War with opposition groups means large areas are excluded from poll, while recent law prohibits criticising a process regarded internationally as a sham

Polling stations have opened in some areas of conflict-racked Myanmar for an election that has been widely condemned as a sham designed to legitimise the military junta’s rule.

The most popular party is banned from running in the election, and large areas of the country will be completely excluded because they are under the control of anti-junta groups or racked by fierce fighting.

As the military pushes ahead with a widely condemned election, Beijing’s priorities are proving decisive

• Myanmar’s first election since the 2021 coup: everything you need to know

Myanmar’s military has managed to regain momentum in its battle against a determined patchwork of opposition groups, retaking some territory, and pushing ahead with a widely condemned election that begins on Sunday.

It is a turnaround for the military, which had appeared so beleaguered that some dared to question if it could collapse.

• Scallywag passes Lock Comanche and LawConnect to take lead on Sunday morning

• Of the starting fleet, 33 had pulled out, leaving 95 still racing

Tough seas have forced further retirements in a gruelling Sydney to Hobart, with crews reporting broken ribs, lost life rafts and yacht damage.

Four leading yachts – LawConnect, Master Lock Comanche, the Hong Kong-owned SHK Scallywag and Lucky – were within sight of each other off the coast of Tasmania on Sunday morning.

The 70-metre-long cloth about the Norman invasion has not been seen in England since it was created in 11th century

The Bayeux tapestry will be insured for an estimated £800m when it returns to the UK in 2026 for the first time in more than 900 years.

The Treasury will insure the 70-metre embroidered cloth, which depicts the 1066 Norman invasion and Battle of Hastings, for damage or loss during its transfer from France and while it is on display at the British Museum from September.

The old ways are over and nobody is entirely sure what is to follow but football revolutions once experienced are never forgotten

If you want a picture of the future, imagine Michael Kayode winding up to take a long throw – forever. Or at least that was how it seemed in October. Already, though, the picture has begun to change. This was the year of the backlash, and then a bit of a backlash to the backlash.

For almost two decades football had accepted the guardiolista consensus. Football was about possession, about the press, but most of all about position, about the careful manipulation of space. Much-improved pitches meant first touches could be taken for granted: players receiving the ball didn’t have to focus on getting it under control but could instead be parsing their options. The game had become chess with a ball, a matter of strategy more than physicality.

Unai Emery had to tear up the plan. Aston Villa had started this game in a compact 4-2-2-2 formation but they were desperate for much of the first hour. Their passing was lethargic, they had no width, they were 1-0 down to a dominant Chelsea and it seemed the story was going to centre on Emery’s decision not to start Ollie Watkins up front.

Yet few managers are as effective as Emery when it comes to altering the flow with a few smart tweaks. The Spaniard never stops plotting, never stops hunting for weaknesses in his opponents, and perhaps it was not a surprise when Villa’s tactical mastermind found a way to ensure that the travelling fans were belting out songs about winning the league at full time.

Among Jews the meaning of the term has evolved – but there is still no consensus. And when people talk past one another there are real-world consequences

The 14 December Bondi Beach attack targeting Jews at a Hanukah celebration has brought the issue of antisemitism into sharp national focus. In response, the New South Wales government announced measures to further curb hate speech and symbols, and, more controversially, new protest powers. This event and the government’s response have once again raised questions about the relationship between Jews, Israel, Zionism and anti-Zionism.

Zionism is a Jewish national movement that sought to create a Jewish state, then to secure and sustain it. But “Zionism” is also a contested label: for many Jews it signifies safety, continuity and belonging; for Palestinians – and for many others – it denotes dispossession and ongoing domination. It’s clear that for different people, the word Zionism means very different things, which leads to people talking past one another – with real-world consequences.

• Winner carries huge weight to success at Chepstow

• Cheltenham Gold Cup on horizon after brave victory

It is seven years and counting since Native River became the last horse trained in Britain to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but the beleaguered home team has conceivably emerged from the first two days of the Christmas programme with not one, but two realistic contenders for next year’s race, after Haiti Couleurs put up a magnificent performance to win the Welsh Grand National here under 11st 13lb on Saturday.

Or, as Haiti Couleurs’ connections might prefer it, England has a chance with Friday’s King George winner, The Jukebox Man, and Wales has a shout with Haiti Couleurs, who is trained by Rebecca Curtis in Pembrokeshire and ridden by Sean Bowen, the champion jockey, who was born just down the road from her yard.

⚽ Updates from the 5.30pm Premier League kick-off
⚽ Scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Will here

The teams are in the tunnel at Stamford Bridge. The Liquidator is blasting out over the sound system. It’s almost time. Everyone ready?

Here are the match reports from the 3pm kick-offs, in no particular order:

Liverpool and Wolves united in a moving tribute to Diogo Jota on the day Florian Wirtz finally scored the first goal of his slow-burning Anfield career. The lasting impression, however, was Liverpool’s relief at holding off a team that has endured more defeats in the first half of a season than any other in Premier League history.

“I’ve just said to the lads that I’m getting fed up with this,” said Rob Edwards, the Wolves manager. Edwards has been in charge for seven games, but deflation was understandable.

