Updates as Australia seek to level T20 series at the Gabba
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There are forks of lightning flashing the skies around the Gabba and the umpires have seen enough, just as the players are sent from the middle the rain starts too.

The scoreboard is now lit up with a severe weather warning and the fans in the lower stands are being cleared as a precaution. I fear this could be a long old delay folks.

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Is it harder than it used to be to adapt physically to the Premier League? Beto didn’t have a great start to his Everton career (3 goals in 30 league games in his first season) but looked like a good fit at times last season.

Different type of player but Florian Wirtz is finding the going tough at Liverpool despite proving himself as one of the best players in Germany.

A newspaper report about a missing girl, the memory of a midwinter emergency … Susan Choi, Andrew Miller, David Szalay and others on what inspired their shortlisted books

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

UK expected to reduce contribution to Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria by 20%

A group of seven Labour MPs who served as ministers under Keir Starmer have written to the prime minister warning that an expected cut to UK funding for aid to combat preventable diseases would be both a “moral failure” and a strategic disaster.

With ministers and officials expected to decide the UK’s contribution to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria within days, the letter renews pressure on Starmer to pull back from an expected 20% cut.

Books by former champions demonstrate powerfully that we should not accept abuse and suffering as ‘the price of winning’. Sport must do more

Viewed through one end of the lens, the two new autobiographies from the sporting legends Boris Becker and Bradley Wiggins might seem like classic tales of the downfalls of two deeply flawed heroes who then claw their way back to redemption. But viewed through the other end of the lens, we see troubling portrayals of an extremely inhumane and, at times, unsafe world of sport where talent is no saving grace, in fact it’s more of a liability.

There are striking similarities between the stories of two different characters, sports, countries and generations. Both went bankrupt. Both made bad choices and admit their agency in their own demise. Both hit rock bottom and found themselves stripped bare of all dignity, be it in a prison cell or snorting cocaine in a toilet. Becker was convicted by a British court on four counts out of 24 and ended up in prison, surrounded by drug addicts. Wiggins writes that he was abused by his youth cycling coach and after sport became hooked on cocaine on a path that he himself admits could easily have ended behind bars. Both were massively failed by trusted adults around them in positions of authority.

Exclusive: Just Stop Oil activist was banned from attending gatherings, including meeting a friend in a cafe, without permission

Environmental protesters are being given licence conditions on release from jail that are supposed to be limited to extremism cases.

Ella Ward, 22, was banned from going to any meetings or gatherings, except for worship, without permission from her probation officer, although the Ministry of Justice dropped the condition after she brought a legal challenge.

The two top players are so far ahead of the opposition – every time they have both competed at an event this year, one of them has won it

Days before the grand finale of the ATP season in Turin, the Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner show had already begun. Although the two rivals are locked in battle to determine the year-end No 1 ranking, rumours swirled early on Friday morning that they were scheduled to train together. Sure enough, that afternoon they entered the stadium court side-by-side and they were greeted by deafening roars from a significant crowd.

The practice set that followed garnered as much attention as many matches this year. Thousands of viewers tuned in to watch the live stream, then highlights were swiftly available afterwards. The scores from practice sets usually do not leave the practice court, but on this occasion the tennis world quickly learned that Sinner had finished the day with a 6-3 win. They commemorated the moment with a selfie that instantly spread like wildfire across social media.

Exclusive: Detainees at Rakefet include nurse and teenager who have been deprived of natural light since January

Israel is holding dozens of Palestinians from Gaza isolated in an underground jail where they never see daylight, are deprived of adequate food and barred from receiving news of their families or the outside world.

The detainees include at least two civilians who are being held without charge or trial: a nurse detained in his scrubs, and a young food seller, according to lawyers from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) who represent both men.

Harlequins man will have a new role against Fiji in a side likely to deploy a similar gameplan to that which felled Australia

Opportunity knocks for Chandler Cunningham-South against Fiji on Saturday. He has 18 caps to his name but this will be the first time he has worn the No 8 jersey for his country and he has the chance to demonstrate to Steve Borthwick that he can offer something different in a back row brimming with talent.

Borthwick’s decision to omit Tom Willis from his squad on the grounds he is heading to France has meant there is an opening because, for all the quality options England have in the back row, there is a concentration of openside flankers and far fewer players who offer genuine size and power. Cunningham-South offers both in abundance.

Two midweek matches in England had a backdrop of war and geopolitics, but only one drew large protests

How would you feel if the owner of the football club you support was implicated, even as those implications are repeatedly denied, in famine, ethnic cleansing and the deaths of 1,500 men, women and children?

