Less than two weeks into the year, the US is stoking mayhem at home and abroad – with midterms coming in the autumn
Have we ever seen a year in recent memory begin with as much deliberate turmoil as 2026 has? Less than two weeks into 2026, we have witnessed Donald Trump deploy US forces to depose and abduct the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, along with Cilia Flores, his wife and close political adviser. The US president then informed the world that the United States would “run” Venezuela for the time being, which he later explained could potentially last for several years.
Trump has also threatened – and then seemingly made peace with – the president of Colombia; seized at least five oil tankers in the Caribbean (actions that UN experts label illegal armed aggression); promised US military strikes targeting cartels in Mexico against the wishes of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum; and frightened the people of Cuba with the prospect that Marco Rubio could be their next president.
The explosive popularity of the gay hockey TV drama reveals women’s desire for sex and romance without violence or hierarchy
The first time gay hockey romance crossed Mary’s radar, she was warned off it. A 64-year-old non-profit executive from Toronto, Mary recalled mentioning the Canadian author Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series to her son, a twentysomething queer writer and fellow hockey-obsessive, a few years ago.
“I said: ‘Have you heard of these books?’ and he said: ‘Yeah.’ I said: ‘Should I read these books?’ And he said: ‘No. They’re not for you.’”
The satirical title targeted in an Islamist attack 10 years ago published a racist, sexist caricature of me that speaks volumes about its values
The day before Christmas Eve, just as France readied itself to slip into the holiday slowdown, something abruptly shook me out of any festive torpor. The satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, known globally and tragically for being the target of an Islamist attack in 2015 published a caricature – of me. And it was appallingly racist. A huge, toothy grin, an enormous mouth, the cartoon depicts me dancing on a stage before an audience of laughing white men, adorned with a banana belt on a largely exposed body. The headline: “The Rokhaya Diallo Show: Mocking secularism around the world.”
Stunned by the violence of this grotesque cartoon, I shared it on social media with a brief analysis: “In keeping with slave-era and colonial imagery, Charlie Hebdo once again shows itself incapable of engaging with the ideas of a Black woman without reducing her to a dancing body – exoticised, supposedly savage – adorned with the very bananas that are hurled at Black people who dare to step into the public sphere.”
Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, writer, film-maker and activist
From one-pot meals to versatile dishes that last all week, our panel of experts serves up ideas for solo chefs
I really struggle with cooking for one, so what can I make in January that’s interesting but easy and, most importantly, warming? Jane, via email
“There’s an art to the perfect solo meal,” says Bonnie Chung, author of Miso: From Japanese Classics to Everyday Umami, “and that’s balancing decadence with ease.” For Chung, that means good-quality ingredients (“tinned anchovies, jarred beans”), a dish that can be cooked in one pan (“a night alone must be maximised with minimal washing-up”) and eaten with a single piece of cutlery, “preferably in front of the telly and out of a bowl nestling in your lap”. Happily, she says, all of those requirements are met by miso udon carbonara: “It has all the rich and creamy nirvana of a cheesy pasta, but with a delicious, mochi-like chew that is incredibly satisfying.” Not only that, but you can knock it up in less than 10 minutes. “Melt cheese, milk and miso in a pan to make the sauce base, then add frozen udon that have been soaked in hot water.” Coat the noodles in the sauce, then serve with crisp bacon or perhaps a few anchovies for “pops of salty fat”. Crown with a golden egg yolk (preferably duck, but hen “will suffice”), which should then be broken: “Add a crack of black pepper, and your cosy night in has begun.”
“January feels like a time for fresh, bright flavours,” says the Guardian’s own Felicity Cloake, which for her often means pasta con le sarde made with tinned fish, fennel seeds and lots of lemon juice; “or with purple sprouting broccoli and a generous helping of garlic and chilli”. A jar of chickpeas, meanwhile, mixed, perhaps, with harissa, chopped herbs and crumbled feta, brings the possibility of a quick stew, Cloake adds, while it’s always a good shout to braise some beans, because cook-once, eat-all-week recipes are a godsend – so long as they’re versatile, that is.
Fans of Normal People and One Day will adore The New Years, which follows a relatable on-off couple in Madrid. It is the best relationship drama you haven’t seen yet
It is rare to watch a fictional romance and feel genuinely invested in the question of will-they-won’t-they – and even rarer for it to reflect familiar relationship turbulence. Many love stories on TV skip straight to wish-fulfilment, delivering instant chemistry, no challenges that can’t be overcome within the runtime and glib reassurance that Love Conquers All.
Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, for instance – based on a real couple, and ostensibly exploring whether a relationship can survive differences of faith – didn’t wait to resolve that question before bringing its leads together. In real life, promising connections fall at much lower hurdles, for such banal reasons as incompatible schedules.
Non-essential French embassy staff have left Iran, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Agence France-Presse. The personnel left on Sunday and Monday, the sources added, without saying how many people had departed. “The protection of our personnel and our citizens is a priority,” a French foreign ministry official told AFP.
Commenting on the protests, the UN high commissioner for human rights VolkerTürk said:
This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue. The Iranian people and their demands for fairness, equality and justice must be heard.
Top seed was leading Osorio 6-3, 2-4 when play called off
Venus Williams lost 6-4, 6-3 to Tatjana Maria in Tasmania
Emma Raducanu cut a frustrated figure on Tuesday at the Hobart International as her first round match was suspended for the night due to rain with the Briton struggling to hold on to her precarious 6-3, 2-4 lead.
Raducanu, the top seed in Hobart, will return to the court on Wednesday afternoon hoping to close out her first win of the season. She lost her only match of 2026 to Maria Sakkari at the United Cup mixed-team competition last week. Afterwards, Raducanu explained how her pre-season had been badly disrupted by the foot injury she had been struggling with since she prematurely ended her 2025 season in October. The 22-year-old only began to play points and move properly in her training sessions once she arrived in Australia at the end of December.
Global central banks have issued an extraordinary joint statement offering “full solidarity” to the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, in the face of the latest threat to his independence from Donald Trump’s White House.
“The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve. It is therefore critical to preserve that independence, with full respect for the rule of law and democratic accountability,” the statement said.
The Jay Kelly star says he would be honoured to work with Dano, Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard after all three actors were criticised by the director
George Clooney has said he would be “honoured” to work with three actors who were heavily criticised by Quentin Tarantino last month. Speaking at AARP’s Movies for Grownups awards on 10 January, Clooney said: “By the way, Paul Dano and Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard, I would be honoured to work with those actors. Honoured.”
Clooney continued by describing his new film, Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, as a movie “made by people who love actors – that’s an important part. People I’ve known most of my life … actually, most of them are actors. I have a great affinity [for them], and I don’t enjoy watching people be cruel.”
If enacted, Utah and Oklahoma measures would restrict litigation against oil companies over role in climate crisis
US lawmakers in two red states are attempting to shield the fossil fuel industry from climate liability.
In Oklahoma, a newly introduced bill would bar most civil lawsuits against oil companies over their role in the climate crisis, unless plaintiffs allege violations of specific environmental or labor laws. A similar proposal in Utah would block lawsuits over climate-warming emissions, unless a court finds the defendant violated a statute or permit.
The celebrated immersive theatre company has launched a new multiplayer stealth game at its headquarters in Woolwich, south-east London. Photographer Tristram Kenton was granted special access
Keir Starmer has told MPs he is open to the idea of an Australian-style ban on social media for young people after becoming concerned about the amount of time children and teenagers are spending on their phones.
The prime minister told Labour MPs on Monday evening he had become alarmed at reports about five-year-olds spending hours in front of screens each day, as well as increasingly worried about the damage social media is doing to under-16s.
On today’s pod: it’s an Afcon special as the final four are decided. Hosts Morocco look increasingly like favourites after seeing off Cameroon; the panel asks whether Brahim Díaz’s remarkable form is a surprise, and questions how far long-term investment has taken them. Nigeria, meanwhile, remain perfect so far as they brush aside Algeria to set up a heavyweight semi-final clash.
Elsewhere, the panel discusses Egypt's chances as Mohamed Salah looks to enter African football folklore by winning the tournament, after Egypt beat Côte d’Ivoire. The panel ask if Senegal overthink their midfield after they squeezed through against Mali to tee up another chapter in the Salah v Mané rivalry.
Plus, a wider look at CAF’s decision to move Afcon back to a four-year cycle, the impact of winter scheduling, infrastructure in Morocco before the 2030 World Cup, and more
Former Liverpool teammates meet for the fifth time in international football, with Salah still waiting for meaningful victory
The Olembe Stadium, Yaoundé, 6 February 2022, the Africa Cup of Nations final. Senegal and Egypt drew 0-0. Penalties followed. The first three kicks were scored, then Egypt’s Mohamed Abdelmonem hit the post. Mohamed Abou Gabal immediately saved from Bouna Sarr but Eduard Mendy saved the fourth Egyptian effort, from Mohanad Lasheen. After four penalties each, Senegal led 3-2; Sadio Mané had the chance to win it.
