Tottenham do battle with Chelsea on Saturday while Manchester City host high-flying Bournemouth on Sunday

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The city’s regional government is investing €1.5m in the project but has stipulations about featuring ‘identifiable locations’ on screen and the film premiering at an international film festival

The Madrid regional government is hoping to harness the power of film tourism by investing €1.5m (£1.3m) in a new Woody Allen movie that will be shot in and around the Spanish capital and which will be contractually obliged to feature the word “Madrid” in its title.

Regional authorities are confident the 89-year-old film-maker’s next project could do for Madrid what Roman Holiday did for Rome tourism in the early 1950s, and what Sex and the City and Emily in Paris have more recently done to increase visitor numbers to New York and the French capital.

It could eventually cut down on the production of traditional chocolate, which degrades soil and requires much fertilizer and pesticides

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Would you eat lab-grown chocolate?

I requested a sample from California Cultured, a Sacramento-based company. Its chocolate, not yet commercially available, is made with techniques that have previously been used to synthesize other bioactive products like certain plant-derived pharmaceuticals for commercial sale.

Calling Democrats ‘stone cold crazy’, president says ‘nuclear option’ is necessary to end government shutdown

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Donald Trump on Thursday night called on Republicans to abolish the Senate filibuster to bring an end to the ongoing government shutdown and the standoff with Democrats.

“BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD ‘CRAZY,’ THE CHOICE IS CLEAR – INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

Prime minister paid cabinet office to retain jewellery, but chose not to fork out for cufflinks and golf club

Keir Starmer has paid to keep a personalised silver necklace given to him by Donald and Melania Trump, transparency records show.

The necklace was the only gift Starmer chose to keep after he hosted the US president for a historic second state visit in September.

Victory over England at Twickenham 12 months ago proved a launchpad for Australia to begin climb back from nadir

If only Henry Slade had managed to stop Ben Donaldson getting that off-load away, if only Ollie Sleightholme had been able to make that wrap-up tackle on Len Ikitau, if only Marcus Smith was able to catch Max Jorgensen. But Slade didn’t, Sleightholme couldn’t, Smith wasn’t, and Jorgensen scored in the corner. This time last year the Wallabies beat England 42-37, their first victory against them at Twickenham in nine years, and it was, the players will tell you themselves, the moment when everything changed. “This game last year was a big turning point for us as a group,” says the Australia captain, Harry Wilson, “it really made us believe that on our day we can beat anybody in the world.”

Twelve months ago England weren’t worried about the Wallabies so much as they were worried for the Wallabies. The one thing an Australian team doesn’t want is pity, but that’s what they got. They had won two Tests out of 11 in 2023, when they embarrassed themselves at the World Cup, and, after a few months during which he seemed to spend most of his time bowling around in a cork hat and shouting at everyone about how rubbish Australian rugby was, their head coach Eddie Jones had defected to Japan. A couple of their better players had hopped codes to play in the NRL and they had dropped to ninth in the world rankings. It was all getting a bit existential.

The legacy of this pivotal event in Black history continues to echo across countries and generations with its call for unity

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On the main road heading south out of Manchester city centre, the excitement and enthusiasm are tangible. Oxford Road has changed a lot since October 1945. While its grand buildings remain, the wartime bombsites and smog are long gone. Much of Chorlton-on-Medlock, the residential area it bisected has been lost to postwar clearances and replaced by university complexes.

But to the young people gathered in the foyer of the Contact Theatre, the events of 80 years ago were full of relevance. The dance show they came to see – See My World: Homage, staged by the choreographers Joe Price and Kieron Simms a fortnight ago – was just one of an unprecedented number of events to celebrate the anniversary of the fifth Pan-African Congress, which took place less than a mile away at the former town hall.

There have been a series of unprecedented protests in the global south led by gen Z, the demographic cohort born between 1997 and 2012. These uprisings have led to deadly crackdowns, scores of arrests and new leaders coming into power. From Nepal to Morocco, young people have taken direct inspiration from one another, in spite of the borders between them. The Guardian’s Neelam Tailor explains how these uprisings formed and how the gaming app Discord became such a powerful tool for these anti-government movements worldwide

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• Unease at slow pace of change in Nepal one month on from gen Z protests

Party will take lead in first round of talks to form coalition government after securing majority of votes

The Dutch liberal-progressive party D66 won the most votes in Wednesday’s general election, the news agency ANP has reported, putting its 38-year-old leader, Rob Jetten, on course to become the youngest prime minister in the Netherlands.

While the last few thousand votes are still being counted, Dutch media reported on Friday that Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration, anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) could no longer win.

Pragmatism meets dogmatism when Spurs host Chelsea, with both head coaches still trying to win their fans over

A few managers were in the running when Chelsea were looking for a replacement for Mauricio Pochettino in May 2024. It was an extensive process and involved the club talking to Thomas Frank before they settled on Enzo Maresca.

