Around the Cook Islands, the world’s two most powerful countries are exploring the possibility of deep-sea mining for critical minerals

Deep below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the seafloor is dotted with clusters of brown and black rocks, each containing valuable metals.

The rocks, known as polymetallic nodules, hold reserves of critical minerals that could be used to power clean energy and fuel a new industrial future. In the Cook Islands, a nation halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, exploration vessels are mapping the mineral-rich seabeds.

Party that wants Wales to become independent seizes constituency from Labour and resists a fierce challenge from Reform UK

• Report: Plaid Cymru ousts Labour in Caerphilly byelection

Reform UK candidate Llŷr Powell denied the campaign had been all about immigration.

He said: “My campaign has been about government policies and where best to put money into Caerphilly.”

When you look at where we started, we had a blank slate. We had to go out there and find a lot of voters. We found a lot of support. It’s been a great campaign. The collapse of the Labour vote is there for everyone to see. It’s been a betrayal what Labour has done around here.

Going into next year we’re in a really good place. A big part of what we were trying to do here is to master our campaigning. We’ve trained so many people up on our systems. We’re now a grassroots campaigning party.

Donald Trump will travel to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea for the Apec and Asean summits. Will he meet Xi Jinping, and what tariff deals might be secured?

Donald Trump is about to embark on a tour of Asia that many hope will ease trade tensions with countries in the region and repair damaged ties with China. Trump will begin his trip on Sunday at a meeting of south-east Asian nations in Malaysia, before flying to Japan to meet its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, early next week.

But the most important stop on his itinerary will come at the end of the month, when he is expected to discuss trade, and possibly Taiwan, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Apec summit in South Korea.

• Australian Phil Gore wins Backyard Ultra World Championship

• Firefighter completes 114 laps of 6.7km course in Tennessee

Phil Gore can be forgiven for thinking about retirement. The West Australian firefighter had just run 764km to win the Backyard Ultra World Championship in Tennessee.

Over nearly five days, with little time for sleep let alone his personal hygiene, he proved himself a class above the rest of the field in one of the world’s premier endurance running competitions.

Marc Guiu faces Sunderland reunion, Manchester United seek a minor three-peat and Mohamed Salah has to step up

Leeds host West Ham in a Friday night match that, even at this early stage of the season, looks very much like a quintessential relegation six-pointer. Elland Road is a wonderfully atmospheric ground but given the local traffic congestion, getting there, particularly on a Friday evening, is invariably tortuous. The prospect of exacerbating that gridlock dictates that the club’s plans to expand Elland Road to 53,000 appear in potential jeopardy. Leeds city council will make a final, delayed, decision on the project on 27 November but, with 65% of the team’s fans driving to matches, there is concern about the inevitable extra traffic chaos. The club hope to reduce the percentage of match-bound car travel to 51%, but to do that public transport needs to improve; Leeds is the biggest city in western Europe without a metro system. Cycling? Anyone familiar with the area’s topography knows it is not a realistic option for the vast majority of fans. Louise Taylor

Leeds v West Ham, Friday 8pm BST

Chelsea v Sunderland, Saturday 3pm BST

Newcastle v Fulham, Saturday 3pm BST

Manchester United v Brighton, Saturday 5.30pm BST

Brentford v Liverpool, Saturday 8pm BST

Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest, Sunday 2pm GMT

National Petroleum Reserve lease sales and permitting for road through Izembek wildlife refuge were also approved

The Trump administration has approved more oil and gas drilling across Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge (ANWR), prompting widespread criticism from environmental conservation organizations.

On Thursday, the interior secretary announced the opening of 1.56m acres across ANWR’s coastal plains, which is home to various wildlife including polar bears, caribou and moose, as well as whales and seals.

Manchester City forward shows he is a dab hand in the kitchen as he launches his YouTube channel

“It’s been a good day, doing lots of good things for my body and what I normally do in my life,” Erling Haaland says in the opening seconds of the video that marked the launch of his YouTube channel on Thursday. The recording is entitled “Day in the life of a pro footballer” but this is not the most enticing start. Will it be the usual run-of-the-mill offering about how a footballer has herbal tea, protein powder and a private chef to produce beans on toast?

It will not, it turns out. If the key takeaways are that Haaland has maple syrup in his coffee, stands in front of red light to get vitamin D and is sickeningly talented on the barbecue, there is more besides when the Manchester City striker invites the camera into his mansion of marble, clean edges and floor-to-ceiling windows. Maybe he is not permanently a footballer eager to mow down defenders on his way to scoring goals.