Compare this with the more familiar list of bad things football club owners do, the real sack‑the‑board stuff. Failure to buy a striker. Inadequate Showing Of Ambition. The hiring and/or firing of David Moyes. Mike Ashley was pretty annoying. He had shops full of quilted coats hung really high up close to the ceiling.

Money talks – and his essay denouncing ‘near-term emissions goals’ at Cop30 mostly argues the case for letting the ultra-rich off the hook

Let’s begin with the fundamental problem: Bill Gates is a politics denier. Though he came to it late, he now accepts the realities of climate science. But he lives in flat, embarrassing denial about political realities. His latest essay on climate, published last week, treats the issue as if it existed in a political vacuum. He writes as if there were no such thing as political power, and no such thing as billionaires.

His main contention is that funds are very limited, so the delegates at this month’s climate summit in Brazil should direct money away from “near-term emissions goals” towards climate “adaptation” and spending on poverty and disease.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Exclusive: Imran Patel, who resigned last year after reports about his conduct, is being investigated by the IOPC

A former Metropolitan police officer allegedly used sex workers while on duty in the midst of a major investigation into behavioural standards, the Guardian can reveal.

Britain’s largest police force has been described as “institutionally misogynistic” after widespread claims that a “toxic” sexist culture has been allowed to thrive for decades.

Popularity of Britain’s top mouser – ‘the guy to meet in No 10’ – to feature in documentary series

He’s on his sixth prime minister, has watched presidents and princes walk through the black door of No 10, and will soon become the longest continuous resident of Downing Street since Pitt the Younger.

The landscape of British politics has changed a lot in the past 15 years, but Larry the cat has remained a reassuring constant. Now his enduring popularity – the like of which some of his temporary owners would kill for – is to feature in a new Channel 4 documentary series exploring Britain’s love of cats. For his fans, the spotlight has been a long time coming.

Lola Petticrew and Tom Cullen’s chemistry in this tale of secret passion during the Troubles will floor you. But it is Anderson as a sour, ragey alcoholic who truly mesmerises

It’s cliché to compare a love story to Romeo and Juliet. It’s like saying a detective reminds you of Sherlock Holmes. Yet it’s hard to avoid, watching Channel 4’s drama set in 1970s Northern Ireland. Trespasses follows Cushla Laverty, a 24-year-old Catholic teacher who falls for a swashbuckling Protestant, Michael Agnew. They begin seeing each other secretly, around Michael’s high profile establishment job: he’s an outspoken barrister, who campaigns for justice on behalf of young Catholic boys caught up in police bullying. This puts him, and those close to him, at risk of violent reprisal from both sides. Puts your commute into perspective, eh?

There’s much to admire. The show’s vintage palette for one, dripping with melancholy browns and orange. Was it perpetually autumn in the 70s? Michael and Cushla, played by Tom Cullen and Lola Petticrew from Say Nothing, have chemistry. And then there’s Gillian Anderson, who plays Cushla’s widowed mother, Gina. She steals so many scenes I wonder if she’s been hanging around the Louvre.

Forget sightseeing, secondhand shopping is now a major draw for tourists. A seasoned bargain-hunter shares her tips on picking up the best vintage finds when travelling abroad

Marburg, Germany. It’s a fairytale city, not only because of the hilltop castle that overlooks its cobbled streets and half-timbered houses, but also because this is where the Grimm brothers once lived and studied, starting the collection of folklore stories that would eventually become their famous anthology of fairytales. Throughout the city, sculptures – some perched in improbable places – pay homage to this past, forming a mile-long route known as the Grimm Path. It’s very much like a treasure hunt.

But on my visit to Marburg, I had a different type of treasure hunt in mind and, once done with enchanted mirrors and kissy-lipped frogs, headed straight for the SecondHand by DRK (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz – the German Red Cross) to scout for pre-owned items.

The Dude’s relaxed attitude towards the pressures of life helped me realise it was better to be jobless than stuck in one I hated

Quitting your job in your 30s with no solid plan is generally considered poor decision-making. Doing it because you watched The Big Lebowski is probably even worse. But as I faced up to what would be my eighth year in an IT role, I watched Jeff Bridges meandering his way through the chaos of life in a dressing gown. And I found myself thinking: maybe the Dude had it figured out.

For most of my working life, my identity has been strongly bolstered by work: doing well career-wise felt like evidence of my utility and respectability (despite the fact no one ever really understood what my job was anyway). And, like most millennials, I’d felt exceptionally lucky to eventually get a grad job out of university at all, especially one that paid more than a “living wage”. On top of that, as a second generation immigrant, I’d been repeatedly told from a young age that being jobless is a terrible state of affairs.