The feeling was that Maresca’s positional game and focus on possession made him most suited to Chelsea’s squad of technicians. Frank, who had performed brilliantly at Brentford, had to wait for his next opportunity. Overlooked by Manchester United after they fired Erik ten Hag, it arrived when Tottenham hired the Dane after sacking Ange Postecoglou last summer.

Sabalenka and Swiatek head to Saudi finals after epic year yet organisers remain dire at marketing their product

The final weeks of the women’s tennis season showcased one last twist in the furious race to determine the qualifiers for the WTA Finals. Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, finally caught fire after a year of near misses, bulldozing through her opponents to win a title in Ningbo, China that solidified her spot in Riyadh among the eight best players in the world.

Just as significant as Rybakina’s qualification, though, was its consequences for the player she usurped. Mirra Andreeva, the 18-year-old prodigy who won WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells this year, had seemed like a sure bet to qualify in singles for the finals. Her failure to do so underscores the fact that this year has been the toughest and most competitive women’s tennis season in years.

Demonstrators took to streets after president’s main challengers were excluded from ballot

About 700 people have been killed during three days of election protests in Tanzania, the main opposition party has said.

Protests erupted on election day on Wednesday over what demonstrators said was the stifling of the opposition after the exclusion of key candidates from the presidential ballot.

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Is nobody safe from the cold, dead hands of artificial intelligence? Certainly not if you’re in the business of attempting to write a borderline humorous weekday mailshot. Take this, punched into a smartphone, belched out by ChatGPT in mere seconds after the instructions: “Write 100 words on AI in football in the style of the Guardian’s Football Daily email.”

Ah, football and AI — the game’s newest double act. From tracking player movement with eerie precision to whispering tactical tweaks into analysts’ ears, artificial intelligence is now as common at training grounds as bibs and banter. Clubs crunch mountains of data to predict fatigue, refine pressing triggers, even scout teenagers before they’ve finished growing. VAR, of course, remains the clumsy cousin — still learning when ‘clear and obvious’ actually means clear and obvious. But love it or loathe it, AI isn’t leaving the pitch anytime soon. The algorithms are watching — and your xG just twitched slightly higher.”

I’m sure I am stepping out of my lane here (I’m an A&E doctor here in Canada and a keen amateur triathlon participant when I can). But surely the match schedule you mentioned for Crystal Palace as being ‘Manchester City, Arsenal, KuPS Kuopio and Leeds in a novel Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday Premier League, Fizzy Cup and Tin Pot triathlon’ (yesterday’s Football Daily) is actually a quadrathlon, which comprises four events (typically swim, cycle, kayak + run). I’ve never tried one, and my Quebecois wife says I couldn’t do the kayaking leg if my life depended on it” – Adam Simpson.

Re: Sid Lowe’s interview with Espanyol head coach and former bus driver Manolo González (yesterday’s Quote of the Day). I assume he sets his team out with a low block: he’s known for parking the bus. Sorry. Kudos to Sid for writing a long piece without stooping to the obvious: Señor, you’re a better man than I” – Pål Jørgen Bakke.

The reference to Rory Delap (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) reminds me of an amusing incident at Stoke in February 2011. West Brom, who usually lost there, had equalised in the 87th minute. Happy with the point, they began to play out for a draw. It was a wet evening and Delap had been hurling the ball into the Albion box all night following careful use of a towel provided by the ball boy. After the equaliser, Albion got a throw midway in the Stoke half and Steven Reid called for the towel. After spending some time carefully drying the ball he threw it five yards to the nearest Albion player and received a return pass” – Les Andrews.

Reading of the difficulties (and expense) of buying tickets for the Geopolitics World Cup (yesterday’s Still Want More, full email edition) triggered a memory that took me back to the summer of 1966. My dad and his friend decided at the last minute that they fancied watching the opening match (England v Uruguay). They drove to London (from Portsmouth) in the afternoon and paid at the gate to get into the ground. He wasn’t very impressed (fairly dull 0-0 draw) and the next morning announced that he wasn’t going to bother going to any more games. I am 70 years old and this does seem incredible, so on my wife’s advice I checked with my brother that he also recalled this excursion. He did and furthermore reminded me that on the day of the final my dad (an enthusiastic player but only occasionally picked to play cricket), was a surprise selection due to a shortage of available players (I wonder why) and so didn’t even get to see the final on TV. So for him, the World Cup really was over” – Steve Beaton.

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The Australian rock band are ‘legit now’ with their second album, Glory. They talk about performing while underage, playing with Dave Grohl and the ‘girl band’ label

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“If you want to rock, you’ve gotta break the rules. You’ve gotta get mad at The Man,” a wise man (Jack Black) once said (in School of Rock). And in 2015, four 15-year-olds in Canberra watching the Richard Linklater film at a sleepover decided they wanted to do just that, forming a rock band the morning after that has become one of Australia’s most exciting acts: Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers – a joke name suggested by one of their uncles that stuck.

