• Dane makes stunning up-and-down on final hole to beat Australian

• Rory McIlroy finishes 14th but says it has been an ‘amazing week’

Cameron Smith has come up just short in his bid for a coveted maiden Australian Open title as Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen made an up-and-down for the ages on the final hole at Royal Melbourne.

The pair were tied at 15-under coming to the par four-18th on Sunday and it looked as though Smith was in the box seat when he landed his second shot on the green.

Easy-to-guess words and figures still dominate, alarming cysbersecurity experts and delighting hackers

It is a hacker’s dream. Even in the face of repeated warnings to protect online accounts, a new study reveals that “admin” is the most commonly used password in the UK.

The second most popular, “123456”, is also unlikely to keep hackers at bay.

David Lammy’s plans to cut the the number of jury trials in England and Wales. A defendant, a victim, a barrister, a KC, a judge and a juror have concerns

This week the justice secretary, David Lammy, announced sweeping changes to the criminal justice system that will significantly reduce the number of jury trials in England and Wales. Under the radical plans, jury trials will be reserved for cases in “indictable-only” offences such as murder or rape, and “either-way” offences (those where the defendant can currently decide whether they will be tried by a jury or magistrates), with a likely sentence of more than three years in prison.

While Lammy backed down on plans to remove jury trials for all cases involving a maximum jail term of five years, the move has led to an outcry from MPs, lawyers and campaigners. The Guardian spoke to a range of people who have seen juries’ work close up about their experiences and the proposals.

Italian sweets, Irish smoked fish, honey cakes in Belgium … travel writers choose the stores and local delicacies they make a beeline for when travelling

I fell in love with Belgian snacks when cycling the amateur version of the Tour of Flanders some years ago. The feed stations along the route were crammed with packets of Meli honey waffles and Meli honey cake. I ate so many that I suffered withdrawal symptoms after finishing the last of them at the end of the 167-mile route.

Cameras capture lone creature collecting materials for its lodge in riverside nature reserve

A wild beaver has been spotted in Norfolk for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.

It was filmed dragging logs and establishing a lodge in a “perfect beaver habitat” on the River Wensun at Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near Fakenham in Norfolk.

Kildunne is known for her startling speed and audacious tries, but there’s more to the talented full-back than rugby, from a passion for photography to a sideline in DIY tattooing

Ellie Kildunne says it’s not quite sunk in yet. A couple of months on from winning the Rugby Union World Cup with her England teammates, she’s still on a high. I ask if she slept with her winner’s medal by her bed the night they won. “That night?” She gives me a look. “It’s still by my bed. Every day. I wake up and the medal’s next to my bed. And it’s, like, as if!”

But Kildunne is not resting on her laurels. She says the medal is also a reminder of what’s left to achieve – for her, and for women’s rugby in general. “Your heart’s telling you that you’ve done it, but I need to refocus. So it’s about how can we win the prem, how can we win another Six Nations, more World Cups? How can we keep fans coming to games? We’ve sold out Twickenham, so how do we do it again?”

As peace hopes falter, infantry soldiers face more long deployments risking their lives against Russian attacks

For almost all of their 62-day deployment on the frontline west of Pokrovske, Bohdan and Ivan hid – first in a village shop, then, after a deadly firefight with Russian soldiers, in a tiny basement where the infantrymen from Ukraine’s 31st Brigade had to survive seven more weeks.

Food, water, cigarettes and other supplies were airlifted in by a friendly drone, their toilet was their 3 sq metre room, their nearest comrades 200 metres or so away. Their only hope was to remain underground, because they knew if they were detected a Russian drone could kill them all.

Bureaucratic delays and funding shortages stall plans to carve out a forest reserve for the uncontacted Indigenous group on the southern fringe of the Brazilian Amazon

In 2024, agents of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) walked more than 60 miles through rainforest on the southern fringe of the Brazilian Amazon on a mission to monitor and help protect a group of Indigenous people who had no contact with the modern world.

What they found was a small basket freshly woven from leaves, a child’s footprints on the bank of a creek, and tree trunks hacked open hours before to extract honey. There were huts abandoned a year before that were sinking into the forest floor, and brazil nut pods discarded around old campfires. They were all signs that the Pardo River Kawahiva people were there.

The royal couple chose their 20th wedding anniversary portrait taken in Rome this year for their official holiday greeting card

King Charles and Queen Camilla have chosen their 20th wedding anniversary portrait for their official Christmas card this year.

Charles and Camilla are pictured standing side by side, with the queen’s arm linking the king’s, in the grounds of Villa Wolkonsky, the British ambassador’s residence in Rome, earlier this year.

The Duchess of Sussex is back and suddenly her show makes sense. It is cringingly ultra-extra, of course, but isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

No matter the time of year, ’tis always open season on the Duchess of Sussex’s televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping series one and two of the lifestyle show to shreds. The consensus was that there has never been a greater royal outrage than when she took some pretzels out of a labelled bag, put them in a different bag, then labelled it. And she didn’t even attempt to explain herself to Emily Maitlis afterwards.

Now, like a merry renegade master, she is back once again with a “Holiday Celebration” (aka a Christmas special). But this time, it’s different. There are still the usual elements we’ve come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – but in the context of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The pieces have fallen into place; it’s a perfect snow storm.

The US president has seized on the dehumanizing tactic since an Afghan man shot two national guard troops

Donald Trump and senior members of his administration have dramatically escalated their hostile language towards immigrants in the US after anAfghan man was named a suspect in last week’s shooting of two national guard members in Washington DC.

