Snowy holiday season in the upper midwest and north-east comes as a cold front is expected to hit the south

A powerful winter storm was sweeping east from the Plains on Sunday, driven by what meteorologists describe as an intense cyclone that is expected to impact much of the US with a mixture of snow, ice, rain and strong winds.

“Part of the storm system is getting heavy snow, other parts of the storm along the cold front are getting higher winds and much colder temperatures as the front passes,” said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in College Park, Maryland. “They’re all related to each other – different parts of the country will be receiving different effects from this storm.”

Manager may have taken club as far as he can while Archie Gray offers hope to Tottenham and Thomas Frank

Perhaps it’s appropriate that the last Premier League game of the Christmas weekend shouldn’t be a thriller. You’ve spent four days eating and drinking, the belly is straining at the belt, work is looming on Monday and there’s a dreadful sense that the holiday is over and you’ll soon have to get back to mundane chores: defrosting the freezer, filing the tax return, shopping for real food that might actually have some nutritional value.

For neutrals, this was the ideal game for dozing through on the sofa. Very little happened, and almost none of what did was pleasing on the eye, with the possible exception of the two passages of play Tottenham put together that led to Richarlison scoring goals that were subsequently ruled out for offside. At the start of play it was ninth v 14th and in the first half especially, it looked like it. It was bitty, scrappy, ugly, and included many of the worst elements of Long Throw Britain.

Emergency services say ‘intense fire’ spread throughout semi-detached property in Hamstreet near Ashford

A child has died and a second has been taken to hospital after a house fire in Kent, emergency services have said.

The blaze occurred in White Admiral Way in the village of Hamstreet, near Ashford, on Sunday.

• Exeter 24-10 Leicester

• Chiefs move to within a point of leaders Northampton

There is still a long way to go but Exeter would have settled for their current position back in the summer. Second place in the Prem table heading into 2026 with momentum building nicely is a very different story from last season’s grim struggle and, in front of a 15,000 capacity crowd, here was another example of exactly why they are a developing force.

While this was not quite as compelling as their pre-Christmas raid on Saracens, the Chiefs could conceivably have registered another half-dozen tries in the absence of Len Ikitau, their injured Wallaby centre. Another barnstorming display from No 8 Greg Fisilau set the standard and the whole side showed enough physicality and defensive hunger to leave the Tigers to survive on seasonal scraps.

• Seven-year-old makes Leopardstown breakthrough

• Galopin Des Champs and I Am Maximus beaten

The two most recent winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup were among the 11 runners for the Grade One Savills Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday but neither could match the strength and resilience of a resurgent Affordale Fury, as Noel Meade’s seven-year-old made his breakthrough at the highest level after an injury-plagued career to date.

Affordale Fury was the 150-1 runner-up in the three-mile Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in March 2023, but his career since has included breaks of 438 and 241 days and Sunday’s race was just his fifth chase start outside novice company.

Key topics include security guarantees to prevent Russia from attacking again, with US president saying he believes Putin is serious about peace

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Donald Trump has said talks to end the war in Ukraine are in their “final stages” as he sat down for a meeting on Sunday with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida, and insisted that Vladimir Putin was ready to make a peace deal.

Trump met Ukraine’s president outside his Mar-a-Lago residence and claimed both warring sides were close to an agreement. Hours earlier the US president held a lengthy phone call with Putin and said he would ring the Kremlin again once talks had concluded.

Steelers miss chance to win AFC North in defeat
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Panthers 0-0 Seahawks 12:51, 1st quarter

After a Carolina punt they almost pick off Sam Darnold on their first play then the QB throws one in the dirt. On 3 & 10 the crowd get loud but Darnold hits his favourite target Jaxson Smith-Njigba for 13 yards and the 1st down. Phew.

A Szmyt 50 yard field goal

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4 min: A bit of an exciting start. Côte d’Ivoire have settled the quicker.

2 min: Off the post, I think?! Côte d’Ivoire head down the left, Konan swings a cross towards the back post and it looks like it glances off the upright and away from danger.

Hammonton police responded to a report of a midair crash that engulfed one helicopter in flames on Sunday morning

One person is dead and another has been left critically injured after two helicopters crashed in a southern New Jersey town.

Hammonton police chief Kevin Friel said rescuers responded to a report of an aviation crash at about 11.25am. Video from the scene shows a helicopter spinning rapidly to the ground. Police and fire crews subsequently extinguished flames that engulfed one of the helicopters.

• United close in on 28-year-old forward

• Miyazawa extends contract with club

Manchester United are set to complete the signing of the Germany striker Lea Schüller on a permanent transfer from Bayern Munich.

Schüller, who has six months left on her contract, has been a prolific goalscorer for club and country, scoring more than 100 goals for Bayern and 54 times in 82 games for her country, and she will be seen as a marquee signing for the Women’s Super League side.

Republican senator Katie Britt also proposes AI companies be criminally liable if they expose minors to harmful ideas

US senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to economic insecurity for millions of Americans – and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democratic party, said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was “fearful of a lot” when it came to AI. And the senator called it “the most consequential technology in the history of humanity” that will “transform” the US and the world in ways that had not been fully discussed.

Eighteen months can be a very long time in football – especially if you are still a teenager.

After a mixed start to life in north London, Archie Gray could not have picked a better occasion to score his first Tottenham goal since joining from Leeds in the summer of 2024 than his 60th appearance. With Thomas Frank already showing signs of not being the first Spurs ­manager to have been overwhelmed by ­expectations, after a run of just one win in their previous eight ­Premier League matches, Gray’s scrappy header in the first half ensured a topsy-turvy year ended with a ­victory that lifts his side to within one point of Crystal Palace in the table.

