The ruling Liberal Democratic party is still grappling with the fallout from a years-old funding scandal that may see it go into opposition for just the third time in its history

The precise timing of Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation announcement – on a Sunday evening – took many by surprise; but the countdown to his departure arguably began just weeks after he took office.

Having won the presidency of the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) – a formidable political force that has governed Japan for much of the past seven decades – Ishiba called a snap election in search of a public mandate after a major funding scandal, and to silence his opponents on the right of the party.

Singers took home two trophies each as Mariah Carey won a lifetime achievement award, in a night that largely celebrated female artists

Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter triumphed at the MTV Video Music awards, taking home two moonman trophies each in a relatively muted show that once again largely celebrated female pop artists and legacy acts.

Gaga, the most nominated artist of the evening with 12 nods, took home the first award at Long Island’s UBS arena, for artist of the year, winning over fellow superstars Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Beyoncé, all of whom were not in attendance.

Here we are again: constant rebooting, cruel rhetoric and crackdowns. And hurtling towards a Reform-shaped future

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There has been a familiar feeling in the air for a while, but not one I could identify until last week, when it finally settled. It is a sense that this Labour government is just as terminally dysfunctional and directionless as its predecessor. I am beginning to feel the same sense of frustration, confusion, anger and depletion that I carried through all those years of Conservative government.

Here we are again, with the pettiness and authoritarianism, the performatively cruel rhetoric and crackdown on immigration, the ridiculous posturing on flags, the empty sloganeering – and with the constant rebooting in order to jumpstart a broken machine. The result is that government has been reduced to the same intrusive and meaningless background noise: Keir Starmer droning on about “phase two” or “delivery, delivery, delivery”. There is a sense that it’s pointless to insist that Labour can do better, be better – because it is structurally incapable of doing so.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

Toblerone and Chocolate Orange also smaller this year after poor cocoa harvests in Africa raise cost of raw materials

Tucking into a box of Quality Street or Celebrations is a Christmas tradition.

But as this year’s supply arrives in British supermarkets, it is becoming clear that the Grinch has already struck and made the tubs of the confectionery lighter.

Nate Soares says case of US teenager Adam Raine highlights danger of unintended consequences in super-intelligent AI

The unforeseen impact of chatbots on mental health should be viewed as a warning over the existential threat posed by super-intelligent artificial intelligence systems, according to a prominent voice in AI safety.

Nate Soares, a co-author of a new book on highly advanced AI titled If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, said the example of Adam Raine, a US teenager who killed himself after months of conversations with the ChatGPT chatbot, underlined fundamental problems with controlling the technology.

It took a year and a half after we paid for installation for the company to connect our refurbished property

I work for a charity providing affordable sheltered housing for older people. In January 2024, we began refurbishing a building that was bequeathed to us.

We paid Thames Water to connect a water supply in February 2024. It wasn’t until November that it informed us that it would need permission from Transport for London (TfL) to close part of the road.

Exclusive: stroke risk is 7% higher and heart failure risk increases by 27% in areas with worst level of pollution, research shows

Millions of Britons face a higher risk of stroke or heart failure because of dirty air where they live.

People living in areas of the UK with the worst levels of air pollution are 27% more likely to develop heart failure, compared with people in areas with the cleanest air, a study suggests.

A good fig brings gorgeous late-summer notes to your dinner table

There are a handful of moments on the culinary calendar that feel like striking gold: rhubarb in January, peas and broad beans in spring, summer cherries and tomatoes, and, for just a few short weeks in late-summer, figs. Typically, they might be torn over yoghurt and granola for breakfast or baked into a tart with frangipane, but they belong in the savoury kitchen, too. Combined with salt, savoury ingredients and a little vinegar, a good fig will bring a gorgeous sweet-sour note to your dinner table.

Can two world-famous actors and auteur Simon Stone bring 19th-century Norway screaming into the modern world? They talk mean directors, bathtub revelations and reinventing Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea

Entering the almost silent rehearsal room, I fear I’ve blundered into a private moment. The Lady from the Sea cast are seated in a tight circle and at least two of them have tears in their eyes. The quiet murmur of conversation suggests something heavy has just gone down. So I’m relieved when I realise they’re reading a scene – and stunned to discover the scene was written only yesterday.

Simon Stone’s modern take on Ibsen’s play is still under construction, and he has had his actors together for less than a fortnight. “Most people really take six weeks to connect to scenes,” the Australian writer-director says during the lunch break. “Often an entire rehearsal process can be the slow marking out of stuff, and it takes until your first run-through to feel anything at all. We are connecting faster, because we’ve been talking about it so much.”

Death of British singer, who wrote and sang hits including Goodbye Stranger and Bloody Well Right, comes ‘after a long illness’, band says

Rick Davies, the co-founder, vocalist and songwriter for the British band Supertramp, has died aged 81.

Davies died at home on Long Island last week “after a long illness”, the band said in a statement released on Sunday.

Cross-bench peer says support and hostility has been unleashed but insists ‘really detailed discussion’ is needed

Tanni Grey-Thompson, the cross-bench peer and former Paralympic athlete, has said she received “abusive” emails accusing her of being “responsible for people dying in pain” because of her opposition to the assisted dying bill.

Grey-Thompson, a multiple gold medallist and disability rights campaigner is expected to speak in Friday’s second reading of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which would allow terminally ill people in England and Wales to request medical help to end their lives.

Exclusive: A Second Life will feature My Bed and never seen before pieces that reflect on artist’s experience of cancer

Tracey Emin will open her biggest ever exhibition at the Tate Modern next spring, showcasing her best artworks from a 40-year career.

A Second Life will include some of Emin’s most famous works, including the headline-grabbing and Turner prize-nominated My Bed, from 1998, alongside never-before-seen pieces.

Campaign Against Arms Trade says UK government has hit ‘peak complicity in genocide’ in allowing the firms to exhibit

Fifty-one Israeli arms makers and the US defence giant behind the F-35 fighters used to bomb Gaza are among the 1,600 exhibitors at the biennial DSEI trade show that begins in London’s Docklands on Tuesday.

Their presence will be the focus for hundreds planning to demonstrate outside the four-day arms fair, at which the defence secretary, John Healey, is expected to speak alongside senior British military officials.

From using cash on nights out to making use of societies, six current and recent students suggest ways to save money at university

We asked current and recent students for their university money tips.

Sign up to student discount sites such as UNiDAYS and Student Beans, and always check them for discount codes and deals before you buy anything. Most places offer between 10 and 20% discount, and the savings can really add up. Zahra Onsori, City, University of London, journalism

People from the Indian community, and others, are facing violence that was once unthinkable. We must not give in to the racists

I grew up twice. The first time in India, where I was born, and the second time in Ireland. One nation birthed me, the other swaddled my very soul. I was 24 years old when I arrived in Ireland in 1986, one of a handful of “aliens” in Sligo town. The only Irish people I had known until then were nuns, formidable women all, who ran many convent schools in India. I obviously didn’t impress them as I was deemed unmarriageable because of my consistently untidy needlework – at the age of 10. But I held no grudges, leaving India a little over a decade later, fortified by a wonderful education.

Ireland in the 1980s shocked me in more ways than one. Yes, the 40 shades of green, the 21 types of rain, the 32 words for field and the 100,000 welcomes – they were all quite real. But also palpable was a society still stifled by religion. Married people had no right to divorce and there was limited access to contraception if you were unmarried. Abortion wasn’t just illegal, it was banned by the constitution.

Cauvery Madhavan is a novelist and journalist

Centre-left has rallied but uproar over cost of living and oil fund investment in Israel means outcome is hard to predict

Norway goes to the polls on Monday after an unusually close-fought and polarised election dominated by the cost of living, wealth taxes, oil fund investment in Israel and relations with Donald Trump.

There has been a surge in support for the populist rightwing Progress party led by Sylvi Listhaug, in what has been described by some as “the Maga-fication” of Norwegian politics. In the event of a rightwing victory, Listhaug could become prime minister.

