Donyell Malen has a cut to the head and two more goals to his name after leading Aston Villa to the verge of automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Europa League against a backdrop of more crowd violence from Young Boys supporters.
The author on Anna Karenina, the brilliance of Anita Brookner and finally getting Nabokov
My earliest reading memory
I acquired from somewhere, in my more or less atheistic family, a Ladybird Book of the Lord’s Prayer, whose every page I can recover in all its lurid 1960s naturalism. “As they forgive us our trespasses against them …” The horrified boy leaves a hand mark on the wall his father has just painted.
My favourite book growing up
One of my favourites was E Nesbit’s The Wouldbegoods. The lives of those Edwardian children seemed as rich as a plum pudding, with their knickerbockers and their ironies, their cook and their sophisticated vocabulary. I didn’t understand, in my childhood, that they were separated from me by a gulf of time and change. Because of books, the past seemed to be happening in the next room, as if I could step into it effortlessly.
Alarming shift since 2010 means planet’s three main rainforest regions now contribute to climate breakdown
Africa’s forests have turned from a carbon sink into a carbon source, according to research that underscores the need for urgent action to save the world’s great natural climate stabilisers.
The alarming shift, which has happened since 2010, means all of the planet’s three main rainforest regions – the South American Amazon, south-east Asia and Africa – have gone from being allies in the fight against climate breakdown to being part of the problem.
Dread the thought of party chat? This selection of cultural keypoints will put some fizz in your conversation
It seemed Trump had finally dealt with domestic terrorist Jimmy Kimmel after his chat show was briefly cancelled, but now it’s back on air. So should we expect more censorship? Surely South Park is skating on thin ice by mocking the president and his allegedly inadequate penis? Maybe the president will throw a curveball and declare a nature show about squirrels to be a secret antifa recruitment operation? Or perhaps he will simply cut the niceties and just put Oprah Winfrey up on Showtrial (“Ratings like you’ve never seen before!”)?
Brazil shows little sign of feared rightwing rebellion, with only a few die-hards protesting outside prison
A few hours before Jair Bolsonaro was ordered to start his 27-year coup sentence in a parking space-sized room, Arley Xavier stood outside the former president’s new home putting a brave face on his leader’s bind.
“It’s not over. There’s still so much Jair Messias Bolsonaro needs to do here in Brazil … No, it’s not over,” insisted the 21-year-old activist, urging conservatives to rise up against Bolsonaro’s imprisonment by flocking to the capital, Brasília, to protest.
Exclusive: It follows calls from US senator Elizabeth Warren to investigate bank executives including ex-Barclays boss Jes Staley
US regulators say they are taking allegations that top banks may have facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activity “very seriously”, as they faced calls to investigate executives including the former Barclays boss Jes Staley.
In correspondence seen by the Guardian, bosses from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said they had reviewed a letter from the Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, which raised concerns over bankers’ alleged support for the convicted child sex offender Epstein.
Tech investors promise to disrupt everything from padel to basketball, but their pitch-deck jargon is slowly draining the humanity from sport itself
Finally, a sector more ludicrously hyped than AI. Speaking to Yahoo Sports recently about the launch of Project B, a startup global women’s basketball league, co-founder Grady Burnett declared that “women’s basketball is growing right now as fast as AI”. Come again? There’s no question that women’s basketball is growing nicely, a development that we should all cheer: this year’s WNBA season was the most watched ever. But it is testing credulity to suggest that the sport is growing at anything like the same speed as AI, which since 2022 has gone from the technological margins to the very center of the US economy: by some reports, AI spending accounted for half of the growth in US GDP in the first half of this year. Perhaps I’m missing the real story here and the Federal Reserve is actively keeping tabs on attendance figures at Washington Mystics v Golden State Valkyries games for signs of potential overheating in the US economy. But it seems unlikely.
Claims like Burnett’s are par for the course in the hyperventilating world of sports investment, in which new leagues intent on world domination are launched seemingly every week and the pitches, delivered at investment conferences by slick men with gleaming teeth and spotless sneakers, grow more and more clammily self-satisfied by the hour. Burnett’s league, which he co-founded with former Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice, was briefly associated with Maverick Carter and LeBron James over the summer but that pair now seems to have been removed from the picture, and the league is emerging from “stealth mode”, to use a wormy bit of tech jargon, as the pure, uncut essence of bored Silicon Valley rich guy calculation. In a crowded field, Project B may be the most insanely overcaffeinated, tech bro-addled pitch for a new sports league yet.
FA says 63 million people within two hours of a venue
Final stadium list will come down to between 14 and 16
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have submitted their bid to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup as the largest single-sport event staged in the UK.
The Lionesses’ leading goalscorer, Ellen White, described the bid as “really special” and compared it to her experience of the 2012 Olympics as a part of Team GB.
A controversial Netflix documentary follows an investigation into the truth behind one of the most important wartime photos ever taken
It is one of the most recognizable photographs of the 20th century: a naked girl – arms wide, face contorted, skin scorched and peeling – running toward the camera as she flees a napalm attack in South Vietnam. To her right, a boy’s face is frozen in a Greek tragedy mask of pain. To her left, two other Vietnamese children run away from the bombed village of Trảng Bàng. Behind them, an indistinguishable group of soldiers and, behind them, a wall of black smoke.
