US-made device planned by end of year hit by recent government shutdown affecting shipments
Trump Mobile, the phone company launched by Donald Trump’s family business, has pushed back plans to deliver a $499 (£371) gold-coloured smartphone by the end of the year.
The Trump Organization licensed its name to launch a mobile service and the device in June, in the latest monetisation of his presidency by a family business empire now run by Trump’s sons.
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
President Xi Jinping has declared China’s economy is set to hit its growth target for this year.
After what he called an “extraordinary year”, Xi told an annual gathering held by the country’s top political advisory body that China’s gross domestic product is expected to expand by around 5% during 2025.
“China’s economy is forging ahead under pressure, moving toward innovation and quality, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality.
The growth rate is expected to reach around 5%, continuing to rank high among the world’s major economies.”
As the millennial superstars near the end, an international generation reshapes the league. The question is whether an American can still carry the crown
That the NBA is reckoned in seasons is apt. To measure a legacy this way is as much existential as it is symbolic. Martin Heidegger argued that time is not something we pass through, but the condition of our being – less a pathway than a pressure. Heavy stuff, yes, but the NBA has always operated under similar weight.
The millennial superstars who stabilized the league for two decades are now entering their twilight: LeBron James (who turned 41 on Tuesday), Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Chris Paul. In their wake comes something genuinely new. For the first time, the league’s next dominant generation is unmistakably international. The NBA’s gen Z elite now emerge from Slovenia, Serbia, Greece, Canada and France.
A vivid account of the creation of one of literary modernism’s greatest achievements
In a 1924 letter to André Gide, Thomas Mann said he would soon be sending along a copy of his new novel, The Magic Mountain. “But I assure you that I do not in the least expect you to read it,” he wrote. “It is a highly problematical and ‘German’ work, and of such monstrous dimensions that I know perfectly well it won’t do for the rest of Europe.”
Morten Høi Jensen’s approachable and informative study of The Magic Mountainpositions Mann as a writer who was contradictory to his core: an artist who dressed and behaved like a businessman; a homosexual in a conventional marriage with six children; an upstanding burgher obsessed with death and corruption. Very much the kind of man who would send someone a book and tell them not to read it.
PM Sanae Takaichi joins petition asking for better facilities for women to match improved representation
Nearly 60 female lawmakers in Japan, including the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, have submitted a petition calling for more toilets in the parliament building for women to match their improved representation.
Japanese politics remains hugely male-dominated, although the number of women in the parliament rose at the last election – and Takaichi became the first female prime minister in October. This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles for the lower house’s 73 women to use near the Diet’s main plenary session hall in central Tokyo.
Aston Villa have a decision to make about Harvey Elliott, Brentford have money to spend and Burnley and Everton need goalscorers
A busy summer with the arrival of more than £250m in reinforcements has proved to be invaluable given the number of injuries that have hit Arsenal, particularly in defence. But that also makes any more expensive incomings unlikely in January, especially after the timely return of the influential Gabriel Magalhães this week. A loan signing or two could be on the cards, however, with Arsenal not having filled either slot so far after bringing in Neto from Bournemouth and Raheem Sterling from Chelsea last season. Mikel Arteta could do with more cover at right-back and must also decide whether to allow Ethan Nwaneri to go on loan with the 18-year-old having made only three starts in all competitions. Ed Aarons
Nathan Lyon has been the only specialist spinner on show with touring tweaker Shoaib Bashir sidelined by England
Disappointment can be found in all corners of this Ashes series. England’s victory came too late. Australia may have secured the urn again but Glenn McGrath’s usual prediction didn’t hold. It’s been a serious letdown for the neutral, never mind that a 3-2 scoreline is still in the offing. This was meant to be the one where England had a shot, where the Sydney finale would actually have something on the line beyond World Test Championship points.
Instead we’ve had 13 days of play out of 20, star quicks from both sides missing hefty chunks or all of it and stern-faced discussions about how much grass was left on the “G”. It’s fallen well short as a spectacle. Part of that lies in the absence of the slow stuff, a lack of high-quality spin ruining the show.
Mamady Doumbouya reneged on promise not to stand and hand west African country back to civilian rule
The head of Guinea’s junta, Mamady Doumbouya, who had pledged not to run for office after seizing power four years ago, has been elected president after the country’s electoral commission said he had secured a sweeping majority of the vote.
Doumbouya, 41, faced eight rivals for the presidency but the main opposition leaders were barred from running and had urged a boycott of the vote held over the weekend.
Australia says it is deeply concerned about Chinese military exercises near Taiwan, and has raised the issue with Chinese officials.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) said the large-scale simulations risked destabilising the region and could result in an accident or escalation.
Investigation established by UDR party to look at ‘neutrality, workings and financing’ of state TV and radio
The French public broadcaster is at the centre of a political row as a parliamentary inquiry examines the “neutrality, workings and financing” of state TV and radio, while the media are expected to play a significant role ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The rightwing UDR party, an ally of Marine Le Pen’s far-right the National Rally (RN), set up the inquiry amid far-right claims that public TV and radio has a bias against them. Le Pen, whose party is expected to reach the final round of the presidential race, has said “there is a clear problem with neutrality in the public service broadcasting” and that she would like to privatise it.