From a Celtic shield and a horned helmet to baloney, magenta and tarantula, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Who travelled in search of “the hooly blisful martir”?
2 In what combat sport are competitors divided into east and west?
3 Which force is based in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône?
4 In hospitals, the Bristol scale is used to classify what?
5 Which English rugby player has been immortalised as a Barbie doll?
6 What begins at Theresienwiese on the first Saturday after 15 September?
7 The River Irwell separates which two cities?
8 Which band played with red flowerpots on their heads?
What links:
9 Arctic; Blanford’s; corsac; fennec; red; Rüppell’s; Tibetan sand?
10 I (-); II (Caroline); III (Charlotte); IV (Caroline); V (Mary); VI (Elizabeth)?
11 Baloney; jeans; magenta; sardine; tarantula?
12 ABC; Associated-Rediffusion; ATV; Granada?
13 Aphrodite (doves); Freya (cats); Hera (peacocks); Thor (goats)?
14 Celtic shield and horned helmet; bust of Hadrian; Saxon sword; Zulu spearhead?
15 WEB Du Bois; Langston Hughes; Zora Neale Hurston; Augusta Savage?

Fandom memes, influencers and TikTok deal helped secure industry’s holy grail: gen Z loyalty

There are not many plaudits left for The Celebrity Traitors, which has delivered tension, crowd-pleasing ineptitude and the most famous fart in television history.

Yet for all the show’s achievements, one in particular – a feat that TV executives across the globe have been desperate to deliver – may stand out as the most impressive: it has got gen Z watching live TV.

Bridport, Dorset: The appropriately named Dorset Horns are perfectly content to have lambs in September, thanks to an obscure genetic quirk

Chubby lambs gambolling over green grass – surely that’s a scene which belongs to spring? But here they are, leaping and bouncing on a sunny hilltop in November.

Autumn lambs have been a familiar part of country life in these parts for hundreds of years. As far back as the 17th century, sheep from west Dorset and south Somerset were renowned for their ability to lamb out of season, due to a genetic quirk which somehow arose in the region. With careful planning, healthy ewes could have three pregnancies in 24 months.

Footage shows commotion inside vehicle in Massachusetts as desperate woman in passenger seat tries to awaken man

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is facing fierce questions after a video that appeared to show a man falling unconscious during an arrest while clutching a small child went viral, and officials accused the man of faking a medical emergency to stop the arrest of his wife.

The footage, obtained by the Boston Globe, shows a frantic commotion inside a vehicle in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on Thursday. A desperate woman in the passenger seat tries to awaken the man in the driver’s seat, with a crying child in the middle. People can be heard shouting: “He’s having a seizure.” An officer can be seen trying to pull the passengers from the vehicle, while a Fitchburg police officer orders the crowd to “back up” repeatedly.

Freight company cites ‘abundance of caution’ and manufacturer’s recommendation after 13 died when wing caught fire and engine fell off

The freight company UPS has grounded its fleet of MD-11 aircraft days after a cargo plane crash that killed at least 13 people in Kentucky.

The grounded MD-11s are the same type of plane involved in Tuesday’s crash in Louisville. They were originally built by McDonnell Douglas until it was taken over by Boeing.

Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income households

Rachel Reeves has been told that cutting funding for home insulation at the budget would risk the UK’s climate goals and hurt low-income households in a joint intervention by energy firms, fuel poverty charities and environmental groups.

In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies urged Reeves not to take such a damaging “short-term fix” to slash funding for more energy-efficient homes to pay for a reduction in energy bills.

Cut corners, but not flavour, with this updated take on a hearty, vegan-friendly curry

A confession: I have already written a recipe for massaman curry. But since that was published in 2018, I have had a baby, a breakdown, travelled back to Thailand and eaten more massaman curries, all events that have contributed to this new recipe. The old dish is delicious, but in 2025 I didn’t want to make a paste from scratch. Instead, I wanted the funk and soul that a ready-made curry paste could give me and to use that as a springboard to fly into dinner time. A shortcut on time and ingredients, yes, but not on fun and flavour.

Join Meera Sodha at a special event celebrating the best of Guardian culture on Wednesday 26 November, hosted by Nish Kumar and alongside writers Stuart Heritage and Tim Dowling, with Georgina Lawton hosting You Be The Judge live. Live in London or via livestream, book tickets here.

Government and water companies are devising emergency plans for worst water shortage in decades

Water companies and the government are drawing up emergency plans for a drought next year more extreme than we have seen in decades.

Executives at one major water company told the Guardian they were extremely concerned about the prospect of a winter with lower than average rainfall, which the Met Office’s long-term forecast says is likely. They said if this happened, the water shortfall would mean taking drastic water use curtailment measures “going beyond hosepipe bans”.