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Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s aversions, denials and flip-flops on the release of the Epstein files

Late-night hosts tore into the next chapter of Donald Trump’s never-ending Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

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Edna O’Brien on her sofa, Joseph O’Connor in his garden, Seamus Heaney surrounded by books … British photographer Steve Pyke on capturing the greats of Irish literature

Zelenskyy hails ‘a historic deal’; families of Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia on Monday sounded the alarm about their fate. What we know on day 1,364

• See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage

Ukraine on Monday signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale warplanes, drones, air defence systems and other key equipment from France over the next 10 years, as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s long-term security. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who signed the document with French president Emmanuel Macron, called it “a historic deal” at a joint news conference at the Elysée presidential palace. The letter is a preliminary commitment of Ukraine stating its interest in buying a series of French defence equipment.

A Russian missile attack killed a 17-year-old girl and wounded at least nine people including a 16-year-old boy in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, its governor said on Tuesday. Emergency units were at the scene after the attack on Berestyn, Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram. In neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor said fires had broken out in the city of Dnipro after a drone attack but gave no details on possible casualties.

Russian aerial strikes killed five people and destroyed a kindergarten in eastern Ukraine on Monday. Three were killed in a strike on a residential area of Balakliya, a frontline city in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s emergency service said. Another Russian strike killed two civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor said.

An “unprecedented” Ukrainian overnight attack damaged two thermal power plants in the Donetsk region, leaving many settlements without electricity, the Moscow-installed head of the parts of the eastern Ukrainian region controlled by Russia said on Tuesday. Denis Pushili said on Telegram that boiler houses and water filtration plants at the Zuivska and Starobesheve thermal power plants had shut down and that emergency crews were working to restore supplies. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about the attack, which could not be independently verified.

Several families of Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia on Monday sounded the alarm about their fate, saying all contact had been cut off, as they called for international support. During a rare news conference in Paris, Darina Repina, the legal guardian of two children who were forcibly taken to Russia after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said Russian authorities were ignoring all requests to facilitate the return of the children.

A drone struck a Turkish-flagged tanker and set it ablaze on Monday in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials said, a day after Zelenskyy signed a deal to import US liquefied natural gas through the area. The MT Orinda was hit during the offloading of liquefied petroleum gas at Izmail port, Turkey’s Directorate for Maritime Affairs said. All 16 crew on board evacuated and no one was hurt, it said.

Romanian authorities said Monday they had evacuated two villages near the Ukrainian border after the drone attack on the MT Orinda. Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports in the Danube region, triggering alerts in neighbouring Romania.

US president Donald Trump is willing to sign legislation to impose sanctions on Russia as long as he retains ultimate decision-making authority over any such measures, a senior White House official said on Monday. Trump told reporters late on Sunday that it was “OK with me” that Republicans were working on legislation to impose sanctions on countries doing business with Russia over Moscow’s failure to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine.

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has described an explosion along a section of railway line used for deliveries to Ukraine as an “unprecedented act of sabotage” that could have led to disaster. It came as a statement from public prosecutors on Monday evening said an investigation had opened “regarding acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature […] committed on behalf of a foreign intelligence service against the Republic of Poland.”

China is ready to deepen cooperation with Russia in energy, agriculture and other investments, premier Li Qiang said during a meeting with Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on Monday. Li told Mishustin that China welcomes more agricultural and food products from Russia, according to the official news agency Xinhua. China also hopes Russia will make it easier for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate there, Xinhua said in its report, citing Li. Mishustin told Li that the cooperation between the two sides has repeatedly proven its resilience to external challenges.

Judge ruled DoJ engaged in ‘profound investigative missteps’ on way to indicting the former FBI director

A US judge on Monday found evidence of “government misconduct” in how a prosecutor aligned with Donald Trump secured criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director, and ordered that grand jury materials be turned over to Comey’s defense team.

Last week, prosecutors were ordered to produce a trove of materials from the investigation, with the court saying it was concerned that the US justice department’s position on Comey had been to “indict first and investigate later”.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• China travel warning for Japan sends shares in tourism and retail companies plunging

Although WPP’s shares have slipped back a little (+3.7%), they’re still leading the FTSE 100 risers.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould sums up the situation:

“Executives at embattled advertising agency WPP have recently been snapping up shares in the company and it seems they may not be the only ones who see value in the business. There is speculation about a bid from French rival Havas and private equity firms reportedly looking to pick off bits of the business.