A few minutes before half-time in a contest that largely swung one way but briefly veered the other, Brighton threatened what was then a rare foray into Arsenal territory.

For a short moment the visitors seemed certain to muster their first shot of an afternoon that had hitherto been miserable. But, no sooner had Maxim De Cuyper received the ball on the counterattack, the Belgian was flattened by a crunching Declan Rice tackle that killed any threat. De Cuyper slumped; Rice, towering over him, roared – arguably this season’s standout Premier League midfielder making light of playing right-back for the first time in his Arsenal career.

Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media – and generating about $117m a year, data shows

More than 20% of the videos that YouTube’s algorithm shows to new users are “AI slop” – low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found.

The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world’s most popular YouTube channels – the top 100 in every country – and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop.

Using the presidency as a branding opportunity, Trump is slapping his name on buildings, monuments and projects

In 2011, Donald Trump published a book with the self-help guru Robert Kiyosaki titled Midas Touch. It’s a typical self-empowerment manual in which the pair expound on the secrets of entrepreneurial success while drawing on their personal experiences. At one point, they write: “Building a brand may be more important than building a business.”

That was certainly Trump’s approach to business: he was the New York real estate tycoon who turned his fame into a brand that symbolized luxury and savvy strategy – even if his companies filed for bankruptcy six times. Trump spent decades trying to use his name to turn a profit: he owned an airline and a university, and slapped his moniker on vodka, steaks, neckties, board games and even bottled water. Leveraging the fame he gained from the Apprentice TV show, he expanded to licensing Trump-branded global real estate projects built by other developers. In many of these ventures, Trump collected licensing fees, rather than investing his own money, ensuring that he profited even if the businesses collapsed.

Rightwing parties want to follow in US’s footsteps of minimal government intervention, but at what cost?

Next month, Donald Trump will welcome a poverty-stricken family to peruse his plans for a $300m glitzy state ballroom in the White House. The event will be staged as part of National Poverty in America Awareness Month, the time every year when charities document the number of US residents surviving on low incomes.

Of course, the president will do no such thing, preferring to summon the press to watch him rub shoulders with the billionaire class as he did at last month’s black tie dinner for the Saudi ruler and his entourage.

Deputy defence minister says new air defence systems will be completed in 24 months

Poland plans to complete a new set of anti-drone fortifications along its eastern borders within two years, a top defence official has said, after a massive incursion of unmanned Russian aerial combat vehicles into Polish airspace earlier this year.

“We expect to have the first capabilities of the system in roughly six months, perhaps even sooner. And the full system will take 24 months to complete,” the deputy defence minister, Cezary Tomczyk, told the Guardian in an interview in Warsaw.

Nearly 15,000 flights canceled or delayed as both states declare weather emergencies after snowstorm

A mix of snow and ice bore down on the US north-east early on Saturday, disrupting post-holiday weekend airline traffic and prompting officials in New York and New Jersey to issue weather emergency declarations even as the storm ebbed by mid-morning.

More than 14,400 domestic US flights on Saturday were canceled or delayed as of mid-morning, with the majority in the New York area, including at John F Kennedy international airport, LaGuardia airport and Newark Liberty international airport, according to the tracking site FlightAware.

• ‘Monster’ dominates Picasso to defend undisputed title

• Unanimous decision in Riyadh keeps Inoue unbeaten

• Nakatani victory fuels chatter of Tokyo super-fight

Naoya Inoue moved a step closer to the biggest bout in Japanese boxing history after outclassing Alan Picasso by unanimous decision in Riyadh on Saturday, retaining his undisputed super-bantamweight titles and clearing the runway for a long-anticipated showdown with countryman Junto Nakatani.

Inoue, widely regarded as one of the finest pound-for-pound fighters in the world alongside Oleksandr Usyk and the recently retired Terence Crawford, was in control from the opening bell at the Mohammed Abdo Arena, neutralizing the previously unbeaten Mexican challenger with precision, speed and sustained pressure over 12 rounds. The judges scored the contest 120-108, 119-109 and 117-111 in favor of the 32-year-old champion.

What winning in Melbourne says is: here is what you could have had with Australia’s weaknesses exposed

Na-na na-na na-na na na na, Duckett’s on the piss. On the piss. Duckett’s on the piss.

Don’t take me home, please don’t take me home. And while we’re here, stand up, stand up, please do stand up if you love a two-day Test on a pitch as green and ridged as an under-ripe roasting potato. For an hour in mid-afternoon on day two at the MCG England’s top order finally did the thing. The clocks stopped. Dogs miaowed. Birds flew backwards across the sky. And Test cricket turned into darts.

⚽ Updates from the afternoon’s football action
⚽ Live scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Scott

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.

• Nigeria 3-2 Tunisia | Tanzania 1-1 Uganda

• Senegal 1-1 DR Congo | Benin knock out Botswana

Nigeria put on an impressive display of attacking prowess but had to hang on in the end for a narrow 3-2 win against Tunisia, becoming the second team to make sure of a place in the last 16.

Victor Osimhen netted the opener a minute before half-time, and Wilfred Ndidi and Ademola Lookman scored after the break. But Tunisia staged a late comeback with goals from the defenders Montassar Talbi and Ali Abdi that set up a frenetic finish.

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.