Within hours of publication in June 1972, the photo, officially titled The Terror of War but colloquially known as Napalm Girl, went the analog version of viral; seen and discussed by millions of people around the world, it’s widely credited with galvanizing public opinion against the US war in Vietnam. Susan Sontag later wrote that the horrifically indelible image of nine-year-old Kim Phúc in distress “probably did more to increase the public revulsion against the war than a hundred hours of televised barbarities”. Sir Don McCullin, the legendary British photojournalist who covered the conflict, deemed it the single best photograph of what would later be called “The Television War”. Napalm Girl is, “simply put, one of the most important photographs of anything ever made, and certainly of the Vietnam war”, said Gary Knight, a British photojournalist with decades of combat photography experience.
Former minister says ditching plan for day-one protection against unfair dismissal ‘definitely is a manifesto breach’
Keir Starmer is facing backbench anger after ministers abandoned plans to give workers day-one protection against unfair dismissal, a U-turn that breaches the Labour manifesto.
MPs including a former minister who spearheaded the employment rights bill with the former deputy leader Angela Rayner have voiced concerns over the climbdown announced by the government.
New Democratic party victory is crushing defeat for Unity Labour, which has held power since 2001
The New Democratic party (NDP) in the Caribbean country of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is celebrating a historic landslide victory, taking 14 of 15 seats, according to preliminary results.
The decisive vote was a crushing defeat for the Unity Labour party (ULP), which has been in power since 2001.
Decision by US bank’s CEO Jamie Dimon followed trip to New York by top adviser to Keir Starmer
The boss of JP Morgan Chase signed off on a new £3bn tower in London after a trip to New York by a top adviser to the UK prime minister to give assurances about the government’s pro-business policies, it has emerged.
The Wall Street bank, which along with Goldman Sachs announced substantial investment plans in the UK hours after they were spared tax increases in Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget, only signed off on the plan for its new UK headquarters last Friday.
Overshadowing the Matildas’ return home is the dire state of the domestic league.
As Sam Lewis explains, the A-League Women has stagnated and its players are the lowest-paid professional athletes in the country, according to a report from earlier this month.
(Hyperdub) The dancefloor producer weaves seductive and steely lyrics with their trademark production in a convincing embrace of pop
Sad represents a total reinvention for Ikonika, theproducer, songwriter and singer also known as Sara Chen. Putting their own vocals at the forefront of their music for the first time, Chen becomes a charismatic and haunting pop presence. Sometimes, they play the role of warm R&B vocalist (Listen to Your Heart); at other times, such as on the nervy, hypnotic Whatchureallywant, they’re seductive and steely, commanding the dancefloor over production that draws equally from bass music and South African amapiano.
Ikonika has long been an established presence in underground electronic music. They have been signed to the Hyperdub label for nearly 20 years; muscular, sprightly releases such as 2020’s Your Body and 2018’s The Library Album have contributed to their reputation as a brash, warm-spirited producer. But Sad has the feel of a debut, centring sounds from northern and southern Africa (Chen is part-Egyptian) on tracks like Sense Seeker and Gone. Their lyrics draw on ideas of safety and care, pushing their persona past “party starter” and into more complex territory.
Andriy Yermak said authorities given ‘full access’ to his apartment, and that he is cooperating with the officers, with his lawyers present
Political analyst Viktor Shlinchak, of the Kyiv-based Institute for World Politics, described the searches as a “Black Friday” for Yermak and suggested Zelenskyy may be forced to dismiss him.
“It looks like we may soon have a different head of the negotiating team,” he wrote in a Facebook post, quoted by Reuters.
Libertadores Cup final sees the latest chapter in a rivalry that is dominating the continent thanks to European levels of funding and player recruitment
To the surprise of few and the despair of many, it will be either Palmeiras or Flamengo lifting the Copa Libertadores trophy on Saturday at Lima’s Estadio Monumental. With this year’s final, one of these two Brazilian giants will have won five of the last seven editions, a run that underlines how both clubs have transformed themselves into South American super clubs, reshaping the competitive landscape in the process.
Yet this final is more than another chapter in Brazil’s dominance, broken only by River Plate’s 2018 triumph in the past nine years. It marks the latest peak in a decade-long evolution that has seen Palmeiras and Flamengo grow into institutions with European-scale reach, resources and expectations. Their rise has altered the logic of the Libertadores itself, its transfer market, its competitive balance, even its sense of what is attainable for South American clubs.
The Uzbek won $120,000 and qualified for the 2026 Candidates in Cyprus, which will decide the official challenger for Gukesh Dommaraju’s world crown
Javokhir Sindarov, 19, became the youngest ever winner of the Fide knockout World Cup on Wednesday when the Uzbek teenager defeated China’s Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 in the final at Goa. Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov had been a year younger in 2002, but that World Cup had also doubled as the Fide world championship in a period when the global title was disputed.
