Harry Byrne’s goal-kicking proved the difference as error-strewn Leinster held off a determined Leicester to claim a 23-15 Investec Champions Cup victory at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Each team scored two tries but three penalties and a conversion from Byrne were decisive as the bottom side Leicester’s European campaign continued to falter and they remain pointless after their opening two fixtures.
WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is making her debut with the senior US women’s national team this weekend, taking part in a training camp at Duke under first-time Team USA head coach Kara Lawson.
And while much of the attention on Friday was focused on how the American squad might evolve before the 2026 Fiba World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics – Clark is one of 10 newcomers – a topic of conversation looming over the first day of practice were the collective bargaining negotiations happening now between the WNBA and its players.
Repeated fall storms led to the temporary lake, known as Lake Manly, appearing in basin 282ft beneath sea level
After record-breaking rains, an ancient lake in Death Valley national park that had vanished has returned to view.
The temporary lake, known informally as Lake Manly, has appeared once more at the bottom of Badwater Basin, which sits 282ft beneath sea level, in California. The basin is the lowest point in North America, according to the National Park Service.
The view from his homeland is that Salah’s character and past form should allow for his outburst, while Jamie Carragher has been scolded for his hot takes
Mohamed Salah’s stature in Egypt means his every move dominates public discourse. It was therefore entirely predictable that the forward’s comments after Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Leeds – where he was relegated to the bench for a third consecutive game – would become the singular, all-consuming topic across his homeland’s sports media.
“Egyptian media was always going to stand by Salah,” says the Egyptian journalist and co-founder of the sports website KingFut, Adam Moustafa. “When you look at the content over the last five years or so of Egyptian football, 60-70% has been based around him. He’s a nique status that we’ve never had, for someone abroad to be so successful. He’s the golden child of Egypt.”
National Trust looks to halt construction, claiming Trump tore down historic East Wing without needed permission
Donald Trump is facing a federal lawsuit seeking to halt construction on his $300m White House ballroom, with historic preservationists accusing the president of violating multiple federal laws by tearing down part of the iconic building without required reviews or congressional approval.
The legal challenge, filed on Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the US district court for the District of Columbia, represents the most significant attempt yet to stop Trump’s 90,000-sq-ft addition to the White House complex. The organization is seeking a temporary restraining order to freeze all construction activities until proper federal oversight procedures are completed.
The decision is a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine’s defence – but Moscow is threatening to retaliate
The EU has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russia’s sovereign assets in the bloc, as Moscow stepped up its threats to retaliate against Euroclear, the keeper of most of the Kremlin’s immobilised money.
The decision by the EU to use emergency powers to immobilise €210bn (£185bn) of Russia’s central bank’s assets marks a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine’s defence.
With the arrival of US hedge funders at Wrexham, there is no pretence any more. This is just another project, as it always was
Tea and cake. Cobble-close streets. Collectivism. Sugar rush. Hollywood fairytales. And also, as of this week, a minority owner with historical links to celebrity paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Wait! Welsh cakes! Welsh tea! Aggregated tourism benefits. The sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea. And also, at one remove, historical links to deceased celebrity paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes and his wife had been under Global Magnitsky sanctions after conviction of ex-president
The US Department of the Treasury has lifted sanctions imposed on the Brazilian supreme court justice who oversaw the conviction of the former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes had been under Global Magnitsky sanctions, which target individuals accused of human rights abuses, since July. His wife Viviane Barci de Moraes – who was added the sanctions list in September – was also removed from the register on Friday.
King extols early diagnosis which can give ‘invaluable time’ and backs launch of screening checker tool
King Charles has hailed a “milestone” in his “cancer journey” and revealed he is to reduce his schedule of treatment in the new year, describing the news as a “personal blessing”.
His treatment will move into a precautionary phase with its regularity significantly reduced as his recovery reaches a very positive stage, it is understood. His medical team will assess how much longer he will require treatment to protect and prioritise his continued recovery.
Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, floods in Indonesia, the IDF in Gaza and the Nutcracker in Nairobi: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Citizens told to stay at home while ELN guerrillas carry out exercises in response to US president’s cocaine warning
Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group has ordered civilians in areas under its control to stay home for three days starting on Sunday, while it carries out military exercises in response to “intervention” threats from Donald Trump.
The Football Association will pass on England supporters’ concerns about high 2026 World Cup ticket prices to Fifa. However, despite the growing outrage, it is understood none of the international federations expect world football’s governing body to change its policy.
Anger among supporter groups continued on Friday after it emerged that the cheapest tickets will cost 10 times the price promised in the original bid for the United States, Canada and Mexico to host the tournament. For England fans it will mean having to pay at least $220 (£165) for group games – when the bid document’s ticket model stated the cheapest seats should be $21 (£15.70).
House Democrats have published a new tranche of what they called “disturbing” photographs from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, featuring among others Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the British former royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The 19 photographs in the initial drop – some of which have been seen before – plus another 70 released later Friday afternoon represent a small number of the almost 100,000 images released to the House oversight committee, which is looking into the conduct and connections of Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by apparent suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 after he was charged with sex-trafficking offenses.