The fluent football of autumn returned against an Aston Villa team who have often caused Arteta’s side problems
Should Arsenal lift the Premier League trophy in May, the thrill of the chase will be remembered fondly, difficult forks in the road glorified. Here was a statement win to show that the pain and agony can be worth it. A champion team must often suffer to arrive at beautiful moments. Those scratchy wins over Wolves, Everton and Brighton can now be celebrated alongside a champagne evening to sign off 2025.
The club’s familiarity with chasing the title as the league turns for home has bred an unavoidable anxiety. April and May have previously proved the cruellest months but December has been full of worries. In pre-match, “north London forever” was sung tremulously, fans seeking a collective warmth to ward off individual doubts about the dream. For 45 minutes, fans, players and manager alike were left alone with their private agonies, only for the second half where Arsenal played the expansive, confident football of the autumn, smashing in four goals to vaporise the unease.
Two brothers attempt to escape their father’s gangland past in a tense, tender debut that moves between Thatcher-era Northumberland and southern Spain
Andalucía is famous for its variety: high alpine mountains and snow-capped peaks, river plains and rolling olive groves, sun-baked coastlines and arid deserts. It is the perfect setting for Neil Rollinson’s debut novel, which is its own kind of spectacular mosaic. Built from short, seemingly discrete chapters that take us between Spain in 2003 and the coalfields of Northumberland in the 70s and 80s, The Dead Don’t Bleed coheres into an extraordinarily tense and tender portrait of two brothers trying to escape their father’s gangland past.
Until now, Rollinson has been known as a poet; his collection Talking Dead was shortlisted for the 2015 Costa poetry prize. Here he brings his talent for compressed evocation to an exploration of fraternal rivalry and the enduring impact of a violent patriarchy. If you took Frank and his brother Gordon apart on the autopsy table, he writes, “you’d find the same bones, the same blood. Almost everything interchangeable. The corkscrews of DNA, the cells, the posture, the downcast glance.” But from a young age, change is afoot within Frank. He knows his father has “high hopes for him” in the family business of petty crime: “Frank Bridge. King of Northumberland”. But Frank wants to be a different kind of king. He carries within himself a “yearning for something more expansive” – the kind of dream that could get him killed in his family’s closed world of criminal secrecy.
Whether Vinted’s to blame or TikTok’s to thank, people are flocking back to car parks in search of secondhand bargains. How did the car boot get hip again?
It’s a crisp Sunday morning in south-west London. Tucked within rows of terrace houses, the playground of a primary school has been transformed into an outdoor treasure trove. Tables are filled with stacks of books and board games; clothes hang from metal racks or are piled into boxes which are strewn over a hopscotch. It’s the 10am opening of Balham car boot sale. A modest queue filters through the entrance: families, pensioners, fashion influencers, TikTokers.
Three friends – Dominique Gowie, Abbie Mitchell (both 25 years old) and Affy Chowdhury (26) – arrived an hour earlier, to set up. They are selling at a car boot for the first time, enticed by the growing hype circulating on social media.“If you go out and say: ‘Oh I bought this at the car boot,’ I think it’s actually cooler than saying I bought this on Asos,” says Dominique.
Passengers face delays day after power supply issue and broken down train halted services between UK and France
Eurostar passengers have been warned that continued delays and cancellations are possible on Wednesday despite the resumption of services after a power supply issue halted Channel tunnel train trips connecting London to the European mainland.
Thousands of passengers in the busy run-up to the new year faced hours of delays after the train operator cancelled services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels on Tuesday due to an overhead power supply problem and a failed LeShuttle train.
Raye, Deftones and Yungblud do UK tours, Jill Scott returns for more neo-soul, and the classical world gears up to celebrate Hungarian composer György Kurtág at 100
Seventeen years on from the release of her debut single, Florence Welch finds herself in an intriguingly strong position: while most of her early 00s indie peers are forgotten or in reduced circumstances, she is a major influence on pop, from Ethel Cain to the Last Dinner Party to Chappell Roan. Her recent album Everybody Scream was a strong restatement of her theatrical approach – with more light and shade than you might expect – but it’s on stage that she really comes into her own.
• UK tour begins 6 February at the SSE Arena, Belfast
Rent rises likely to slow after rapid increases in recent years, lenders and estate agents forecast
First-time buyers are expected to drive the UK housing market in 2026, with further interest rate cuts likely to improve stretched affordability.
The for-sale market should accelerate moderately, with prices rising by 2% to 4%, while rent rises are likely to slow from the rapid increases of recent years, according to lenders and estate agents.
I have no interest in defending his social media posts, but calls to strip the newly freed activist of British citizenship pile torment on top of torture
What is the proper punishment for hateful social media posts? Should you lose your account? Your job? Your citizenship? Go to jail? Die? For the people who have launched a campaign against the British-Egyptian writer and activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, no punishment is too great.