Wei was the favourite, but handicapped himself by poor time management in the decisive game. He declined a draw and could have gained a near-decisive edge by 52 g4! when Black’s king is trapped on the back row, and right at the end could have drawn by 57 Kg2! Qh4 58 Rf8+! when White can force perpetual check. Instead, he blundered into a checkmating attack.
SW19 champion baffled by post-match suggestions she should have let Amanda Anisimova win one game in grand slam final as she turns focus to Australian Open in 2026
In the coming months, if and when her schedule allows, Iga Swiatek will make a pilgrimage to London and the All England Club, the scene of her biggest and, she admits, most surprising triumph. In July, the 24-year-old won her first Wimbledon title and sixth grand slam title in all, crushing a hapless Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.
It was the undoubted highlight of an up-and-down year for the Pole, who struggled on her best surface of clay but who will end 2025 ranked No 2, her fourth year in a row finishing inside the world’s top two.
The SailGP championship harnesses sailors’ competitive instincts in the cause of sustainability as teams vie to be the greenest of them all
British sailors have always been a belligerent bunch. Francis Drake, Lord Nelson, Admiral Cunningham … and, of course, Sir Ben Ainslie. The most successful Olympian in sailing’s history is also the sport’s equivalent of The Hulk: you really don’t want to make him angry.
So perhaps it’s a good thing that there has been plenty to annoy him this year, not least that acrimonious split from his America’s Cup team owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. In true Ainslie style, it only seems to have made him more dangerous. His Emirates GBR team top the SailGP championship going into this weekend’s grand final. And on Wednesday, they were named 2025 winners of its Impact League, which ranks the racing teams on the contribution they have made to their social and natural environment.
(Ghostly International) Sharon Van Etten, Stephen O’Malley, Perila and more transform the duo’s gloomy, sensual songs on an album of covers and remixes
HTRK have been making their gloomy, sensual brand of music, at the intersection of electronic pop and noise rock, for 22 years. To mark the milestone comes String of Hearts, a collection of covers and remixes featuring an all-star cast of friends and collaborators, from next-gen underground favourites like Coby Sey to fellow old-school experimentalists Liars. This brilliant, genre-agnostic record allows you to trace the breadth of the Melbourne band’s shapeshifting sound, echoes of which can now be found all over underground and commercial music, without leaning too hard on nostalgia.
The record spans HTRK’s early hits right up to their most recent album Rhinestones, a period in which they’ve shifted from a darker, industrial palette to warmer territory. Not that you’d be able to tell here: instrumentals are reshaped by Loraine James’s IDM-style glitches and Zebrablood’s atmospheric breaks, while Jonnine Standish’s disaffected vocals are transformed into desperate alien wails by Liars.
In this week’s newsletter: Ultimately, climate progress will come from real-world action, and this year’s summit made some promising strides on that front
Some commentators have called Cop30 a failure. An attempt to insert plans for a route to the phaseout of fossil fuels into the legal text was stymied, consideration of how to improve countries’ emissions-cutting plans was put off till next year, and although developing countries got the tripling of finance for adaptation that they were seeking, it will not be delivered in full until 2035 – and will come out of already promised funds.
Look beyond the headlines, however, and the Cop achieved a great deal more. Take the outcome on fossil fuels – it seems absurd, but until 2023 three decades of annual climate summits had failed to address fossil fuels directly.
This collection of macabre stories set across England explores class, hierarchy and the enduring nature of inequality
Folk horror may have had a dramatic resurgence in recent years, but it has always been the backbone of much of our national storytelling. A new anthology of 10 stories set across England, Bog People, brings together some of the most accomplished names in the genre.
In her introduction, editor Hollie Starling describes an ancient ritual in a Devon village: the rich throw heated pennies from their windows, watching those in need burn their fingers. Folk horror by its nature is inherently connected to class and hierarchy. Reverence for tradition is a double-edged sword – or a burning-hot coin.
The rain stops, the sun shows, another night comes dark and flowing with energy. I don’t sleep; I feel my way through the landscape, the trees that reach and catch my shirt sleeves, holding on to me, saving me from slipping on mossy roots, the unfriendly gorse keeping me at a distance, saying don’t step here, stopping me from tearing my feet on its throne of thorns. Stars alive, alight, I wish you could see them…
First light fattened like a dying star and formed the signature of an industrial town already at toil predawn, its factory stacks belching the new day black, the mills dyeing the forked-tongue river sterile inside that Hellmouth north of Halifax where paternal cotton kings had housed their workers in spoked rows of blind back-to-backs quick to tilt and rot.
Incident north of Tokyo comes after a record 13 deaths from bear attacks in Japan since the start of April
A man has been attacked by a bear in a public toilet in Japan, local media reported on Friday – the latest in a record-breaking wave of attacks this autumn, including those in populated areas.
The victim, a 69-year-old security guard, told police he had noticed the bear, which was 1-1.5 metres long, peering inside as he was about to leave the building in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo, in the early hours of Friday, Kyodo news agency and broadcaster NHK reported.
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