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In Scotland, Hearts are making a go of things in the derby at Easter Road. Lawrence Shankland pulled one back on 75 minutes. That seemed no more than a consolation, but Cammy Devlin has made it 3-2 on 89 minutes, and there will be six additional minutes. Is an absurd comeback on?

Senegal: Edouard Mendy, Diatta, Koulibaly, Niakhate, Jakobs, Idrissa Gueye, Pape Gueye, Ismaila Sarr, Iliman Ndiaye, Mane, Jackson.
Subs: Diaw, Lamine Camara, Ciss, Dia, Diallo, Diarra, El Hadji Diouf, Yehvann Diouf, Mbaye, Antoine Mendy, Cherif Ndiaye, Sabaly, Pape Sarr, Mamadou Sarr, Seck.

• Yohan Roche scores only goal in first half

• Botswana out after second group loss

Benin kept alive their hopes of staying in the Africa Cup of Nations with a 1-0 victory over Botswana in Rabat in Group D. It ended a run of 15 games – five draws and 10 defeats – without a win in the competition.

Two minutes before the half-hour mark Yohan Roche’s shot from inside the area was deflected in. Botswana hit the bar through Mothusi Johnson but they were unable to avoid a second successive defeat and are now out of the competition.

This story will be updated

Judging by the way Gianluigi Donnarumma celebrated Rayan Cherki’s late winner at Nottingham Forest, this was a significant victory for Manchester City. Donnarumma hurtled towards the bench where Pep Guardiola was being mobbed by his coaching staff, including Kolo Touré, Pep Lijnders and the set-piece coach James French, seemingly the architect behind Phil Foden’s corner that led to the goal. Cherki smacked a right-foot effort through the legs of Morgan Gibbs-White and into the corner of the Forest goal, to put City ahead of Arsenal for a couple of hours at least. Earlier, Forest’s Omari Hutchinson had cancelled out Tijjani Reijnders’ second-half opener.

Guardiola had warned his squad against overindulging on Christmas Day, promising to weigh his players on their return to training and before they departed for Nottingham. “Only the manager is overweight – the rest are perfect,” the City manager, fresh from a couple of days in Catalonia, said with a smile before kick-off. City arrived in ominous form and have now won their past eight matches in all competitions, including six in a row in the Premier League.

Suze Lopez found out she was pregnant only days before giving birth, due to fetus hiding behind 22lb ovarian cyst

A California family is celebrating their first holiday following the delivery of their latest child, a baby that had been growing outside of the mother’s womb.

Suze Lopez, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse in Bakersfield, California, delivered baby Ryu via surgery in August, so the newborn is celebrating his first Christmas. He had been an ectopic pregnancy – when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the uterus – and was hidden behind a large ovarian cyst.

Long-winded legal wrangling and recalcitrant Catholic church leadership thwarted hopes for timely settlement

An image of his great-grandmother stayed with James Adams for years and strengthened his faith: she was withered, nearly blind, touching his cheeks when they sat together, as if the feel of his face gave her sight. A working woman whose husband, a police officer, killed himself, she raised four children; her faith was a rock against life’s travails. She died at 98, when Adams was 28, about to marry.

Many years later, in 2020, Adams, a New Orleans banker, was president of the Catholic Community Foundation, the archdiocese’s fundraising arm, when Archbishop Gregory Aymond ousted him – as he’s recounted from a witness stand in court and in multiple media interviews. Overnight, Adams became a church enemy because of what a priest did to him as a boy. His story mirrors the legal saga that has tarnished Aymond’s career.

Historically, when organizers have used tactical innovation, movement activity has peaked

Federal agents in military fatigues carrying assault rifles in major cities. Huge cuts to healthcare, science and the US’s largest anti-hunger program. Immigrants dragged from cars and courthouse hallways. Rising authoritarianism, corruption and anti-democratic behavior. These are just some of the reasons pushback against the Trump administration is growing with each passing day.

While traditional marches such as the massive No Kings protests are a critical part of any resistance movement, sociologist Doug McAdam has shown how tactical innovation – the introduction of creative or novel protest methods – was a key part of the success of the civil rights movement in the US. Historically, when organizers established new tactics, movement activity peaked.

Iain Peters waited more than 50 years before going to the police but hopes he can be a beacon for other survivors

A man who was sexually assaulted by a children’s television presenter has spoken of how climbing and mountaineering saved his life and “sanity” during the 50 years in which he kept the abuse secret.

Iain Peters, 77, who has waived his right to anonymity, was between nine and 13 years old when he was abused weekly by John Earle, when he was a geography teacher and deputy head at a now-closed boarding school in Okehampton, Devon.

Drummer Chuck Redd decided to cancel his yearly Jazz Jam after Donald Trump added his name to the venue

The president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1m in damages and fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment – explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure – is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with the Associated Press.

