nuno Espírito Santo, whose side are at major risk of relegation from the Premier League, wants attacking reinforcements and club sources indicated on Tuesday that an opening offer for Strand Larsen was being prepared. However, there is a scattergun feel to West Ham’s recruitment and they have developed cold feet over the finances around Strand Larsen. Wolves want £40m for the Norwegian, whose wage demands are high.

• US men and women win World Cup races same day

• Schumacher and Diggins sweep new 5km event

• Tour de Ski milestone for American cross-country

American cross-country skiing reached a milestone on Wednesday when, for the first time, an American man and an American woman won World Cup races on the same day.

Gus Schumacher and Jessie Diggins delivered the historic double at stage three of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy, both prevailing in a newly introduced 5km heat mass start free event that rewarded speed, pacing and collective tactics rather than head-to-head positioning.

Just eight billionaires accounted for a quarter of the gains, led by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Larry Page

The richest 500 individuals in the world added a record $2.2tn to their wealth in 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with just eight billionaires accounting for a quarter of the gains.

The gains increased their collective net worth to $11.9tn, bolstered by billionaire Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory and booming markets in cryptocurrencies, equities and metals.

In Eating Behind Bars, author Leslie Soble details how food is used to further punish incarcerated people in the US

At best you get “mystery meat”. Or “sour-smelling heaps” of macaroni. In the worst cases, it’s undercooked chicken, spoiled milk and maggot-infested produce.

In prisons and jails across the US, people are routinely fed unhealthy, tasteless or inedible meals. Many are left hungry and malnourished, with devastating long-term health consequences. The hidden crisis affecting millions of incarcerated people is the subject of Eating Behind Bars, a new book offering a disturbing account of how correctional institutions punish their residents through the food they provide and withhold.

Demonstrations against deteriorating living conditions have widened to include criticism of how Iran is governed

Alborz, a textile merchant in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, decided he could no longer sit on the sidelines. He closed his shop and took to the streets, joining merchants across Iran who shuttered their stores and students who took over their campuses to protest against declining economic conditions.

The sudden loss of purchasing power pushed Alborz and tens of thousands of other Iranians into the streets, where protests are now entering their fourth day. Students have paralysed university campuses, traders have shut down their stores and demonstrators have blocked off streets in defiance of police. Protests have spread from the capital, Tehran, to cities across Iran.

Begum’s lawyers argue she was child trafficking victim when she travelled to live under IS in Syria in 2015

The European court of human rights has questioned the UK government over its 2019 decision to remove Shamima Begum’s British citizenship.

Lawyers in Europe have asked how Begum’s treatment complies with the UK’s responsibilities to victims of trafficking.

Legal action has brought important decisions, from the scrapping of fossil fuel plants to revised climate plans

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris agreement. It is also a decade since another key moment in climate justice, when a state was ordered for the first time to cut its carbon emissions faster to protect its citizens from climate change. The Urgenda case, which was upheld by the Netherlands’ supreme court in 2019, was one of the first rumblings of a wave of climate litigation around the world that campaigners say has resulted in a new legal architecture for climate protection.

Over the past 12 months, there have been many more important rulings and tangible changes on climate driven by legal action.

Bylaws that would limit voting to Trump-appointed trustees appears to reveal long-held renaming plan

The Kennedy Center reportedly adopted bylaws earlier this year that would limit voting to Donald Trump-appointed trustees – a controversial move that appears to reveal the long-held plan to install Trump’s name to the center.

The bylaws, in a possible breach of the institution’s charter, were revised in May and specified that board members appointed by Congress, known as ex-officio members, could not vote or count towards a quorum, according to the Washington Post.

Fifty-two black bears were killed in three-week hunt state officials said was necessary to reduce ursine population

Wildlife officials in Florida say the slaughter of dozens of black bears during a controversial three-week hunt this month was a success, despite the opposition of protesters who condemned the “heartbreaking, bloody spectacle”.

The Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) on Tuesday announced that 52 bears were killed between 6 and 28 December, and promised to release a “full harvest report” in the coming months that will provide details about where and how the animals died.

Tesla endured tough year in part thanks to some consumers’ distaste for Elon Musk’s embrace of rightwing politics

Tesla has taken the unusual step of publishing sales forecasts that suggest 2025 deliveries will be lower than expected and future years’ sales will be well below targets set by its chief executive, Elon Musk.

The US electric vehicle maker published figures from analysts suggesting it will announce 423,000 deliveries during the fourth quarter of 2025, in a new “consensus” section on its investor website. That would represent a 16% decline from the final quarter of 2024.

Happiness research has found we get more joy from active, challenging experiences than from passive consumption. So go somewhere new, grab the karaoke mic and leap out of your comfort zone

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‘It’s nice to have a night out that doesn’t revolve around drinking,” says the person next to me as we put the finishing touches to our lino prints of pomegranates, wintry trees, the anime character Totoro (mine) and a martini-drinking cat, which we’ve spent our Friday evenings crafting. There has been wine, but it wasn’t central to the evening – a small block of clay and some inks were.

It’s a different kind of night out from going for dinner and, possibly, having one too many, which is the formula plenty of us fall back on. At best that can be fun and nurturing, but at worst you find yourself on the bus home feeling hollowed out and en route to a hangover. So how else can we let our hair down?

Thirty-seven NGOs told they have to cease operations, putting Palestinian lives ‘at imminent risk’

Israel’s new ban on dozens of aid organisations working in Gaza will have “catastrophic” consequences for the delivery of vital services in the devastated territory and will put Palestinian lives “at imminent risk”, diplomats, humanitarian workers and experts say.

Thirty-seven NGOs active in Gaza were told by Israel’s ministry of diaspora affairs on Tuesday that they would have to cease all operations in the territory within 60 days unless they fulfilled stringent new regulations, which include the disclosure of personal details of their staff.

Community leaders raise alarm over study links and Polynesian ties, with Tonga to face restrictions from January as US says too many overstay

The small Pacific nation of Tonga is one of more than a dozen countries to be hit with visa and entry restrictions on 1 January as the Trump administration tightens its crackdown on immigration.

In December, the US said it would further restrict and limit the entry of foreign nationals to protect the country from “national security and public safety threats”.

• Striker has nine goals since joining on loan

• Champions League qualification brings obligation to buy

The Napoli sporting director, Giovanni Manna, considers Rasmus Højlund’s permanent transfer from Manchester United a “formality”.

Højlund joined the Serie A champions on loan last summer and the Denmark striker has scored nine goals in 20 appearances, including a double in Sunday’s 2-0 win at Cremonese. Napoli are third in Serie A, occupying one of Italy’s four Champions League places.

Scatological lyrics, social conscience and a shoutout from Walton Goggins – 2026 is going to be the laptop garage band’s year

It’s a Saturday night in Camden, London, and Getdown Services’ fans are getting the beers in before “Britain’s best band” play one of their final gigs of the year. The Electric Ballroom is heaving, despite this being their second show here in a month. There’s no shortage of twentysomethings with shag hairstyles to explain why the duo live up to their slogan. “They’re fun, which we need right now – life is bleak,” says Dulcie. “And they’re socially aware,” adds her friend Lotte. “Even though they are quite silly, they’re grounded.”

Across the bar, Dylan, 22, says that he finds Getdown Services and their genre-agnostic beats empowering: “They’re a laptop garage band that are having fun doing what they love, and seeing that makes me want to do what I love as well.” His pal James, 29, has returned for a repeat performance. “I came to the other Getdown Services show and I felt more jubilant than I did at Oasis,” he says.