This footwear has gone from being niche and functional to a fashion favourite. Caitlin Cassidy explains it to Cait Kelly

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Caitlin, I am a big proponent of not yucking someone else’s yum. But this is testing me. What are on those girlies’ feet?

They’re toes, Cait. They’re toes. More specifically, toes encased in rubber to create a kind of foot-glove-trainer.

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After his death in 2021, Gulpilil’s family and mob used planes, boats, vans and helicopters to transport his casket, with a documentary crew in tow. As his son reflects: ‘We have to fulfil his wishes – by any means’

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of Indigenous Australians who have died

He was a man who danced between two worlds, carried stories across continents and, on his final journey, returned to the land that made him.

Before his death in November 2021, actor David Gulpilil made one final request: to be laid to rest in his ancestral home, deep in remote East Arnhem Land. Honouring that wish became a monumental undertaking and the subject of a documentary releasing across Australia next week called Journey Home, David Gulpilil.

• Piastri: ‘He’s come to the fight quicker than I expected’

• Verstappen feels ‘positive pressure’ in chasing leaders

Oscar Piastri has admitted that the late charge into a tense, three-way Formula One title fight by the defending champion, Max Verstappen, has taken him by surprise, a position echoed by the Dutchman.

The Australian also confirmed that he and his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, go into this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix with a “clean slate”, free to race one another as the pair battle with Verstappen.

‘Shutdown fairness act’, introduced by Ron Johnson, Republican senator from Wisconsin, failed in a 54-45 vote

The Senate failed on Thursday to pass legislation that would keep federal workers deemed essential and troops paid throughout the ongoing government shutdown, which stretched into its 23rd day with no end in sight.

The upper chamber held a vote on Republican senator Ron Johnson’s “shutdown fairness act”, which would guarantee pay for certain federal employees even when government funding lapses.

Three days in the job, two training sessions and, most importantly, one victory. Sean Dyche succeeded where Ange Postecoglou had failed so miserably, winning at the first time of asking to get Nottingham Forest’s Europa League campaign truly up and running. “Forest are back,” sang the home support, who also chanted Dyche’s name en route to handing Porto their first defeat of the season.

More remarkably, this was also Forest’s first clean sheet since April. All in all, it must have been pretty satisfying viewing for Evangelos Marinakis, back in his seat in the directors’ box and last seen scarpering from the stadium midway through Postecoglou’s final game. Even the VAR gods were on Dyche’s side, both Forest goals stemming from interventions, with Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus scoring a penalty in each half.

Marco Rubio warns Israeli politicians not to disrupt Gaza ceasefire after Knesset vote to annex West Bank

The parade of senior US officials travelling to the Middle East in recent weeks is a clear warning from the White House to Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli political factions to not disrupt the recent Gaza ceasefire – including by an annexation of the West Bank – or face a serious rift in relations with the US.

As the shaky ceasefire came into effect last week, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner quickly rushed to the region for consultations.

First lady not named in suit in which investors allege Meteora executives created coin they knew would plummet

The designers of a cryptocurrency launched by the US first lady, Melania Trump, in January were accused in court filings on Tuesday of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme.

The $MELANIA coins were released for just a few cents each on 19 January, the day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president. In addition to $MELANIA, Donald Trump launched $TRUMP a few hours before his inauguration.

⚽️ Europa League goal updates from across Europe
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Emery has brought a lot of the big hitters off the bench – Rogers, McGinn, Cash, Kamara – as they try to get an equaliser. Rogers has just hit the outside of Go Ahead Eagles’ post through a cross/shot from an acute angle. Maatsen has just flashed a dangerous low cross across the face of goal. Villa are getting closer.

Go Ahead Eagles come from behind to lead! It’s the right back and captain Mats Deijl with the goal for the Dutch side, latching onto a fine lofted through ball and finishing delicately over Martínez with a little dink! Unai Emery, half-hiding in his anorak, looks absolutely miserable on the sidelined as he is getting pelted by the rain.

Footage showing two men appears to have been filmed from nearby window in museum

The slow-motion getaway of two thieves from the Louvre clutching €88m (£76m) of France’s crown jewels was captured on video, it has emerged – the latest dramatic twist to the country’s most spectacular heist in decades.

The 36-second clip, which Le Parisien newspaper said it had verified, shows two men dressed in black, one wearing a yellow hi-vis vest and the other a motorcycle helmet, slowly descending on a furniture lift from the museum’s Apollo gallery.