I have no interest in defending the awful tweets in question, which Abd el-Fattah posted in the early 2010s. Many are indefensible and he has apologised “unequivocally” for them. He has also written movingly about how his perspective has changed in the intervening years. Years that have included more than a decade in jail, most of it in Egypt’s notorious Tora prison where he faced torture; missing his son’s entire childhood – and very nearly dying during a months-long hunger strike.
Naomi Klein is a Guardian US columnist and contributing writer. She is the professor of climate justice and co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia
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For those not going out to celebrate, you can still party with Harry and Sally, play cards with Jack Lemmon and make merry hell at the Overlook Hotel
At the end of any especially troublesome year it’s always good to revisit The Apartment, Billy Wilder’s brilliantly bleak comedy of office politics and festive bad cheer. It memorably ends on the stroke of midnight as heartsick Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) abandons a drunken new year’s party to be with hapless, jobless CC Baxter (Jack Lemmon) instead. Is The Apartment suggesting that Kubelik and Baxter then live happily ever after? Probably not, because I’ve never been convinced that these two lovers are going to stay the course. They’re too mismatched and desperate; their wounds are still too fresh. What the ending gives us is the next best thing: a sudden sense of hope and freedom, with everything packed in boxes except for a bottle, two glasses and a deck of cards. Nothing to lose and nowhere to go. “Shut up and deal.” A clean break, a fresh start. Xan Brooks
You may think you know how to make garlic bread. But have you made this garlic bread?
Once upon a time, an ex and I used to throw an annual party – a non-chic affair with a recycling bin full of ice and bottles – where the star, and the thing that everyone really came for, was the garlic bread: 10 or 15 loaves of the stuff, always demolished while still dangerously hot from the oven. I believe the original recipe was Nigel Slater’s; this is my tweaked version.
Retailers say appetite for alcoholic drinks that are about half the strength of the traditional versions is soaring
Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations often used to result in a hangover the next day, but with moderation now the order of the day the new drinks industry buzzword is “coasting”.
This involves choosing a white wine, lager or even a cocktail that is about half the strength of the traditional version of the drink – meaning you can have the same number of drinks without feeling the worse for wear.
From moules marinière to scallop, bacon and garlic butter rolls, here’s how to cast your culinary net wider and embrace more sustainable species
For a nation surrounded by water, Britain’s seafood tastes are remarkably parochial – we mostly eat cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns. But with a huge range of species out there, making the decision to swap the “big five” for more sustainable options could be a good new year resolution to aim for. Here are five species to consider – and if you’re worried these won’t taste as good as cod and chips, we’ve rounded up a selection of top chefs to tell you how to make the best of what could be on your plate in 2026.
In 2025 I learned that reconciliation is less about a grand apology than a shift in perspective
Forgiveness isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. Mine began on an escalator at Berlin Brandenburg airport. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was heading up to the check-in counters for my return flight to Istanbul, where I’ve lived for the past few years. On the other side, people were heading down – fresh off flights into Berlin. I was daydreaming, my eyes drifting across bags and figures, when I paused at a brown leather bag and a light linen suit. Charming travel outfit, I thought. Relaxed. Timeless. Someone must’ve had a lovely weekend, maybe somewhere on the Mediterranean. I only saw the man’s face as he passed me – and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.
I knew him. He was my father.
Carolin Würfel is a writer, screenwriter and journalist who lives in Berlin and Istanbul. She is the author of Three Women Dreamed of Socialism
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Fire chief says summer, the UK’s hottest on record, was ‘one of the most challenging for wildfires that we’ve ever faced’
Ten English fire services tackled a record number of grassland, woodland and crop fires during what was the UK’s hottest spring and summer on record, figures show.
In total nearly 27,000 wildfires were dealt with by fire services in England during the prolonged dry weather of 2025, according to analysis by PA Media.
We could learn a lot from the pampered sausage dog who became a canine Bear Grylls. Perhaps all of us are capable of more than we might expect
Who among us hasn’t yearned, at least momentarily, to cast off the trappings of our comfortable lives and live wild, unfettered and free? This year someone showed us the way: a charismatic Aussie sausage dog (I believe that’s “snag” in local vernacular). Whether you already carry Valerie the miniature dachshund’s story in your heart or managed, somehow, to miss the pint-sized phenomenon’s incredible journey, join me as we revisit this heart-warming tale.
In November 2023, Valerie was a one-year-old “absolute princess” of a pup – those are the words of her emotional support human, Georgia Gardner, who received the sausage as a graduation gift. A diminutive 15cm high, she needed a ramp to help her get into bed in her New South Wales home and wore a pink sweater in chilly weather, with matching pink collar and lead. But Valerie chose to swap her pampered life of roast chicken and pupuccinos for freedom in the dangerous wilds of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, escaping while Gardner and boyfriend Josh Fishlock were on holiday there.
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