Eddie Howe expects Fabian Schär to be out for three months. The defender underwent surgery on Thursday after sustaining an ankle injury in Newcastle’s victory against Leeds last week.
The team behind Baby Steps discuss why they made a whiny, unprepared manbaby the protagonist – and how players have grown to love Nate as he struggles up a mountain
“I don’t know why he is in a onesie and has a big ass,” shrugs game developer Gabe Cuzzillo. “Bennett just came in with that at some point.”
“I thought it would be cute,” replies Bennett Foddy, who was formerly Cuzzillo’s professor at New York University’s Game Center and is now his collaborator. “Working on character design and animation brings you over to liking big butts. I could give you an enormous amount of evidence for this.”
As head of an immigration charity, I’ve seen firsthand how hostility and toxicity have reached unprecedented levels
Enver Solomon is the outgoing chief executive of the Refugee Council
It is difficult to think of another area of government policy that has weathered as much legislative hyperactivity as asylum and migration. I have been chief executive of the Refugee Council since 2020, and I am struck by the fact that there have been four bills that have become law since I started. A fifth one in as many years is expected soon as Home Office officials beaver away under the orders of the home secretary to quickly turn the proposed asylum reforms, published in November, into legislation.
As I prepare to leave the organisation this month, I have been reflecting on how the asylum and migration landscape has changed. It’s clear the rhetoric and intent behind all these new laws has been the same: to deter so-called asylum shopping, to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs, to ramp up removals of migrants, to fix the broken asylum system and, ultimately, deliver control of our borders.
Enver Solomon is the outgoing chief executive of the Refugee Council
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The postseason continues with the Broncos and Seahawks entering the fray, but there could be trouble for one of the frontrunners
What the Bills need to do to win: Keep winning short-yardage situations. The tush push on fourth down that propelled Josh Allen 10 yards and helped secure Buffalo’s win over Jacksonville last weekend epitomised how the Bills dominated the game’s crucial moments. The Bills converted four of their five third downs with four yards or to go last Sunday, and they finished fifth in third-down rate in the regular season in the same situations. Denver were eighth this season in third-and-short defensive efficiency (50.6%). Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady will have to find ways to create leverage for Allen and the Bills in those vital moments to keep the scoreboard moving.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s conviction for obstructing own arrest separate from main trial that could lead to death penalty
A South Korean court has sentenced former president Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison for mobilising presidential security forces to block his own arrest and abusing his powers. It is the first judicial ruling linked to the events surrounding his failed martial law declaration in December 2024.
The ruling is separate from Yoon’s main insurrection trial, where prosecutors earlier this week sought the death penalty and a verdict is due next month.
Denmark’s foreign secretary has denied the assertion and since reiterated that discussion over territory is a red line.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’spresident Rumen Radev said the country will hold a snap election after leading parties refused a mandate to form a government, Reuters reported.
The latest development comes a month on from the collapse of the previous government amid public frustration with economic policies and perceived failure to tackle corruption, and just two weeks after Bulgaria joined the eurozone.
From his exile in the US, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, has galvanised protesters in his home country, calling for them to continue demonstrating against the Islamic Republic. But Pahlavi is a divisive figure. As the heir of a violent authoritarian regime, his potential return is viewed suspiciously by some. Chants in his favour heard in the streets of Tehran and beyond may be less about support for the crown and more about him being seen as the only option to take people out of the country's political 'dead end'
(InFiné) The composers’ first collaborative album ebbs from epic, cinematic heights to delicate and dreamy lullabies
After years of touring together, Los Angeles-based composers Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore have developed what the former refers to as a “musical telepathy”. Tragic Magic, the pair’s first collaborative album, evidences this bond: born out of a short series of improv sessions in Paris, it’s a wonderfully immersive set of new age and ambient tracks, where Barwick’s airy, reverbed vocals and atmospheric synth washes interweave with, and accentuate, Lattimore’s twinkling harp.