The four teenagers had enough punk brio that they were soon being booked to play venues they weren’t old enough to enter unchaperoned. Adults around them would assume they were in their early 20s, when they were actually 16 or 17.

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Robert Tickner says there are ‘no excuses for the failure to implement’ recommendations from the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody

Warning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died

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The country’s longest serving Aboriginal affairs minister has accused governments of “turning their backs” on soaring Indigenous incarceration rates, after a record number of Aboriginal deaths in custody in New South Wales this year.

Before a protest march in Sydney on Saturday, Robert Tickner, the Hawke and Keating government minister who tabled a landmark royal commission report into Aboriginal deaths in custody in 1991, declared “time’s up” to take action on the issue.

After seven years in Netflix’s fantasy epic, the actor has cast her final spell. She talks about the genre’s toxic fans, welcoming new boy Liam Hemsworth to the cast – and what sorcery really sounds like

It is a bittersweet day for Anya Chalotra. On the one hand, The Witcher, the fantasy epic in which she has played super-sorcerer Yennefer of Vengerberg since 2018, is about to return for a fourth series. All the hard work she and hundreds of others have done can finally be seen by millions of fans worldwide. The cast and crew wrap party is due to take place a few hours after we speak. It’s an exciting time for the actor. But on the other hand: “I wrapped The Witcher for good yesterday,” Chalotra says. “So forgive me if I can’t string a sentence together. It’s all very odd … I cried a lot.”

Refreshingly for a big-budget fantasy show, The Witcher will bow out with its story complete, rather than at some dissatisfying midpoint due to an unceremonious cancellation. And though viewers will be seeing a final season of monsters, magic, mages, swords, skulduggery and swearing next year, the final two seasons were filmed back to back, meaning after the evening’s shindig, that’s that. The job that has taken over Chalotra’s life for so long, and the people who go with it (besides one high-profile absence, which we’ll touch on later), is finally over.

They’ve got a bit in common

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With a rise in people opting for non-monogamy, experts suggest the idea of the traditional couple is radically changing

“We had an arrangement, be discreet and don’t be blatant. There had to be payment, it had to be with strangers,” sings Lily Allen in her surprisingly candid and detailed album thought to be about her open relationship with her ex-husband.

The album has catapulted the concept of non-monogamous relationships into the spotlight, and couples therapists report that an increasing number of their clients are choosing to go down this route.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Southern Water has ended its three month hosepipe ban that covered most of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The water company, which told its customers that the River Test and River Itchen were at “critically low levels” in July, said it was able to lift the ban after wet weather in September and October.

We’re incredibly grateful to our customers for their support and understanding during this challenging time.

By working together, we’ve not only saved millions of litres of water each day, but also helped protect our precious chalk streams.

Reports of indiscriminate violence and ethnic targeting in El Fasher have led to growing global outrage

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces claim to have arrested several of their fighters after outrage over the extent of killing in the city of El Fasher continues to build.

But the paramilitary group’s move has been met with scepticism from human rights campaigners and the Sudanese who see it as an attempt to temper criticism over the violence.

Michael Webber admitted attack on Jaysley Beck, then 19, which was not investigated properly by senior officers

A former British army sergeant major has been sentenced to six months in prison for sexually assaulting Jaysley Beck, a teenage soldier who killed herself after senior officers failed to investigate the attack properly.

Michael Webber, who has left the army, assaulted Gunner Beck during a training exercise in Hampshire in July 2021, when she was 19, the court martial centre in Bulford, Wiltshire, heard.

• Ireland’s Caelan Doris making comeback from injury

• World champions South Africa play Japan at Wembley

It is back to where it started for Ireland. And by “it” we mean any kind of success against the All Blacks. With that, of course, comes credibility on the world stage, a status they still enjoy.

On Saturday night, UK and Ireland time, afternoon in the United States, Ireland take on New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago. Before any considerations of team news and vibes, the words Ireland, New Zealand and Soldier Field will transport many a rugby fan back not quite nine years. On 5 November 2016, Ireland, at the 29th time of asking, finally prevailed over the All Blacks, 111 years after their first shot at them. And how. No ugly scrap by a plucky underdog here, but an exhilarating 40 points and five tries under a Chicago sun.

Just Stop Oil protesters say they knew action would not harm stones and law used to prosecute them was ‘insane’

Over the years, Just Stop Oil activists have carried out headline-grabbing actions at sporting events, art galleries and motorways, but it was their protest at Stonehenge that attracted the most attention globally.

As the trial of the three JSO activists who led the action ended with their acquittal, they described their pride at their “magic trick”, insisting it was a proportionate response to the climate emergency and criticising the “insane” law under which they were prosecuted.