Mané had missed a fifth-minute penalty in the game. He’d missed a penalty against Cameroon in the shootout after the quarter-final in Franceville in 2017. “I can’t explain how tough it was for me,” Mané said. “I was sleeping four or five hours a night, five hours maximum. I had a big pressure in my head. I would go to bed and wake up maybe at 4am and I could not sleep any more … Everybody knew I was obsessed about this tournament and wanted to win it with my country … Thinking about this penalty I can say it was one of the hardest things in my life.”
Club furious after being sanctioned for paperwork error regarding Canada international Florianne Jourde
Paris Saint-Germain have lost only one league game all season yet are still only fifth in the Première Ligue. How is that possible?
On Monday 22 December, just after the final league game of 2025, the French Football Federation issued a bombshell statement: three of PSG’s wins this season had been turned into defeats (0-3) because of a licensing issue regarding the Canada international Florianne Jourde.
Diageo’s new boss, Dave Lewis, has barely started in the role, and the maker of Guinness and Johnnie Walker is already reportedly considering selling off its Chinese assets to trim down its portfolio.
The world’s largest spirits maker, whose other brands include Smirnoff vodka, Captain Morgan rum and Don Julio tequila, is working with Goldman Sachs and UBS to review its operations in China, where sales have been falling, according to Bloomberg News.
The inquiry into the Federal Reserve chair sends a message to anyone standing in Trump’s way – including the supreme court
News that Donald Trump’s justice department has launched an investigation of Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, is the latest example of the president’s governing philosophy: do what I want, or I will crush you. The desire to make Powell’s life miserable is also a warning sign to anyone who thinks that they have an independent source of authority.
What is happening to Powell is a test, not just for him and the Fed, but for any other person or institution that dares to stand up to the president.
Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty
As I pack up for pastures new, I’m wondering why I still can’t tell the difference between a knick-knack and a mess
I’m trying to move house; so are more than one pair of friends. We spend a lot of time trying to get on the insurance for each others’ cars, because some can fit a sideboard, and others can’t fit a handbag. We swap recommendations for things like secondhand book exchangers, and avoid talking about fond memories of the home about to be departed, concentrating on all the brilliant things there are to be said about new pastures. The main thing we don’t talk about is that none of us know how to do anything and that all of us are hoarders.
There’s a reason not to know the big stuff – how to paint a skirting board, how to mend a bannister spindle – never doing a thing without landing in a place of pure ignorance. Probably if any of us were 25, we’d be no worse at painting than any other 25-year-old.
When the NCAA tied eligibility to standardized test scores in 1986, hundreds of recruits were barred from competition. But its legacy is still a subject of debate
Tony Rice noticed the looks and smirks during his first week of freshman classes in the fall of 1986 at Notre Dame.
He had accepted his fate a few months earlier when standardized test results led to the decision that he would not be eligible to participate in collegiate sports his freshman year. But nothing prepared him for this.
A ruling against two athletes in West Virginia and Idaho could have far-reaching implications for civil rights
The US supreme court is considering the rights of transgender youth athletes on Tuesday in a major hearing on state laws banning trans girls from girls sports teams.
Oral arguments center on two cases of trans students who sued over the Republican-backed laws in Idaho and West Virginia prohibiting them from participating in girls athletic programs. The cases could have far-reaching implications for civil rights, with a ruling against the athletes potentially eroding a range of protections for trans youth and LGBTQ+ people more broadly.
Carrick to be confirmed as interim manager on Tuesday
Darren Fletcher returns to job with United’s under-18s
Michael Carrick has handed Steve Holland and Jonathan Woodgate roles on his staff at Manchester United. Carrick will be confirmed on Tuesday as the club’s interim manager until the end of the season and four spots on his backroom team have been filled.
Holland was the assistant to Gareth Southgate with England and more recently the manager of the Japanese club Yokohama F Marinos, who sacked him last April. Woodgate coached alongside Carrick at Middlesbrough and had a spell there and at Bournemouth as manager. Retained on the staff after working with Darren Fletcher are Travis Binnion, who was promoted from his role as under-21s lead coach, and Jonny Evans.
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