Sanae Takaichi gets no meeting with Chinese premier Li Qiang at the G20 in Johannesburg after her comments about Taiwan sent tensions soaring

When she selected her wardrobe for this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa, Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, took extra care to choose something that – in her words – would “give her the upper hand” in negotiations.

But she never got the opportunity to test the theory in what would have been her most pressing engagement – talks with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, aimed at easing a deepening diplomatic row between the north-east Asian neighbours.

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© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The actress, who played Miss Beadle, helped The Doors frontman during his darkest legal troubles.

Shedeur and Deion Sanders shared a heartwarming moment after the younger Sanders was victorious in his first NFL start. 

Chip Kelly’s stint as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator — and as the NFL’s highest-paid OC — lasted just 11 games before getting fired.

Baker Mayfield didn’t return to the Buccaneers' blowout loss to the Rams after suffering a sprained left shoulder at the end of the first half. 

Actor who appeared in My Own Private Idaho, Blade, Armageddon and Dogville, as well as Madonna music videos and video games, died on Sunday

Udo Kier, the German actor who appeared in 275 roles across Hollywood and European cinema, including multiple films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Gus Van Sant and Lars von Trier, has died aged 81.

Kier died on Sunday morning, his partner Delbert McBride told Variety. The actor died in hospital in Palm Springs, California, his friend the photographer Michael Childers announced on social media. No cause of death was given.

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© Photograph: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters

© Photograph: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters

© Photograph: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters

From Sweden to Brazil, six small companies talk about how they are communicating with their U.S. customers amid uncertainty over Trump’s changing tariffs.

© Cesar Rodriguez for The New York Times

A combination of strategic planning, good timing and a long-awaited product helped the maker of electronic story boxes weather the onset of tariffs.

In the wake of US strikes Tehran is exploring a softer diplomatic approach – even as its leaders fear further conflict and crackdowns intensify at home

Iran is taking its first faltering steps to boost its dismal soft power abilities, spotting a slim opening to improve regional relations after Donald Trump’s June bombing campaign and Israel’s attack on Hamas negotiators in Qatar unsettled Gulf states.

The tentative foreign policy tweaks are born in part of necessity: much of Iran’s network of regional military alliances has been dismantled in recent years. But there is also a feeling in Tehran that Trump’s trampling over international law gives it an opportunity to forge less disruptive alliances with Arab neighbours.

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© Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

‘She is the daughter of immigrants,’ supporters of her cruel asylum policies say. ‘How can she be wrong?’ Let me put them straight

Over the past couple of weeks, Shabana Mahmood has launched not only her new asylum crackdown policy, but also her “story”. The two are inseparable: her story justifies the crackdown. It moralises the crackdown. And it silences criticism of the crackdown. Sold as an origin story from within an immigrant and racialised experience, the purpose is to imbue her politics with sacred authenticity – the credibility of the first person. It is clever and effective. It is cynical and disgraceful.

“I am the child of immigrants” is how Mahmood now starts her fable. Immigrants who came here legally. She goes on to tell us that immigration is tearing this country apart, and proposes policies that mean UK-born children, who have known no life anywhere else, will be deported. As she launches policies that will leave refugees homeless and without support, tear families apart, punish those legally in the country for claiming any benefits and make settlement and security a long and arduous process, Mahmood declares: “this is a moral mission for me”.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

Two leading journalists from both sides of the border warn against another ‘vague, thumbs up-thumbs down’ vote

A decade after the UK stumbled into a hasty referendum that polarised the nation and unleashed chaos, a warning comes from across the Irish Sea: it could happen again.

The government and voters sleepwalked into Brexit and the same may happen with a referendum on a united Ireland, triggering convulsions for which no one is ready.

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© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Thor actor and his father try to stave off the latter’s symptoms by taking a road trip to old haunts. It becomes a moving treatise on the sadness of letting go of a parent

Celebrities are forever taking their parents on televised road trips, and they’re usually cheap, easy commissions. Look how self-deprecating I am, says the famous person as they try to award themselves national treasure status by moving into light-factual programming: the person who knows me best is about to mildly embarrass me on holiday!

Be assured that Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember is a more serious endeavour. It features some intergenerational joshing as the guy from the Thor movies goes on a motorcycle ride with his old fella, but this is a journey filled with a wistful, desperate longing, towards a destination nobody can quite reach. Craig Hemsworth, 71, has early-stage Alzheimer’s. His mental faculties are starting to slip. But his boy is a Hollywood star, with the resources of a TV company behind him. Can he help?

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© Photograph: National Geographic/PA

© Photograph: National Geographic/PA

© Photograph: National Geographic/PA

Musicologist Peter Wollny chanced upon the manuscripts in 1992 and authenticating them took half of his lifetime

The best fictional detectives are famed for their intuition, an ability to spot some seemingly ineffable discrepancy. Peter Wollny, the musicologist behind last week’s “world sensational” revelation of two previously unknown works by Johann Sebastian Bach, had a funny feeling when he chanced upon two intriguing sheets of music in a dusty library in 1992.

His equivalent of the Columbo turn, from mere hunch to unravelling a secret, would take up half his life.

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© Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt/The Guardian

Former PM to examine issue of trust in politics and Oscar-winning actor’s show will discuss AI

The former prime minister Theresa May is to guest edit Radio 4’s Today programme and use it to explore the issue of dwindling trust in politics.

May, who resigned in 2019 with a tearful statement about the honour she felt in holding the office, will edit Today on New Year’s Eve.

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© Photograph: Hannah McKay/PA

© Photograph: Hannah McKay/PA

© Photograph: Hannah McKay/PA

It has been a difficult week for those working with refugees and migrants in the UK, after Labour announced controversial new plans. Sadly, Solomon is used to such turmoil. He discusses hostility, hope and asylum hotels

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, is at his home in London when I meet him. It’s the start of a gruesome week. The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has just announced that refugees could have their status revoked at any time if the country from which they fled is deemed safe; the pathway from being granted asylum to getting citizenship would increase to 20 years; AI would be used to establish a refugee’s age; and – a strikingly nasty idea – the jewellery of those arriving in the UK could be seized.

While media commentators puzzled over whether this would be enough red meat for Labour to see off Reform, this must surely have been a new low for Solomon? “There’s been lots of terrible weeks,” he says. “So I’m used to it.” He looks neat, open and determined, and his kitchen is incredibly yellow and cheerful, which I put down to sheer effort of will to look on the bright side.

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© Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

Reeves’ challenge is to remedy the disaster that Brexit has been for the country

Experian will match-fund reader donations to bring FLIC’s financial literacy to more people

Gilt market players call on government to cut spending and steer clear of inflationary tax rises

Dak Prescott also broke a tie with Tony Romo by leading his 25th winning drive when tied or trailing in the fourth quarter or overtime.

Panic is premature. But the writing on the ice is impossible to ignore.

The FBI's profile for Hossain, 32, was updated to say he had been "captured."

The Jets leading receiver Sunday was not on the team a month ago.

Matthew Stafford added three more touchdown passes to his MVP resume this 2025 season, as the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 34-7, on Sunday night.

The Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly after another poor offensive showing in a 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns.