EU’s Copernicus monitoring service hails ‘reassuring sign’ of progress observed this year in hole’s size and duration

The hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic this year was the smallest and shortest-lived since 2019, according to European space scientists, who described the finding as a “reassuring sign” of the layer’s recovery.

The yearly gap in what scientists have called “planetary sunscreen” reached a maximum area of 21m sq km (8.1m sq miles) over the southern hemisphere in September – well below the maximum of 26m sq km reached in 2023 – and shrank in size until coming to an early close on Monday, data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) shows.

Royal Festival Hall, London
The UK premiere of the Turkish composer’s piano concerto Mother Earth was balanced with theatrical Sibelius and a sure-footed reading of Dvorak’s upbeat Eighth Symphony

The Philharmonia closed their 80th-anniversary season in style with a pair of late-Romantic big hitters and the UK premiere of a seven-movement piano concerto by Turkish composer Fazil Say. With nature at its heart, the programme journeyed from the frozen wastes of Finland to the sun-kissed woodlands of Bohemia and beyond.

En Saga, a last-minute substitute for Falla’s Love the Magician, was Sibelius’s first tone poem, poorly received in 1893 but successfully revised nine years later. The composer refused to furnish any specific literary explanations, yet the colourful score is redolent with imagery, from patriotic pageantry to dusky forests and midnight sleigh rides. It proved meat and drink to fellow Finn Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Plunging into its shadowy dramas, the conductor sustained the musical momentum effortlessly across its substantial arc while striking some fantastical podium attitudes of his own to tease out its more theatrical effects.

Undercover unit monitored Stephen Lawrence’s family, as well as thousands of mainly leftwing political activists

Two senior officers who supervised an undercover Scotland Yard unit spying on political campaigns were “horribly and incredibly” racist, a whistleblower has told a public inquiry.

Peter Francis, a former member of the unit, testified that one regularly used the “N-word”, while the other used a repertoire of explicit racist slurs.

In the past, moments like Chelsea’s shorthanded goal might have sent Arsenal reeling. No longer

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The gap at the top is five points. Arsenal have now played two of their three toughest away games of the season. They’ve come through a potentially extremely tricky week with reputation enhanced, despite being without one of their starting centre-backs for all three games and both for one of them. If there is any sense of disappointment, it is only that they failed to beat Chelsea, whom they have become accustomed to getting the better of, despite having a man advantage from the 38th minute on Sunday.

But really there shouldn’t be any disappointment. Coming out of the international break, having conceded a late equaliser to Sunderland in their previous game, Arsenal looked potentially vulnerable. Despite having been by far the most impressive side this season, their lead over Manchester City was only four points. They were without Gabriel, who probably ranks alongside Declan Rice as their most important player. They faced Tottenham, Bayern and Chelsea over the course of eight days, and Manchester City appeared to be beginning to gather momentum.

Investigation finds organisation’s leadership over many years was to blame for error, and similar breach happened earlier this year

• Politics live –latest updates

Britain’s budget watchdog has said the early leak of its budget documents before Rachel Reeves made her speech was the “worst failure” in its 15-year history as it emerged a similar breach had occurred earlier this year.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said an investigation had found that the leadership of the organisation, over many years, was to blame for the early release of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) document online nearly an hour before Reeves’s address last Wednesday.

The incognito hip-hop act known as EsDeeKid has been identified by online sleuths as Chalamet in disguise. The pair even have the same scarf – case closed

Name: EsDeeKid.

Age: Unknown.

Luis Enrique was scathing after PSG’s ‘worst match of the season’ but Marseille are too flaky to make them pay

By Get French Football News

Paris Saint-Germain were flat and lethargic in their 1-0 defeat to Monaco on Saturday afternoon. Luis Enrique called it their “worst match of the season” and “a very bad night”. His players created very little, although it might have been a very different story had the Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara been sent off for his lunge on Lucas Chevalier early in the first half. The France international said his “career could have taken a turn” and that he considered himself “lucky” to continue after the tackle that was sanctioned with a yellow, rather than a red.

Takumi Minamino gave Monaco the lead midway through the second half before they did go down to 10 men, Thilo Kehrer receiving a red card in the 80th minute, but PSG failed to create any clear openings. It felt like a simple off night, even if the lack of goals from their forwards remains a cause for concern. The result gave Marseille the chance to land a psychological blow.

US president, who is 79, spoke about scan amid concerns over his cognitive abilities and mental fitness

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump said he will release the results of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan conducted during his surprise “semiannual physical” in October – but was unable to tell reporters what part of his body was under investigation.

The oldest-ever US president faced questions over the procedure on Air Force One as he traveled back to Washington DC on Sunday night after a Thanksgiving break in Florida. It is the latest episode of recurring concern about the cognitive abilities and mental fitness of the 79-year-old, who insisted he had “aced” earlier tests relating to his brain functioning.

Agreement also calls for NHS to increase net price it pays for new medicines by 25%

• Business live – latest updates

The UK government has sealed a deal with Donald Trump guaranteeing that zero tariffs will remain on the imports of UK pharmaceuticals into the US and commits Britain to higher spending on NHS drugs.

The agreement, announced on Monday, secures continued investment by UK pharma companies in the US and will create jobs in the US, the Trump administration said.

Short boat ride from Cop30 host, Afro-descendant residents of Menino Jesus say their voices are not being heard

Walk through the conference centre where the recent UN climate talks were held and representations of Indigenous people and culture were everywhere, from the spear-carrying, fiery-headed Cop30 mascot Curupira to huge mural-sized photos of people navigating the Amazon in dugout canoes and the many protests demanding dialogue outside.

Yet a short boat ride down the river from Belém, into the forest itself, takes you to another forest-dwelling community also fighting for further recognition within the Cop process. The quilombola community of Menino Jesus has existed for six generations. Quilombolas are the descendants of former enslaved people who fled into the forest as a site of refuge. Over hundreds of years, they established a unique way of life separate from mainstream Brazilian society, living in harmony with nature as fugitives protected by the jungle.

Rufus Sewell, Christine Baranski, Susan Wokoma, Toby Jones and Harriet Walter share their unforgettable encounters with a theatrical giant

I worked with Tom when I was quite young, on Arcadia in 1993, and again on Rock’n’Roll 13 years later. In the interim it slowly dawned on me that not all jobs were like that. He was one of the most intelligent people you could ever meet but the extraordinary thing was that you’d walk away from conversations with him feeling like you were not unintelligent or unwitty yourself. That’s not always the case with incredibly brilliant writers and funny people. That generosity of spirit marked my time with him. He was incredibly good company, very sweet, and you felt encouraged to put forward your own ideas, make your own jokes.

‘I told the producers I didn’t know how to do a song for a film – and added that, frankly, I didn’t fancy writing one called Back to the Future. They said, “No problem, just give us one of your songs”’

Steven Spielberg and Bob Zemeckis asked to meet us, along with Bob Gale and Neil Canton. They said they’d just written this film whose lead character was a guy called Marty McFly, and whose favourite band would be Huey Lewis and the News. They asked: “How about writing a song for the film?” I said: “I’m flattered but I don’t know how to write for film necessarily. And frankly, I don’t fancy writing a song called Back to the Future.” They said: “No problem. We just want one of your songs.” I said: “Tell you what, we’ll send you the next one we work on.”

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Avatar director, known for his advocacy of new technology, told interviewer generative AI performance puts ‘all human experience into a blender’

Avatar director James Cameron has called AI actors “horrifying” and said what generative AI technology creates is “an average”.

Cameron was speaking to CBS on Sunday Morning in the run-up to the release of the third Avatar film, subtitled Fire and Ash, and was asked about the pioneering technology he used in his film-making. After praising motion-capture performance as “a celebration of the actor-director moment”, Cameron expressed his disdain for artificial intelligence. “Go to the other end of the spectrum [from motion capture] and you’ve got generative AI, where they can make up a character. They can make up an actor. They can make up a performance from scratch with a text prompt. It’s like, no. That’s horrifying to me. That’s the opposite. That’s exactly what we’re not doing.”

They wrestled steel beams, hung off giant hooks and tossed red hot rivets – all while ‘strolling on the thin edge of nothingness’. Now the 3,000 unsung heroes who raised the famous skyscraper are finally being celebrated

Poised on a steel cable a quarter of a mile above Manhattan, a weather-beaten man in work dungarees reaches up to tighten a bolt. Below, though you hardly dare to look down, lies the Hudson River, the sprawling cityscape of New York and the US itself, rolling out on to the far horizon. If you fell from this rarefied spot, it would take about 11 seconds to hit the ground.

Captured by photographer Lewis Hine, The Sky Boy, as the image became known, encapsulated the daring and vigour of the men who built the Empire State Building, then the world’s tallest structure at 102 storeys and 1,250ft (381m) high. Like astronauts, they were going to places no man had gone before, testing the limits of human endurance, giving physical form to ideals of American puissance, “a land which reached for the sky with its feet on the ground”, according to John Jakob Raskob, then one of the country’s richest men, who helped bankroll the building.

Sami Tamimi celebrates Palestine’s culinary heritage, Helen Goh uncovers the psychological benefits of baking and Roopa Gulati reveals tricks used in the best Indian kitchens

Lugma: Abundant Dishes & Stories from My Middle East
Noor Murad (Quadrille)
One of the greatest tests of a cookbook is not just whether the recipes appeal on first glance, but whether they have the power to weave themselves into your regular cooking life. By this measure, Lugma is my top food book this year. Its author, Noor Murad, is a young Bahraini-British food writer who has previously worked with Ottolenghi. It is a delight to find her writing here in her own voice about the Middle Eastern ingredients that mean so much to her (you’ll need black limes!). The recipes hit a sweet spot between ease and specialness. Even a simple side dish of greens becomes a feast, sauteed with fried onions and turmeric oil. Alongside a pantheon of rice dishes for celebrations, there are simpler midweek hits such as tuna jacket potatoes enlivened with a spicy tomato sauce and preserved lemons. Noor’s deeply fragrant Middle Eastern bolognese is now the recipe against which I judge all other ragus.

Baking and the Meaning of Life
Helen Goh (Murdoch)
The idea of baking as therapy is often bandied around, but Helen Goh knows whereof she speaks. Alongside her career as a baker, Goh (who was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents) was for a long time a practising psychologist. Whatever the theory behind the effect, every time I follow Goh’s wonderfully precise yet creative recipes, I feel a deep calm and happiness as well as a sense that she is teaching me new skills (“learning, growth and achievement” are among the psychological benefits of baking, according to Goh). The Shoo Fly buns are the currant buns of dreams (with a whole raw orange pureed into the dough) and I wanted to make the chocolate financiers with rosemary and hazelnuts so much that I bought a financier tin specially (no regrets there).

WHO urges countries to make drugs such as Mounjaro more accessible to people and asks drugs companies to lower prices

Weight loss drugs such as Mounjaro offer huge potential to tackle soaring obesity globally that will affect 2 billion people worldwide by 2030, the World Health Organization has said.

Their proven effectiveness in helping people lose weight means the medications represent “a new chapter” in how health services can treat obesity and the killer diseases it causes, the WHO added.

Data shows increase in neighbourhoods where few metres of asphalt, hedgerow, or wall can separate deep inequality

The homes of people in Nunsthorpe, a postwar former council housing estate known locally as “The Nunny”, sit only a few metres away from their more affluent neighbours in Scartho with their conservatories and driveways.

Walking between the two is almost impossible because of a 1.8-metre-high (6ft) barricade between them, which blocks off roads and walkways that link the two areas in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

‘I spent the 90s with Pam – clubbing and partying in the way those times demanded. What I saw was a truly groundbreaking artist, and a life marked by independence, courage and kindness’

• Pam Hogg, fashion designer with a rock’n’roll spirit, dies at 66 – news
• Pam Hogg – obituary

There are people who live life to the full, then there’s Pamela Hogg. Pam’s tenure on this earth is a trawl through just about every significant cultural and creative moment in the UK over the last 30-odd years. One of our most groundbreaking artists, Pam was a colourist of Warholian proportions, creating art to be hung on the body rather than the walls of a gallery. She was a punk who provocatively mashed up gender and sexual stereotypes. Fashion was the art form that freed her imagination, and her success was due to her talent and drive being greater than her disdain of the conformist industry and the gatekeepers surrounding it.

I sat in St Joseph’s hospice in London by her unconscious but serenely beautiful figure – as if she’d made her exit into another work of art – telling her that her jam-packed life was characterised by creativity, independence, courage and kindness. “Hoggy, you left absolutely nothing on the table.”

TotalEnergies scheme became lightning rod for terror in region and was accused of violating human rights

• Business live –latest updates

The UK government has pulled a controversial $1.15bn (£870m) loan to a giant gas project in Mozambique that has been accused of fuelling the climate crisis and deadly terror attacks in the region.

The business secretary, Peter Kyle, said the UK would withdraw its export finance to the Mozambique liquified natural gas project, five years after it ignited bitter opposition from campaigners over its impact on human rights, security and the environment.

Three people are accused of belonging to the Base, an ‘accelerationist’ white power organisation founded in the US

Police in Spain have arrested three people on suspicion of belonging to the Base, a global neo-Nazi terrorist group that incites and trains members in techniques to overthrow governments and bring about a race war.

The group, which has been designated a terrorist organisation by the EU, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is part of a worldwide “accelerationist” white power movement that prepares its cells to carry out violent and destabilising attacks.

We would like to hear from people in Hong Kong who have been impacted by the apartment fires

146 people are known to have died, in last week’s devastating fire at an apartment complex in Hong Kong, with about 200 still unaccounted for.

Authorities have arrested 13 people on suspicion of manslaughter related to the fire amid growing criticism from residents about arrests under national security laws of at least two civilians calling for accountability.

• Ifab may loosen approach to trials of new rules

• World Cup could see first trial use of VAR for corners

Football’s lawmakers are exploring the possibility of allowing tournaments to run their own trials of new rules, which could lead to VAR being used to adjudicate on corner kicks at next summer’s World Cup.

Under the change the International Football Association Board (Ifab) would allow more short-term trials as an alternative to the system whereby major tournaments largely introduce measures only after they have been trialled, usually in minor leagues or tournaments.

Will the bubble ravage the economy when it bursts? What will it leave of value once it pops?

The California Gold Rush left an outsized imprint on America. Some 300,000 people flocked there from 1848 to 1855, from as far away as the Ottoman Empire. Prospectors massacred Indigenous people to take the gold from their lands in the Sierra Nevada mountains. And they boosted the economies of nearby states and faraway countries from whence they bought their supplies.

Gold provided the motivation for California – a former Mexican territory then controlled by the US military – to become a state with laws of its own. And yet, few “49ers” as prospectors were known, struck it rich. It was the merchants selling prospectors food and shovels who made the money. One, a Bavarian immigrant named Levi Strauss who sold denim overalls to the gold bugs passing through San Francisco, may be the most remembered figure of his day.