Phillips, who has been on the run with his children for four years, was shot by police after officers came under fire while investigating burglary in Piopio, authorities said

• New Zealand police search for missing children after shooting – latest updates

A fugitive father who had been hiding in New Zealand’s rugged wilderness with his three children for nearly four years has been shot dead by police investigating an armed burglary, police said on Monday.

The whereabouts of Tom Phillips has attracted headlines around the world since just before Christmas 2021, when he fled into the Waikato wilderness with his children Ember, now 9, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 12, following a custody dispute with their mother.

Toronto film festival: The four-time Oscar nominee is as strong as ever playing a teacher in a shocking situation, but the film can’t quite rise to her level

Though criminally underpaid and disrespected, teachers are nonetheless held to rigidly high standards of care, compassion and rectitude. They are to be exemplary stewards of our children, while unflinchingly enduring the battering of parents, administrators and outside agitators. Which is why it’s often so compelling, in a dark and squirmy way, to watch them break bad on film.

We have, of course, seen plenty of ill-advised (or illegal) sexual relationships between teacher and student, in myriad movies and TV programs. Beyond that hoary trope, though, we’ve observed with alarm the drug-addled overstepping of Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson; we’ve been guiltily thrilled by the obsessive opportunism of The Kindergarten Teacher; we’ve pried nosily into the shifty criminality of Hugh Jackman in Bad Education. These stories all present a grimly alluring vision: carefully maintained professionalism giving way to baser impulse.

Sightings of Phillips and his three children were rare over the years and mystery surrounded how they survived in the remote wilderness

• Tom Phillips shooting: latest updates

• Full report: Father on run with children for nearly four years, shot dead by NZ police in exchange of fire

In a tragic end to a case that has captivated New Zealand for nearly four years, fugitive father Tom Phillips was shot dead by police after a burglary on Monday. Phillips had been on the run with his three children since 2021. One of the children was with Phillips during the exchange of fire near Piopio on Monday, while authorities said they had serious concerns for the other two children, who remained missing.

The long-running mystery over Phillips and his children’s whereabouts has prompted multiple searches, offers of rewards, and pleas for information from family members and the police. New Zealand struggled to understand how, in a country of close-knit communities, Phillips could have evaded detection.

Pacific Islands Forum 2025 faces bumpy start with China, the US and Taiwan uninvited from discussions, as Pacific leaders gather in Solomon Islands

Climate change, rising seas and China’s push for influence are set to dominate talks at the Pacific Islands Forum in Solomon Islands this week, in a meeting already marked by geopolitical tensions.

The lead up to the forum has already been fraught with tensions after Solomon Islands prime minister Jeremiah Manele excluded external partners – including China, the US and Taiwan – from discussions.

• New No 1 dropped just one set on way to his sixth grand slam title

• ‘This tournament I saw that I can play really consistent,’ he says

Carlos Alcaraz described his US Open title run as the best tournament of his career after he defeated his rival Jannik Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in New York to win his sixth grand slam title.

Alcaraz’s victory caps off an incredible five-month run for the 22-year-old, who has reached the final of his last eight tournaments, winning six titles including the French Open and US Open. While many of Alcaraz’s previous triumphs included numerous five-set battles and dramatic comebacks – such as his recovery from triple match point down to defeat Sinner over five sets in Paris – this was by far the most efficient tournament of his career. Alcaraz dropped just one set in his seven matches and he lost his serve just three times in the entire tournament.

Triple murderer sentenced in Victorian supreme court after killing relatives with a beef wellington lunch laced with death cap mushrooms

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Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years after murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth with a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms.

Justice Christopher Beale delivered the sentence during a live broadcast in the Victorian supreme court on Monday morning.

Ian Wilkinson thanked police, prosecutors and health services after Erin Patterson sentenced to life in prison with 33 years non-parole. Follow today’s news live

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Victoria’s supreme court will hand down the triple-murderer Erin Patterson’s sentence shortly. The state’s supreme court will allow a television camera inside the courtroom to broadcast the sentencing hearing – with a 10 second delay – for the first time.

Patterson, 50, faces the prospect of spending the rest of her life in prison. Justice Christopher Beale will deliver her sentence from 9.30am in a hearing expected to last about 30 minutes.