The album sessions took place shortly after last year’s California wildfires, which the two musicians experienced as residents. Accordingly, tragedy and hope cut through the dreamlike haze of these unfurling compositions. With its delicate harp loop and hushed whispers, opener Perpetual Adoration is as sweet and dreamy as a lullaby, while the gorgeous, moving Haze With No Haze carries a quiet desperation in the brittle, staccato melodyand Barwick’s yearning high register. As always, her lyrics are indiscernible, words blurring into texture and shapeless whispers, but teem with feeling.
Jafar Panahi, director of Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, says Iranian leaders want to destroy country
The Khamenei regime will not be able to maintain control over Iranian society after the violent suppression of the latest wave of protests, one of the country’s leading film-makers has predicted.
“It is impossible for this government to sustain itself in this situation,” the director Jafar Panahi told the Guardian. “They know it too. They know that it will be impossible to rule over people. Perhaps their only goal right now is to bring the country to the verge of complete collapse and try to destroy it.”
Move comes as calls for Australia-style social media ban for under-16s grow around world
TikTok will begin to roll out new age-verification technology across the EU in the coming weeks, as calls for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s grow in countries including the UK.
ByteDance-owned TikTok, and other major platforms popular with young people such as YouTube, are coming under increasing pressure to better identify and remove accounts belonging to children.
This year, as with last year, Aston Villa are eyeing the January market to bolster their forward line. For Marcus Rashford in 2025, read Tammy Abraham in 2026. Roma own his registration, though he is now on loan at Besiktas. He was a fan favourite when on loan from Chelsea in Villa’s Championship days, so such a move would be something of a homecoming. Another Villa target is Dani Ceballos, the midfielder once of Arsenal, and a useful Real Madrid squad player for years now.
To compound Crystal Palace’s FA Cup misery, and the unsettling tidings on Oliver Glasner’s future, there’s the rumour that Jean-Philippe Mateta is a target for Juventus.
Hamnet and H Is for Hawk fuse themes of loss, birds and elemental female emotion. But whose fault is it if you remain dry-eyed?
‘Is it porn or is it art?” A familiar, even dated question where nudity is involved, and (forgive thumbnail) pretty well-resolved– which is to say: we let the tastemakers decide, and it tips the scale towards “art” if one or both protagonists are not that good-looking.
“Is it grief-porn or is it grief-art?” is a more vexed question. Grief-porn, in relation to cinema, would suggest that the film in question is emotionally manipulative, formulaic; grief-art would suggest the film unleashes feelings both universal and true.
(Rough Trade) The duo’s 13th album finds Jason Williamson as baffled and infuriated as ever at the state of the world, with help from some unexpected collaborators
Over the course of a dozen albums, Jason Williamson (words) and Andrew Fearn (music) have journeyed from DIY to the album chart Top 5 by providing a gut-punchingly bleak and amusingly absurdist commentary on the financial crash, austerity, Brexit and the rise of the far right. On their 13th LP, Williamson again convinces in the role of a potty-mouthed bystander, baffled and infuriated by what goes on around him, whether empty lives in the digital age (“Weights and wanking / Hard bodies and phone lights / That’s all we got”), Trump’s US (“Maga’s off their tits”) or minor daily irritants: “Lazy dog walkers on short walks, mate, wanker!”
However, developments here should gently broaden their appeal. Williamson displays a welcome new vulnerability on the harrowing Gina Was, about a childhood incident. Meanwhile, Fearn is subtly developing his production, venturing beyond electro-punk to use classical strings on Double Diamond and a broader range of collaborators. The combination of Willliamson, Game of Thrones actor Gwendoline Christie’s furious rap and Big Special’s David Bowie-ish crooning on The Good Life makes for one of the most hauntingly catchy things they’ve done.
Tournament to be played every four years from 2028
Federation denies statutes breached in making decision
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has been accused of pushing through its controversial decision to stage the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) every four years without properly consulting member federations.
Several presidents of African football federations have told the Guardian they were not informed of the decision until it was surprisingly announced by the Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, on 20 December, prompting claims that the confederation breached its statutes by failing to seek approval at a general assembly.