“After years when it felt like WPP’s shares had been suffering a slow puncture, the tyre has burst in stock market terms for the company in 2025. This led to the departure of CEO Mark Read and investors in the US apparently being rallied by law firms for a class action lawsuit alleging they were misled about the state of the business.

This better-than-expected performance was initially due to a surge in exports ahead of anticipated tariff increases, but investment in equipment and intangible assets also performed more strongly than expected — most notably in Ireland, but also in other countries.

Continued growth in the third quarter is testimony to the resilience of the European economy and its ability to navigate unprecedented shocks.

Agreement comes as Volodymyr Zelenskyy starts European tour aimed at shoring up Ukrainian energy supply and defences. What we know on day 1,363

• See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage

Greece has signed a deal with Ukraine to supply US-origin liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the country amid the crippling of its energy infrastructure from Russian strikes. Sunday’s agreement came as Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Athens at the start of a European tour aimed at shoring up Ukraine’s defences and energy supply ahead of winter. The deal – to run from December until March 2026 – “marks an essential step in strengthening regional energy cooperation and European energy security”, said a joint statement from the Ukrainian president and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after they met. The deal would make it possible to “support Ukraine in the midst of a difficult winter”, they said. The deal came as Ukrainian energy infrastructure was damaged by Russian drone strikes overnight into Sunday in the Odesa region, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. A solar power plant was among the damaged sites.

A Russian strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Balakliia overnight killed three people, the city’s military administration chief said on Monday, citing preliminary information. Vitali Karabanov also said on Telegram that another 10 were wounded.

Russia said on Sunday its forces had moved forward sharply in south-eastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, taking two settlements as part of a major push aimed at seizing the whole region. The Russian defence ministry said its forces had taken Rivnopillya, which puts the southern town of Huliaipole in danger of being the target of Russian pincer movements, and that Russian forces had also taken Mala Tokmachka, just 9km (6 miles) from Orikhiv. “It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this village for the defence of Orikhiv,” said Yuri Podolyaka, one of Russia’s top war bloggers, adding that Mala Tokmachka was essentially “the gateway to Orikhiv”. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, along with a warehouse storing drones for the elite Rubicon drone unit in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region, Ukraine’s general staff said on Sunday. It said it had recorded explosions and a fire at the site of the strike on the Novokuibyshevsk refinery, but was still assessing the extent of damage. Russian officials did not immediately confirm the attacks.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a plan to clean up Ukraine’s energy sector after a $100m kickback scheme was alleged by anti-corruption investigators, in the worst scandal of his presidency. Jennifer Rankin and Luke Harding report that over the weekend the Ukrainian president announced an overhaul of key state energy companies including a complete change of management at Energoatom, the nuclear power operator at the centre of the alleged criminal scheme. Government officials, Zelenskyy said, were instructed “to maintain constant and meaningful communication with law enforcement and anti-corruption bodies. Any scheme uncovered in these companies must receive a swift and just response.”

A ceasefire in Ukraine is unlikely before the spring, Finland’s president has said, and European allies need to keep up support despite the Ukrainian corruption scandal. Europe would require “sisu’’ – a Finnish term for resilience – to get through the winter as Russia continued its hybrid attacks in Europe, Alexander Stubb told the Associated Press.

Greenpeace has said France is sending reprocessed uranium to Russia for treatment so it can be reused, despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The environment group said on Sunday that while it was legal, the trade was “immoral” as many nations seek to step up sanctions on Russia over its invasion. Greenpeace members on Saturday filmed the loading of about 10 containers with radioactive labels on to a cargo ship in the Channel port of Dunkirk, the NGO said. The consignment was the first of reprocessed uranium to be observed for three years, it said. France’s energy ministry and the French state-controlled energy company Electricite de France did not respond to questions from Agence France-Presse on the consignment or trade.

Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1,200 Ukrainian prisoners, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations. “We are … counting on the resumption of PoW exchanges,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.”

Strike comes as navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrives in Caribbean Sea and president says US may open talks with Venezuelan leader

The United States conducted another attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media.