In recent days, the US president has made sweeping statements, claiming that there were “a lot of problems with Afghans”, and went on a tirade against Somali immigrants, calling them “garbage” whose country of origin “stinks”.

England claw back deficit and push ahead so Australia will bat again
Day three report: sun setting on England’s Ashes dream
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“As I reach the end of another working week, I am once again reminded of the cruelty of cricketing disappointment. It’s hard enough being an Englishman living in Brisbane at the moment, but no cricket on my weekend seems excessively cruelty...”

There’s cricket on today, Phil Withington. It might not last very long, that’s all.

Positive tone after Florida talks with Ukrainian president heading to London Street to see Starmer, Macron and Merz. What we know on day 1,383

At event in California, US defense secretary says Trump has power to take military action ‘as he sees fit’

Pete Hegseth on Saturday doubled down on his defense of US military strikes on alleged drug cartel boats in the Caribbean, arguing that Donald Trump has the power to take military action “as he sees fit” and dismissing concerns that the strikes violate international law.

Hegseth spoke on Saturday at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California, amid growing scrutiny over the legality of the attacks and his leadership of the Pentagon.

George Strait, ‘Sly’ Stallone and Kiss accept medals from president, who says he was ‘98% involved’ in choosing them

Donald Trump on Saturday evening hosted the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees in the Oval Office for a medal-presentation ceremony, celebrating country music singer George Strait, actor-singer Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester “Sly” Stallone and the members of the rock band Kiss.

“This is a great evening, it’s a great honor,” Trump said. “And I’m delighted to welcome to the Oval Office – the world-famous, most famous office in the world, most powerful office in the world – our truly exceptional 2025 Kennedy Center honorees.”

Although people reported ‘things falling off shelves and walls’, no injuries or structural damage were reported

A powerful, magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck a remote area near the border between Alaska and the Canadian territory of Yukon on Saturday. There was no tsunami warning, and officials said there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck about 230 miles (370km) north-west of Juneau, Alaska, and 155 miles (250) west of Whitehorse, Yukon.

Fire broke out at midnight in Arpora, North Goa district, according to reports, with victims mostly kitchen workers according to chief minister

At least 25 people have been killed in a fire at a nightclub in Goa, an Indian state popular for its nightlife and tourism.

Several tourists were among the 25 dead in the fire, which broke out at about midnight at Birch by Romeo Lane, a popular restaurant, cocktail bar and club in Arpora, a district north Goa.

While the tension between meritocracy and ‘jobs for mates’ is always there, the best boards are more than the sum of their parts

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Many years ago, I was encouraged to put my name forward to chair a significant government board. It seemed like a long shot to me, I wasn’t in anyone’s club, but my supporters were insistent. I agreed to let my name go into the mix.

It was a surprise then when the chair of the selection committee called a few weeks later and said with an apologetic tone: “Sorry Julianne, it’s just not your turn.”

Julianne Schultz is deputy chair of the Sydney writers’ festival board

Mediators of delicate truce say troop removal and deployment of international force crucial to second phase

Qatar and Egypt, the guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, called on Saturday for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the deployment of an international stabilisation force as the necessary next steps in fully implementing the fragile agreement.

The measures were spelt out in the US- and UN-backed peace plan that has largely halted fighting, though the warring parties have yet to agree on how to move forward from the deal’s first phase.

• Messi sparks Miami’s opening goal

• De Paul scores 71st-minute winner

• Inter Miami 3-1 Vancouver – as it happened

As the confetti flew, the Philip F Anschutz trophy was lifted into the air, and a player commonly thought to be the greatest ever to kick a ball celebrated the 48th title of his professional career, it was nearly impossible to believe that at several points, there were doubts. Serious doubts. Questions, large and small, about this Inter Miami squad, their manager, and nearly every player on the roster other than Lionel Messi.

Consider them answered. The Herons are MLS Cup champions after a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps in the last game at their temporary home, Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Next year, they will open their new stadium, Miami Freedom Park, as champions, and will face a high bar to clear to top a turbulent 2025 that saw them play 58 games – an all-time MLS record for games played by a team in a calendar year – for five separate trophies.

• Forward launches astonishing attack on Arne Slot

• Salah benched at Leeds for third consecutive match

Mohamed Salah has accused Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus” after being left out of the starting lineup for the third game running as the champions drew at Leeds, saying he has been made a scapegoat for the poor start to the season and casting severe doubt on his future at the club.

“I can’t believe … I’m sitting on the bench for 90 minutes,” the Egypt international said. “The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career. I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why.

• Inter Miami host Vancouver for MLS championship

• Drop Beau at line on Bluesky or email

3 min: Miami pinned Vancouver deep in their own half for quite a while, and after a short break the other way, they get it back. Allende gets the first shot of the game, putting it over from near the corner of the penalty area.

1 min: The atmosphere is lively as we have a frantic midfield battle, with neither team sustaining possession.

Several additional people, including children, have severe liver damage amid 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning

California officials are warning foragers after an outbreak of poisoning linked to wild mushrooms that has killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in several patients, including children.

The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste.

So long as the Premier League invests in its players and Fifa pays it lip service, the continent’s flagship tournament will always struggle to fit in

Perhaps attitudes are not quite as parochial as they once were, but it remains true that, in England at least, the Africa Cup of Nations is discussed less as a tournament in its own right than in terms of what it means for the Premier League.

There will be the usual harrumphing about why the tournament is played in the middle of our season, but the Confederation of African Football has tried to satisfy European clubs only to be thwarted by Fifa and the increasing demands of the calendar.