India’s Gukesh Dommaraju takes on Candidates qualifiers and stars who missed out, plus a talent for the 2030s
The annual “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands is unusually interesting this year. Its 14-player field matches the reigning world champion, India’s Dommaraju Gukesh, against a range of rivals who include four of the eight Candidates who will meet in March to decide his 2026 challenger, another three grandmasters from the world top 10, the controversial US star Hans Niemann, plus a 14-year-old Turk who is breaking age records.
Gukesh’s unimpressive recent results mean the world Nos 5 and 8, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, will aim to finish ahead of him. Germany’s world No 4, Vincent Keymer, had a good 2025, while the home nation’s world No 6, Anish Giri, often performs well in this event.
Women allege Spanish singer subjected them ‘to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in atmosphere of control’
The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias has broken his silence over allegations that he sexually abused two women who worked in his Caribbean mansions, saying he has never “abused, coerced or disrespected any woman”.
The 82-year-old entertainer, whose career spans six decades, had been accused by two female former employees who allege they had been sexually assaulted and subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”.
Despite restrictions announced this week, Guardian reporters find standalone app continues to allow posting of nonconsensual content
X has continued to allow users to post highly sexualised videos of women in bikinis generated by its AI tool Grok, despite the company’s claim to have cracked down on misuse.
The Guardian was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed, real women. It was also possible to post this adult content on to X’s public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account.
There is every chance that 2026 will be the year you see your first pair of Gardana gardening clogs in the wild. In fact, if you spend much time on TikTok, or live in Brooklyn, you’ve probably already been seeing them for months, if not years. I saw my first pair a few weeks ago. I watched a dad dropping his kids off at school in head-to-toe Carhartt, a pair of Gardanas peeping out from below his trousers like a shy frog.
Pliable, but with a sturdy sole, they go for as little as £25. The work of French “environmental poet” André Ravachol, who founded the Plasticana brand behind the clogs in 1998, they’re made from 100% recycled PVC and hemp, which gives them their earthy-caramel or, as Vogue put it, “bird-pooey” hue. They have since been called “maybe the coolest shoes in London” by one TikToker, as he Lime-biked his way through the capital to try to nab a pair.
In this week’s newsletter: US earnings would be 12% higher without the climate crisis, a study reveals – and the hotter the world gets, the greater the economic losses
Donald Trump has long railed against emissions-cutting policy as an expensive “hoax” and “scam”. But the climate crisis itself comes with a major price tag for Americans, a new study shows.
Previous research has found that global heating has driven up utility costs, home insurance premiums and healthcare bills. But according to the new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, it has also slashed US incomes by more than a tenth since 2000 – a severe national economic jolt.
Five organisations whose work fosters community, tolerance and empathy will share proceeds of readers’ generosity
The Guardian has raised more than £1m in its Hope appeal to support grassroots charities whose work offers a positive antidote to social division, racism and hatred.
The appeal, which closed on Thursday, had five partner charities that will share the donations: Citizens UK, the Linking Network, Locality, Hope Unlimited Charitable Trust and Who Is Your Neighbour?
Our readers bask in the memory of great beach discoveries, from Latvia to Sicily • Send us a tip on Scandinavia or Finland – the best wins a £200 holiday voucher
Forty miles east of Palermo, the magnificent Sicilian resort town of Cefalù juts out beneath dramatic cliffs. The town has a perfect half-moon beach of golden sands melding into the gorgeous clear turquoise sea. Medieval lanes of stones in a diamond pattern lead up to a lively square offering great Italian food. It’s fronted by a beautiful Norman cathedral with twin towers and Byzantine mosaics inside. David Innes-Wilkin
From classmates to co-parents, the changing dynamics of a female friendship are astutely observed in a novel that explores the boundaries between love, lust and companionship
Australian author Madeleine Gray’s award-winning debut novel Green Dot was a smart, funny tale of a doomed office affair. Her new novel, Chosen Family, is a smart, funny tale of a complicated, life-changing relationship between two women.
Nell and Eve meet aged 12 at a girls’ school in Sydney. Gray’s narrative moves smoothly back and forth from the 00s to the present day; as in David Nicholls’s One Day, we learn about our protagonists by meeting them at different moments in their lives, from the pressures of high school to the alcohol-soaked freedoms of university to the frustrations and joys of early parenthood.
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