Donald Trump has said Thai and Cambodian leaders agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes that threatened to undo a ceasefire the US administration helped broker earlier this year.
Trump announced the agreement to restart the ceasefire in a social media posting after calls with Thai prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, and Cambodian prime minister, Hun Manet.
A year-long investigation into the Free Birth Society reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors.
Lucy Hough talks to the investigative correspondent Lucy Osborne about her reporting.
Sherrone Moore, who was abruptly fired this week as the University of Michigan football coach, was charged Friday with three crimes including home invasion and stalking a person he had dated, prosecutors said.
Moore has spent two nights in jail following his firing and subsequent arrest Wednesday.
The US is ramping up the pressure on Nicolás Maduro with a tanker seizure and expanded sanctions following threats and boat strikes
Early in his first term, Donald Trump mooted a “military option” for Venezuela to dislodge its president, Nicolás Maduro. Reports suggest that he eagerly discussed the prospect of an invasion behind closed doors. Advisers eventually talked him down. Instead, the US pursued a “maximum pressure” strategy of sanctions and threats.
But Mr Maduro is still in place. And Mr Trump’s attempts to remove him are ramping up again. The US has amassed its largest military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama. It has carried out more than 20 shocking strikes on alleged drug boats. Mr Trump reportedly delivered an ultimatum late last month, telling the Venezuelan leader that he could have safe passage from his country if he left immediately. There was already a $50m bounty on his head. This week came expanded sanctions and the seizure of a tanker.
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The UK art world is finally becoming more inclusive. But greater support must be given to the organisations that enable disabled artists to flourish
The Turner prize is no stranger to sparking debate or pushing boundaries. This year it has achieved both. For the first time, an artist with learning disabilities has won. Glasgow-born Nnena Kalu took the award for her colourful, cocoon-like sculptures made from VHS tape, clingfilm and other abandoned materials, along with her large swirling vortex drawings. Kalu is autistic, with limited verbal communication. In an acceptance speech on her behalf, Kalu’s facilitator, Charlotte Hollinshead, said that “a very stubborn glass ceiling” had been broken.
Kalu’s win is a high-profile symbol of a shift towards greater inclusivity that has been happening in the UK arts world over the past five years. Last month, Beyond the Visual opened at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, in which everything is curated or created by blind and partially sighted artists. The exhibits range from Moore sculptures (which visitors are encouraged to touch) to David Johnson’s 10,000 stone-plaster digestive biscuits stamped with braille. Design and Disability at the V&A South Kensington is showcasing the ways in which disabled, deaf and neurodivergent people have shaped culture from the 1940s to now.
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The US also listed as a threat due to its growing interest in Greenland, which is vital to America’s national security
Danish intelligence services have accused the US of using its economic power to “assert its will” and threatening military force against its allies.
The comments, made in its annual assessment released this week, mark the first time that the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) has listed the US as a threat to the country. Denmark, the report warns, is “facing more and more serious threats and security policy challenges than in many years”.
Keir Starmer has said it is “frankly beyond belief” that resident doctors would strike during the NHS’s worst moment since the pandemic, in remarks that risk inflaming tensions with medical staff.
Writing for the Guardian, the prime minister made an outspoken attack on the strikes planned for 17-22 December for placing “the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger”.
The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new reality
When are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it comes to Donald Trump, Europe needs to learn from Sex and the City’s Miranda Hobbes and realise that “He’s just not that into you”. After this past week, it’s clear that understates the problem. Trump’s America is not merely indifferent to Europe – it’s positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.
The depth of US hostility was revealed most explicitly in the new US national security strategy, or NSS, a 29-page document that serves as a formal statement of the foreign policy of the second Trump administration. There is much there to lament, starting with the sceptical quote marks that appear around the sole reference to “climate change”, but the most striking passages are those that take aim at Europe.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
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Egyptian’s exile ends following talks with Arne Slot
Unknown if he apologised to Liverpool’s head coach
Mohamed Salah will be back in Liverpool’s squad for Saturday’s Premier League home game against Brighton following talks with Arne Slot.
Slot revealed on Friday morning that Salah’s involvement against Brighton rested on the outcome of a conversation he would have with the forward at the club’s training ground later in the day. Details of their conversation remain private, so it is unknown whether Salah apologised to Liverpool’s head coach for the highly-critical interview he gave at Leeds last Saturday, but the 33-year-old has been included in the squad for the match at Anfield.
Rookie Michael Ma leaves Conservative party for ‘steady, practical approach’ of Mark Carney’s government
Canada’s ruling Liberals have edged closer to a majority government after a Conservative lawmaker crossed the floor, in yet another blow to the struggling Tories.
Rookie lawmaker Michael Ma said late on Thursday that he had decided to leave the Conservative party, for “the steady, practical approach” of prime minister Mark Carney’s government, which he said would “deliver on the priorities I hear every day, including affordability and the economy”.
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