By puncturing Oklahoma City’s aura of inevitability, Victor Wembanyama and co have restored suspense, drama and joy to a season that was in danger of becoming dull

I’ve seen enough: Give the San Antonio Spurs the keys to Santa Claus’ workshop. Put Stephon Castle in charge of toy assembly. Let De’Aaron Fox toss presents into chimneys, from whatever range he’d like. Devin Vassell can customize the Christmas cookies. Harrison Barnes has the army of elves covered. And, of course, Santa Claus’s sleigh must immediately be resized for a taller, thinner pilot so that the towering Victor Wembanyama can drive it comfortably. The sensational Spurs have felled the Oklahoma City Thunder three times in two weeks, and in doing so revitalized this NBA season. I now have more faith in the Spurs’ ability to grant joy to the masses than any holiday legends of old.

It looked dire for a while there. The Thunder might have won the Larry O’Brien trophy in June, but began this season in even more ominous form. They reeled off 24 wins in their first 25 games (the lone loss was a fluky 20-point comeback). In most of them, Jalen Williams, their second-best player, was on the sidelines recovering from wrist surgery. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, their best, seldom had to play in fourth quarters. The Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings by 31. The Los Angeles Lakers, who some expected to be a plausible rival, lost by 29; their basketball savant Luka Doncic looked like he was playing against ten men. The Phoenix Suns’ valiant first earned them a close loss, by just four points. When they met again 12 days later, the Thunder won by 49. This game knocked all the remaining leaves off the trees and started winter 10 days ahead of schedule. Oklahoma City looked capable of shredding anything in its path, even the 2016 Golden State Warriors’ legendary regular season record of 73-9.

⚽ Premier League updates from 12.30pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Table | Mail Barry

Manchester City: Although nothing has officially been agree between the two clubs, Manchester City are in pole position to sign Antoine Semenyo in January after Chelsea cooled their interest in the Bournemouth winger. Jacob Steinberg reports …

Referee: Rob Jones

Assistants: Neil Davies and Nick Greenhalgh

Fourth official: Gavin Ward

VAR: Andy Madley

Assistant VAR: Dan Robathan

Merlin has been trained to identify the songs of more than 1,300 bird species around the world

When Natasha Walter first became curious about the birds around her, she recorded their songs on her phone and arduously tried to match each song with online recordings. After a friend recommended Merlin Bird ID, a free app, she tried it in her London garden and was delighted to discover the birds she assumed were female blackbirds – “this is how bad a birder I was” – were actually song thrushes and mistle thrushes.

“I’m obsessed with Merlin – it’s wonderful and it’s been a joy to me,” says Walter, a writer and human rights activist. “This is what AI and machine-learning have been invented for. It’s the one good thing!”

Stockton’s JobsPlus is a pilot scheme with caseworkers who connect individual people with potential jobs, providing direct financial help where necessary

“We’ve had quite a few people on the estate get jobs,” says Bryan Stokell, who found work as a full-time security guard thanks to Stockton-on-Tees’s JobsPlus project. The 47-year-old father has since become a “community champion”, encouraging his neighbours to enrol.

“It got to the point where even my little boy was coming home and saying, ‘my friend’s mam and dad are looking for work’,” he grins. “They [the project] have a lot of contacts, they can open doors into places.”

Despite funding cuts and shuttered venues, homegrown music, TV, film and, yes, memes have dominated the global zeitgeist over the past 12 years. Now this culture must be future-proofed from the forces of globalisation

On the face of it, British culture looks doomed. Our music industry is now borderline untenable, with grassroots venues shuttering at speed (125 in 2023 alone) and artists unable to afford to play the few that are left; touring has become a loss leader that even established acts must subsidise with other work. Meanwhile, streaming has gutted the value of recorded music, leading to industry contraction at the highest level: earlier this year the UK divisions of Warners and Atlantic – two of our biggest record labels – were effectively subsumed into the US business.

In comedy, the Edinburgh fringe – the crucible of modern British standup, sketch and sitcom – is in existential crisis thanks to a dearth of sponsorship and prohibitively high costs for performers. Our film industry is at this point almost totally reliant on (dwindling) US funds; while Britain remains a popular filming destination due to tax breaks and appealing locations, the vast majority of the productions made here ultimately generate American profits.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde apologises after error meant one family had no remains at a funeral

An investigation has been launched by a Glasgow hospital after an error led to the wrong body being cremated.

The mistaken release of the body by the hospital to the undertakers was only discovered after the funeral service and the cremation had taken place.

• England captain and Joe Root revel in rarest of victories

• ‘Narrative that we haven’t won goes back to zero now’

Ben Stokes shared a hug with Joe Root and spoke of an “awesome feeling” after watching his England side claw back some respectability on this failed Ashes tour with a rollercoaster two-day victory on Saturday.

Of the England squad, none had felt the pain of an 18-match winless streak more than the captain and his predecessor. Stokes had played in 13 Tests here without tasting a victory, while for Root the number was 17. With both men aged 34, this tour may well have been their last chance.