Nick Kyrgios won 6-3, 6-3 against Aryna Sabalenka in an intriguing Dubai contest with celebrity interruptions

Nick Kyrgios won tennis’s latest Battle of the Sexes against Aryna Sabalenka in a dispiriting contest in Dubai that veered uneasily between exhibition, gimmick and outright circus.

The Australian, who has won only one competitive singles match since the end of 2022 and has slipped to 671 in the world rankings, was sweating heavily and breathing hard as early as the fifth game of the match. Yet to no one’s great surprise, the extreme power of his serve, combined with the spin and velocity of his groundstrokes, proved too much for the women’s No 1 player.

Authorities remove beam placed on Christmas Day to recreate Eisbach wave, which vanished in October

A row over the disappearance of a famous river surfing wave in Munich has escalated after authorities removed a beam inserted over Christmas to recreate the attraction.

The Eisbach wave on a side branch of the Isar River had been a landmark in the Bavarian city since the 1980s but it vanished in October after annual cleanup work along the riverbed.

House armed services committee’s Mike Turner denied that military strikes showed new Trump approach to US forces

• US warns of more Nigeria strikes as Abuja talks of ‘joint ongoing operations’

A senior Republican on the US House armed services committee has said that the country’s recent military strikes in Nigeria and Syria are consistent with American foreign policy to combat Islamic extremism that have existed across Donald Trump’s two presidential terms.

Mike Turner, an Ohio congressman, said on Sunday that the strikes are a “continuation of our conflict with [the Islamic State]”.

Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today we look skyward, where a new lunar contest mirrors humanity’s struggle to live within planetary limits

During the cold war’s space race, the Apollo moon missions were driven by the need to prove American superiority. Having made that political and technological point with the 1969 moon landing, the contest between Moscow and Washington petered out. A new dash across the skies kicks off in 2026, reigniting geopolitical competition under the guise of “peaceful exploration”. The moon’s south pole is emerging as the most valuable real estate in the solar system, offering “peaks of eternal light” for solar arrays and ice deposits in craters shielded from the sun.

The US and a China-led bloc are eyeing the lunar surface and its potential to control a post-terrestrial economy. Space had been humanity’s last commons, supposedly shielded by the 1967 UN outer space treaty that bans state exploitation of the heavens. It is vague, however, on private claims – a loophole that is now fuelling a tycoon-led scramble for the stars. The aim is obvious: to act first, shape norms and dare others to object. Two lunar missions launching next year– Nasa’s Artemis II and China’s Chang’e 7 – are competing for strategic supremacy.

David Darke sustained fatal injuries in incident outside the Crown Inn in Appleby Magna, police say

The relatives of a 66-year-old man who died days after being punched outside a village pub have paid tribute to the “devoted family man”.

David Darke, who died in hospital on Saturday, was injured outside the Crown Inn in Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, on 21 December.

Gerstner was chair and CEO at a time when the firm was struggling for relevance faced with rivals such as Microsoft

Louis Gerstner, the businessman credited with turning around IBM, has died aged 83, the company announced on Sunday.

Gerstner was chair and CEO of IBM from 1993 to 2002, a time when the company was struggling for relevance in the face of competition from rivals such as Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

Dissident was freed by Egypt after campaign by successive UK governments but offensive posts have surfaced

The decision by successive UK governments to campaign for the release and return of British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been called into question after past violent and offensive social media posts came to light.

The dissident’s historical remarks – in which he appeared to call for violence towards “Zionists” and the police – have prompted a widespread backlash since his return from detention in Egypt on Friday.

Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today we look at how the struggle to adapt to a dangerously warming world has become a test of global justice

The record-breaking 252mph winds of Hurricane Melissa that devastated Caribbean islands at the end of October were made five times more likely by the climate crisis. Scorching wildfire weather in Spain and Portugal during the summer was made 40 times more likely, while June’s heatwave in England was made 100 times more likely.

Attribution science has made one thing clear: global heating is behind today’s extreme weather. That greenhouse gas emissions warmed the planet was understood. What can now be shown is that this warming produces record heatwaves and more violent storms with increasing frequency.

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Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s startling metamorphosis from forgotten man to a striker on the verge of an England recall continued as his seventh goal in six games further reinforced Daniel Farke’s job security at Leeds.

A month ago Farke was rumoured to be under severe pressure at Elland Road but a change of formation and, most importantly, Calvert-Lewin’s renaissance have gone a long way towards assuaging relegation fears.

Online audiences seeking out authentic and passionate voices as antidote to AI-generated content

For years, social media fame has been associated with the red carpet glamour of the Kardashians and Cristiano Ronaldo’s megawatt sporting celebrity, but millions of users globally are increasingly turning their attention to unassuming heroes drawn from everyday life.

TikTok says a range of accounts, from a bird enthusiast to an Italian grandmother and a doubledecker bus fan, have grown in popularity this year as social media users latch on to authentic voices.

UKHSA warns vulnerable and elderly people may be at risk with temperatures to drop severely overnight

Amber cold health alerts have been issued for northern England, with low temperatures predicted to cause a “rise in deaths” among vulnerable and elderly people.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued two amber warnings for north-east and north-west England, which will be in place between 8pm on Sunday until midday on Monday 5 January.