President’s one-time ally says she has been contacted by private security firms after denunciation by president. Key US politics stories from Saturday 15 November at a glance

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety” after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative.

In a post on X, Greene said that “a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”, without referring to Trump by name, adding it was “the man I supported and helped get elected”.

Alex, 31, an academic, meets Rachel, 28, a university caseworker

What were you hoping for?
A good plotline, a fun evening and the chance of a connection.

Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in a taut psychological two-hander, and the Nobel prize winner delivers another miracle. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Late-night host spoke about growing discontent among Republicans after issues over both policy and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal

Seth Meyers spoke about rising tensions within the Republican party with Donald Trump losing support from his base over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The Late Night host spoke about yesterday’s dramatic meeting in the situation room to discuss Epstein, an ongoing crisis that has seen the president becoming “wildly unpopular”.

Defence ministry says locally developed technology tested in combat and shown to work against Russia’s deadly Shaheds. What we know on day 1,361

• See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage

Ukraine says it has started mass production of its new domestically developed interceptor drones to strengthen air defences. The first three manufacturers had begun production and 11 more were preparing to set up production lines, the defence ministry said on Friday. The drones would be based on a domestically developed technology called “Octopus” to intercept Shahed drones. It had been tested in combat and proved to be working “at night, under jamming and at low altitudes”, the ministry said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the goal is to manufacture up to 1,000 of the interceptors a day. Russia has been steadily increasing the number of drones it uses in a single strike on Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described Russia’s latest attack against Ukraine as “deliberate, calculated and wicked” after six people were killed and dozens injured in a wave of night-time strikes across Kyiv, reports Luke Harding. Air raid sirens sounded in the capital shortly after midnight on Friday and Shahed drones could soon be heard in the sky, with heavy machine-gun fire from Ukrainian air defences. Zelenskyy said the country was hit by 430 drones and 18 missiles. The dead had been at home in a block of flats on Kyiv’s left bank when it was hit. Dozens of other buildings were damaged, including the Azerbaijani embassy.

Azerbaijan said it issued a strong protest to the Russian ambassador on Friday after the embassy damage. The blast from a Russian Iskander missile destroyed part of the embassy’s perimeter wall and caused serious damage to the diplomatic compound, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said. No one was hurt, and a ministry spokesperson said the Kyiv embassy was continuing to operate.

Russia plans to manufacture up to 120,000 glide bombs this year, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said, including 500 of a new, longer-range version that can reach more towns and cities. Reuters was unable to verify Ukraine’s claims, disclosed by defence intelligence’s deputy head, Maj Gen Vadym Skibitskyi, but it would indicate a vast increase in the manufacture of the cheap and devastating glide bombs, which use wings – and sometimes engines – to fly dozens of kilometres to their targets. Skibitskyi said Russian forces were firing 200 to 250 glide bombs a day. Last month’s daily average was about 170, according to defence ministry data.

Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk temporarily suspended oil exports on Friday – equivalent to 2% of global supply – after a Ukrainian missile and drone attack, Reuters reported industry sources as saying. Ukraine’s general staff said its forces had fired Neptune cruise missiles and used various types of strike drones in the attack on Novorossiysk “as part of efforts to reduce the military and economic potential of the Russian aggressor”. Ukraine said it separately struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region and a fuel storage facility in nearby Engels overnight.

Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil said on Friday it has been in talks with potential buyers of its foreign assets after last month’s sanctions from the UK and the US as a deal with the Gunvor trading house collapsed. “The specific deal will be announced after the final agreements have been reached and the necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained,” Lukoil said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Tuesday to meet with lawmakers a day after his visit to Paris, the chamber of deputies announced. The Ukrainian president would meet deputies from both chambers of parliament during his visit, the Spanish statement said.

Between 1934 and 1936, artist Dorothy Waugh was commissioned to create 17 posters for the National Park Service, a groundbreaking opportunity for a female designer at the time. Her designs, which were both accessible and avant-garde, are being celebrated in an exhibition for the first time at New York’s Poster House. Blazing A Trail: Dorothy Waugh’s National Parks Posters is on display until 22 February 2026

The cars, the races, the wins and the fans: Taschen’s new Ferrari book – full of unseen photographs, sketches and documents – celebrates a high-speed icon

Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world

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