Debra Oswald’s father taught her to be inquisitive about the world. As an adult she discovered that curiosity can help us endure whatever is happening

When I was 11 years old and expressed an interest in writing plays, my father was on it – booking theatre tickets, driving me to Parramatta Library to borrow scripts and giving me a portable typewriter for my 12th birthday. Soon after, when my teenaged sister mumbled an interest in genetics, we all found ourselves in a university lecture hall for a public talk on the subject.

My dad’s philosophy was “always follow your curious nose” and along the way, he was inspired to conduct his own research into theatre or genetics or whatever happened to be fascinating to us kids. Even if it was mostly through books, Mind Alive encyclopedias, and vicariously through his children, he was a stickybeak about the world.

Debra Oswald is a writer of novels, children’s books, stage plays and television

West Somerset Lagoon would harness renewable energy for UK’s AI boom – and create ‘iconic’ arc around Bristol Channel

The architect of the London Eye wants to build a vast tidal power station in a 14-mile arc off the coast of Somerset that could help Britain meet surging electricity demand to power artificial intelligence – and create a new race track to let cyclists skim over the Bristol Channel.

Julia Barfield, who designed the Eye and the i360 observation tower in Brighton, is part of a team that has drawn up the £11bn proposal. It would curve from Minehead to Watchet and use 125 underwater turbines to harness the power of the second-highest tidal range in the world.

From a folk murder ballad to an impassioned call for peace, Guardian writers pick their favourite lesser-heard tracks of the year

• The pick of 2025’s film, music, art, TV, stage and games, chosen by Guardian critics and writers

There is a sense of deep knowing and calm to Not Offended, the lone song released this year by the Danish-Montenegrin musician (also an earlier graduate of the Copenhagen music school currently producing every interesting alternative pop star). To warmly droning organ that hangs like the last streak of sunlight above a darkening horizon, Milovic assures someone that they haven’t offended her – but her steady Teutonic tenderness, reminiscent of Molly Nilsson or Sophia Kennedy, suggests that their actions weren’t provocative so much as evasive. Strings flutter tentatively as she addresses this person who can’t look life in the eye right now. “I see you clearly,” Milovic sings, as the drums kick in and the strings become full-blooded: a reminder of the ease that letting go can offer. Laura Snapes

Pilot programme for under-25s will offer paid placements aimed at introducing participants to military life

Young people in Britain will be offered a gap year-style scheme by the Ministry of Defence, in an effort to introduce citizens to military life early as part of a new “whole of society” approach to defence.

After initially announcing plans to implement the scheme earlier this year, the government has now confirmed that about 150 under-25s will be recruited for the pilot programme, which is due to start in March 2026.

River Wandle, south London: I can see the water from my bedroom window, the pollution has gone and it’s bursting with life

Most mornings now, I peek out of my bedroom window and immediately feel happy. Right outside, the River Wandle is awake and bursting with life. The grey heron swoops down and swiftly lands with a big splash, then stands up, still as a statue. Once I spotted an electric-blue kingfisher zapping along so quickly that I could barely see it.

Sadly, in February at half-term, there was a diesel leak into the river. A putrid stench came out of the water and the shock of the smell was overwhelming. The shimmering rainbow swirl of oil seemed to kill any fish that were in its path. My family and I were so worried, especially about the birds. The community worked together to clear the spill and monitor the river, and someone came to do a clean-up.

The Punjabi photographer was delighted with this stunning shot of birds being fed on the Yamuna River in Delhi

Sachin Ghai describes Yamuna Ghat in Delhi, India, as his idea of a photographer’s paradise. “In winter, thousands of migratory birds circle the wooden row boats on the river,” he says. “During foggy, golden sunrises it makes for incredible images.”

For Ghai, travel photography is a passion, so he had orchestrated a short trip from his home in Nabha, Punjab. First, he had visited Agra, to capture the Taj Mahal. The next morning, he awoke before dawn to visit the Yamuna River. Despite being one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world, locals can be seen fishing while visitors take boat rides from the ghat, the name for the flight of stairs that leads to the water.

Extremist messaging now woven into music and YouTube videos, with one expert saying: ‘You can be radicalised sitting on your couch’

The two men chop peppers, slice aubergines and giggle into the camera as they delve into the art of vegan cooking. Both are wearing ski masks and T-shirts bearing Nazi symbols.

The German videos – titled Balaclava Kitchen – started in 2014 and ran for months before YouTube took down the channel for violating its guidelines.

Gather your friends and raise a glass to the year gone by with recipes from Thomasina Miers, Honey & Co and Benjamina Ebuehi

When it comes to throwing parties, the world falls into two quite distinct camps: those who love to do so, and those who would rather do almost anything else. Getting organised early is key, and finding a few delicious recipes to start the proceedings will amuse your guests while you try to keep the show on the road.