Dating of rock formation in New Mexico casts doubt on theory that species was already in decline

Dinosaurs would not have become extinct had it not been for a catastrophic asteroid strike, researchers have said, challenging the idea the animals were already in decline.

About 66m years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, a huge space rock crashed into Earth, triggering a mass extinction that wiped out all dinosaurs except birds. However, some experts have argued the dinosaurs were already in decline.

Gardaí deployed at Citywest facility as police issue statement urging people to stay away from violent standoff

Irish police were braced for fresh disturbances outside a Dublin hotel that houses asylum seekers and has become a flashpoint for anti-immigration activists.

Gardaí deployed near the Citywest facility on Thursday in anticipation of another possible standoff with mobs that on Tuesday and Wednesday night threw fireworks and missiles and set a police vehicle on fire.

Tory plans to revoke indefinite leave to remain in pursuit of greater ‘cultural coherence’ resemble the most extreme ambitions of far-right fringe parties

It is too early to declare Sir Keir Starmer’s “one in, one out” migration deal with France a failure, but nor can the government claim that it is working as intended. This week, the Guardian revealed that one of the first people deported under the treaty had found his way back to the UK via a small boat. On the same day, Home Office data revealed that the number of people who had made the journey so far this year – 36,886 – had surpassed the total for 2024. The usual partisan recriminations followed. Opposition parties accuse Labour of failing to grip the problem; ministers say they are burdened by a long legacy of Conservative mismanagement. Both things can be true.

For all its deficiencies, Sir Keir’s deal with France recognises two facts that his Tory and Reform UK opponents cannot accept. First, engagement with EU states is a sine qua non of functional migration policy. Second, without some legal mechanism for accepting refugees, desperate people will always gamble on the illegal ways.

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Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to stop money laundering in 2023 and was sentenced to four months

Donald Trump issued a pardon for the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange on Thursday.

“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” a White House statement said. “The war on crypto is over.”

Plea comes after Pete Hegseth announced two new strikes that left at least five people dead

Colombia has condemned US airstrikes on vessels allegedly involved in drug-smuggling off the coast of South America, urging Washington to immediately halt further attacks in the Pacific and Caribbean.

The plea came after Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defense, announced two new strikes on Wednesday, which were the first to hit the Pacific and left at least five people dead. According to US figures, at least nine attacks have now been carried out since early September, killing 37 people. A broad range of experts have said the campaign is illegal.

China and India likely to scale back Russian oil imports as Trump tries to bring an end to war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will never bow to US pressure but conceded new sanctions could cause some economic pain, as China and India were reported to be scaling back Russian oil imports after Washington targeted Moscow’s two largest producers.

The US on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as nearly three dozen of their subsidiaries, as the Trump administration increased pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine. The EU separately agreed to a phased ban on the import of Russian liquefied natural gas.

Far more than a mute foil to Marc Almond, Ball brought his love of northern soul and strange electronics to bear on some of Britain’s most uncompromising pop

• News: Dave Ball, synth-pop hitmaker as one half of Soft Cell, dies aged 66

By common consent, Soft Cell’s first Top of the Pops appearance, on 13 August 1981, ranks among the show’s most striking performances. It was impactful enough to send their single Tainted Love first into the Top Ten, then to No 1 – it ultimately became the second biggest-selling single of the year – and to provoke a number of complaints. The latter were caused by the duo’s frontman, Marc Almond, clad in eyeliner and jewellery, delivering his vocal with a weird combination of intense passion, high camp and occasional knowing looks to camera: he was clearly a gay man, but a gay man who declined to conform to the pantomime stereotype that still prevailed on British TV, a decision that first upset his own record company boss – who collared Almond backstage and protested “you’ve got to butch it up a bit!” – then apparently caused the BBC’s switchboards to light up.

Almond was such an arresting presence that it was easy to overlook the other guy on stage, moustachioed, mute and virtually motionless behind his keyboard. But, as his bandmate was given to pointing out, overlooking Dave Ball was a terrible misjudgement. “He really was a psycho,” Almond later recalled. “There would be times when he’d leap from behind the keyboards if someone was threatening me on stage, and he’d punch someone in the front row.”

Adams revealed decision in a New York Times interview a month after calling Cuomo a ‘snake and a liar’

The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, will endorse Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral race, following months of tension between the two Democrats turned independents.

Adams revealed his intention in an interview with the New York Times a month after he ended his own re-election campaign which saw him register poor polling numbers.